In brief: Letter to White House tests for cyanide
WASHINGTON – An envelope addressed to the White House has tentatively tested positive for cyanide after two rounds of analysis, the Secret Service said Tuesday. Additional testing will be necessary to confirm the finding.
The letter was received Monday at a facility that screens mail for the White House and is located away from the grounds of the executive mansion and its surrounding buildings in the heart of downtown Washington.
Initial biological testing came back negative, said agency spokesman Robert Hoback.
Additional testing conducted Tuesday returned a “presumptive positive” for cyanide. The sample has been taken to another facility for further testing.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for the safety and security of President Barack Obama and his immediate family, said its investigation into the letter was continuing and it will have no additional comment on the matter.
Missouri executes man for 1996 killing
BONNE TERRE, Mo. – Missouri’s oldest death row inmate was executed Tuesday for the 1996 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy, after the U.S. Supreme Court and the governor declined to spare the 74-year-old whose attorneys said he had a diminished mental capacity because of a sawmill accident decades ago.
Cecil Clayton was put to death by lethal injection after Gov. Jay Nixon denied a clemency request and the nation’s high court turned aside appeals claiming Clayton was mentally incompetent. The Missouri Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, already had declined to intervene, with the court’s majority concluding last weekend there was no evidence Clayton – despite his brain injury – wasn’t capable of understanding his circumstances. The U.S. Supreme Court was also divided, with four judges saying they would have granted a stay.
Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said in a statement that Clayton was executed at 9:13 p.m. and pronounced dead at 9:21 p.m.
Two killed, five hurt in store shooting
STOCKTON, Calif. – Police in Northern California say at least two people are dead and five people are wounded in a shooting at a grocery store.
Stockton police said one person was killed Tuesday night at the store in Stockton and another died at a hospital.
The victim who died at the store was a woman, the Stockton Record reported. She was found on a sidewalk outside. Some of the wounded victims were found inside the market.
Dozens of people gathered in the area after the shooting, and additional police had to be called to help control the crowd.
New York City has longest workweek
NEW YORK – Between commuting time and work hours, New York City residents have the longest workweeks among the country’s 30 biggest cities, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a report released Tuesday.
The report said a typical week for a full-time New York worker adds up to more than 49 hours, including an average of more than six hours of commuting time. That was more than four hours longer than in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the average work week was about 44 1/2 hours. Commuting time made up just under 3 1/2 hours of that.
The report was based on data from the U.S. Census from 1990 and 2000 and the 2013 American Community Survey.
Stringer said commuting times were longer for lower-wage workers, who were more likely than higher-wage workers to live in parts of the city that aren’t as well-served by public transportation. Security guards, for example, on average spent more than eight hours a week commuting.