In brief: Arizona reopens deputy shooting

PHOENIX – Arizona officials on Monday reopened the investigation into a deputy’s explanation of how he was shot in the remote desert amid speculation it was a hoax timed to inflame the debate over illegal immigration.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office announced its decision Monday after two nationally known forensic pathologists raised questions about a wound the deputy suffered to media outlets.

Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll told investigators he was following a group of smugglers carrying bales of marijuana April 30 when he was ambushed by men firing AK-47 rifles.

The pathologists, Dr. Michael Baden of New York and Dr. Werner Spitz of suburban Detroit, examined photos of the wound. They told the Associated Press on Friday that they concluded the bullet was fired from inches away, not from at least 25 yards away as Puroll said.

Law cuts cadmium in kids’ jewelry

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill that will limit the amount of the toxic metal cadmium that can be used in children’s jewelry.

Under the bill that he signed Monday, cadmium can be no more than 300 parts per million in jewelry intended for children ages 6 and under. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2012.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel filed another appeal of his 2002 murder conviction late Monday, this time arguing his high-profile trial attorney was incompetent.

Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, says in the appeal filed in Rockville Superior Court that Michael Sherman had significant financial problems and did not devote enough money to prepare the case.

Skakel is serving 20 years to life in prison for the fatal beating of Martha Moxley in Greenwich in 1975, when they were both 15.