Nation in brief: NRA sues city over handgun law
The National Rifle Association sued the city of San Francisco on Friday to overturn its ban on handguns in public housing, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the nation’s capital.
The legal action follows a similar lawsuit against the city of Chicago over its handgun ban, filed within hours of Thursday’s high court ruling.
In San Francisco, the NRA was joined by the Washington state-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and a gun owner who lives in the city’s Valencia Gardens housing project. The gun owner, who is gay, says he keeps the weapon to defend himself from “sexual orientation hate crimes.”
Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city will “vigorously fight the NRA” and defended the ban as good for public safety.
Washington
Scientist to get $5.8 million
A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department.
Steven Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.
The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years.
“Our government failed us, not only by failing to catch the anthrax mailers but by seeking to conceal that failure,” Hatfill’s lawyers said in a statement. “Our government did this by leaking gossip, speculation, and misinformation to a handful of credulous reporters.”
Five people were killed and 17 sickened by anthrax that was mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The anthrax attacks remain unsolved.
Big Sur, Calif.
Wildfire threatens small tourist town
Firefighters bulked up their defenses Friday against a wildfire that threatened parts of this storied tourist town and prepared for more lightning strikes that could ignite new fires across Northern California.
More than 1,000 fires, mostly caused by lightning, burned across Northern California, including two gigantic blazes in the Los Padres National Forest.
Firefighters rushed to protect about 575 threatened homes and historic structures in the Big Sur area. They allowed the fire to rage nearly unchecked through steep mountain forests, where flames torched massive redwoods and sent them toppling.
“This is not going away anytime soon,” said Mark Savage, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.