In brief: ATF director resigns
Washington – B. Todd Jones announced Friday that he was stepping down as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, creating another vacancy at the helm of the agency and likely setting up a political battle between the Obama administration and the powerful National Rifle Association.
Jones was brought to the agency first as acting director, then confirmed as permanent director two years ago. But he took over only after a raucous political fight in which the NRA made it clear that the organization opposed naming a permanent director of the law enforcement agency and in many ways would prefer to see it disbanded altogether.
Jones said he was leaving to join the private sector and emphasized that he had never planned to stay in Washington and run the ATF for more than 18 months.
His last day is March 31. ATF Deputy Director Thomas E. Brandon will serve as acting director.
NC State tightens reins on fraternities
Raleigh, N.C. – North Carolina State University became the latest school to crack down on its fraternities by banning alcohol at events for most of the organizations, a move that came after a racially offensive pledge book was discovered and a separate sexual assault investigation launched.
A news release Friday from university spokesman Fred Hartman said the school worked with the Interfraternity Council to temporarily suspend social events that involve alcohol for more than 20 fraternities. The ban doesn’t apply to historically black Greek organizations, or the Multicultural Greek Council.
The Pi Kappa Phi chapter was suspended after derogatory comments attributed to members in a notebook were found at a restaurant near campus. Separately, new details about a drug paraphernalia seizure surfaced in a search warrant related to a sexual assault allegation at Alpha Tau Omega, which was suspended earlier this month.
The details came out not long after shocking behavior at the University of Oklahoma, Penn State and other schools put fraternities in the spotlight.
Wrong-way crash kills two, including officer
Linden, N.J. – A car carrying three off-duty New Jersey police officers from a visit to a strip club drove the wrong way down a New York City highway and crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer early Friday, killing an officer and a civilian and critically injuring two other policemen.
Hours before the crash, the officer driving the car posted a photo on his Instagram page of three shot glasses filled with what he identified as “Jack Daniels Fire on the house.” Police said they were investigating whether drinking explains how the group ended up driving north in the southbound lane of the Staten Island highway.
“We were all young once and I’m sure we’ve all done stupid things in our life,” said Linden police Chief James Schulhafer. “But that being said, because this is an ongoing investigation, it would be way too premature to speculate on what caused this accident.”