In brief: Perry says charges won’t delay 2016 decision

AUSTIN, Texas – Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry vowed Wednesday that a judge’s refusal to quash felony abuse of power charges won’t derail – or even delay – his preparations for a possible 2016 presidential run, calling the case tantamount to the “criminalization of politics.”

“We’re moving right along as we have intended,” the Republican said, mentioning his recent visits to the early primary states of Iowa and South Carolina. He said an announcement would still be made in May or June.

Appearing at a news conference at an Austin hotel flanked by two of his defense attorneys, Perry said: “I am proud to stand for the rule of law.”

A day earlier, state Judge Burt Richardson, also a Republican, refused to void charges against Perry on constitutional grounds. The former governor was accused of abuse of official power and coercion of a public servant in an indictment brought in August by a grand jury in Austin.

Rare red fox spotted in Yosemite park

SAN FRANCISCO – The first confirmed sighting of a rare Sierra Nevada red fox in Yosemite National Park in nearly a century has been confirmed by park officials.

Park wildlife biologists who were on a backcountry trip to the far northern part of the park documented two sightings since early December.

The Sierra Nevada red fox of California is one of the rarest mammals in North America, with likely fewer than 50 left.

The nearest verified occurrences of Sierra Nevada red foxes have been in the Sonora Pass area, north of the park, where biologists say a small population was first documented in 2010.

BALTIMORE – Top officials in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland have asked the bishop implicated in a fatal collision with a bicyclist in Baltimore to immediately resign her position in the church.

The diocese’s eight-member Standing Committee agreed unanimously that Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook is “no longer able to function effectively” in her position, it wrote in a letter this week to Cook, which the diocese posted to its website.

Cook, 58, was arrested earlier this month and charged with manslaughter and other traffic offenses in the killing of bicyclist Thomas Palermo, 41, in North Baltimore in December, after Baltimore police determined she had struck Palermo with her vehicle.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said at a news conference that Cook’s blood alcohol level was 0.22 percent and that she was text-messaging at the time of the collision.