In brief: Tiny North Dakota town decimated by wildfire

Bismarck, N.D. – The tiny southwestern North Dakota town of Bucyrus has been all but destroyed by a wind-fueled wildfire that displaced its 27 residents, prompting an outpouring of assistance from surrounding communities, officials said Thursday.

No one was injured in the fire that swept through late Wednesday, but the rural town is “pretty much completely lost,” Adams County State’s Attorney Aaron Roseland said.

The county commission chairman said the fire destroyed four homes and two abandoned farms in the town about 60 miles south of Dickinson. Chuck Christman said seven structures, a church and a grain elevator were spared from the blaze that was pushed by near 70-mph winds. The town’s only business, a picture-framing shop, was destroyed, while trees and buildings including homes still smoldered Thursday, he said.

Minneapolis man convicted of terrorism-related charges

Minneapolis – A Minneapolis man accused of helping send young men through a terrorist pipeline from Minnesota to Somalia was convicted Thursday on all five terrorism-related charges he faced, including one that could land him in prison for life.

The jury returned its verdict against Mahamud Said Omar, 46, after deliberating for about eight hours over two days. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis has not set a sentencing date.

Omar, a mosque janitor, was the first man to stand trial in the government’s investigation into what it says was the recruitment of more than 20 men who have left Minnesota since 2007 to join al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group linked to al-Qaida. Prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing.

Sandusky asks for new trial, cites unfair amount of time

Bellefonte, Pa. – Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky asked a judge on Thursday to overturn his child sexual abuse convictions and grant him a new trial, claiming his lawyers lacked sufficient time to prepare and the statute of limitations for some charges had expired.

Sandusky’s lawyers made the filing at the courthouse in Bellefonte where he was sentenced two weeks ago to 30 to 60 years in prison after being convicted of abusing 10 boys, some on Penn State’s campus in State College.

The 31-page set of motions, technically not appeals because they were filed with the trial judge, cover a wide range of assertions, including insufficient evidence, improper use of hearsay testimony and improper rulings from the bench.

More than a third of the document explores ways Sandusky believes the rapid pace of the case violated his right to due process of law, as he went from arrest to trial in just over seven months. His lawyers said they were swamped by documents from prosecutors, they lacked time to interview possible witnesses and an expert and two assistants were not available at trial.