Assault claim made amid governor race
The district attorney said Monday that authorities have reopened their investigation into a cocktail waitress’s claim that a Republican congressman running for governor assaulted her in a parking garage after a night of drinking.
District Attorney David Roger said the case involving Rep. Jim Gibbons – which had been closed after the woman, Chrissy Mazzeo, dropped her complaint – is under investigation again.
Mazzeo, a Las Vegas Strip casino waitress, accused Gibbons, 61, of pushing her up against a wall Oct. 13 and propositioning her. Mazzeo, 32, said she had been pressured and offered cash from people linked to the Gibbons campaign to drop the complaint.
The five-term congressman, who is in a close race with Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus for Nevada’s open governor’s seat, has denied wrongdoing and sued Monday to force police to release surveillance videos he said would disprove Mazzeo’s claim.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Unions fight plan for inmates
Two state employee unions sued Monday to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to ship some inmates to other states to ease crowding in the nation’s largest state prison system.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed contracts this month to use private prisons in four states to house 2,260 medium-security inmates at an estimated cost of $51 million a year.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, representing prison guards, and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, representing other prison employees, say sending the inmates out of state to private prisons violates the state constitution.
Their lawsuit asks Sacramento Superior Court to halt the transfers to Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee before they begin next month.
Responding on behalf of the governor, Corrections Secretary James Tilton said Schwarzenegger did not violate the constitution and instead used his executive powers last month to issue an emergency declaration.
More than 172,000 inmates are crowded into space designed for about 100,000, heightening tensions and forcing some inmates to sleep in gymnasiums and auditoriums, according to the declaration.
WATERBURY, Conn.
Bus fleet attack yields holiday
Vandals damaged nearly half of the buses used to bring about 18,000 students to public schools, leading officials to give children an unexpected day off from school Monday.
The city’s schools were closed because vandals sprayed fire extinguishers, spray-painted graffiti, smashed first-aid kits, damaged fuse boxes and broke antennas on 49 buses.
No arrests had been made, but authorities thought juveniles may be involved because the damage came shortly before Halloween.