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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Holder appoints ethics watchdog

Attorney General Eric Holder replaced the Justice Department’s top ethics watchdog Wednesday, one day after a federal judge criticized the agency for moving too slowly in probing alleged government misconduct in the prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Holder named Mary Patrice Brown, a lawyer in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., to take over the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates allegations of unethical conduct by the department’s attorneys.

The department said the move had nothing to do with the Stevens case.

Los Angeles

Hospitals settle in dumping case

A $1.6 million settlement has been reached with two Southern California hospitals accused of improperly discharging and dumping psychiatric patients on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, the city attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The settlement also bars College Hospitals in Costa Mesa and Cerritos from transporting homeless psychiatric patients to downtown shelters.

City officials allege that over two years, as many as 150 patients from the two hospitals were dumped on Skid Row, an area on the east side of downtown where thousands of homeless people live.

Under the settlement, the hospitals agreed to give $1.2 million to charities that care for the mentally ill and homeless, and to pay $400,000 in civil penalties.

New York

Ex-butcher guilty in dismemberment

A former butcher was convicted Wednesday of murdering and dismembering his boss, then bagging the body parts and scattering them on street corners for collection.

Victor Gonzalez, 46, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Wilfredo Pinto Jr. on May 9, 2006. Gonzalez faces up to life in prison. His attorneys said they would appeal.

From wire reports