Stanford Rape Case Judge Barred From Sex Assault Trial; Chicago Police Commander’s Firing ‘Falls Through’

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
COURTS | In a rare move, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen has used his authority to remove Judge Aaron Persky from hearing a new sexual assault case. Persky came under fire recently for his handling of a sexual assault case at Stanford University. He chose to sentence former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to a mere six months in county jail for raping an unconscious woman. Discussing his decision, Rosen said “after this and the recent turn of events, we lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing in which a male nurse sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient.” The district attorney has not said whether he will barr Persky from hearing all future sexual assault cases.” [The Sacramento Bee]

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
POLICE | An attempt to fire a controversial Chicago police officer for misconduct has failed due to a missed deadline. Starting in May, the Independent Police Review Authority moved to have Glenn Evans, one of the department’s 22 district commanders, removed from the force for breaking the nose of a woman who refused to be fingerprinted. However, the IRPA and the Police Department have recently learned that the five-year statute of limitations passed in April, and Evans could not be let go for that incident. Addressing the oversight, Mia Sissac, IPRA’s spokeswoman said, “this one just fell through.” Sissa did not attempt to explain why it took IPRA nearly four years to move ahead with firing Evans. Evans has also been accused of pursuing a suspect into a building, shoving his service weapon down the suspect’s throat and threatening to kill him. [Chicago Tribune]

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
FERRIES | Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing ahead with a plan to create a fleet of city-owned ferryboats. The initiative to grow the city’s ferry service is slated to cost over $325 million. The mayor estimates the boats will be able to carry 4.5 million passengers a year. “Our aim is to make this thing as big as possible,” said Alicia Glen, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development. “No guts, no glory.” As envisioned, the ferry system could involve more than 30 commuter boats in the coming years. And de Blasio has pledged that, by the end of June 2017, ferries will be servicing three new routes in South Brooklyn, Astoria and the Rockaways in Queens. [New York Times]

PAYSON, ARIZONA
WILDFIRE | A small wildfire has ignited concerns over plans to switch Payson’s primary water source from groundwater to the Blue Ridge Reservoir. About 138 acres of land has been reportedly affected by the fire, which is burning around the body of water. Payson is located about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix. The town has plans to build infrastructure so it can begin drawing water from the reservoir in 2018. "At the moment there is no effect (on the water source), however, we are concerned about any damages this may cause in the future to the reservoir," Town Manager Laron Garrett said. [The Arizona Republic]

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
EMERGENCY RESPONSE | A member of an ambulance crew live-streamed video online of himself and his partner putting off a response to an emergency call while they waited for their food at a White Castle drive thru. “I ordered my food before the [expletive] call came in,” James Hovan, who streamed the video using the cellphone application Periscope, said at one point during the recording. “What do you think, I just throw it up in the air and run off? No!” A spokesman for University Hospital, where the ambulance crew works, said the team had been suspended and placed on unpaid administrative leave pending an investigation.” [NEWS 12]

OXFORD, ALABAMA
Reporter Zach Tyler went to the home of Oxford Mayor Leon Smith hoping for an interview; Smith hasn’t spoken directly with journalists since September. Instead, Tyler was threatened and harassed by the Mayor’s driver, who has since been arrested as a result of the incident. According to Tyler, Rick Harris—a former Lineville police officer who, in the past, pleaded guilty to assaulting two men whose hands were cuffed behind their backs—ordered him to leave. When Tyler refused, Harris reached out and wrapped his hands around Tyler’s neck. The Anniston Star is standing by Tyler saying, “Zach was doing the work of a journalist.” [The Anniston Star]

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
PENSION REFORM | Gov. Tom Wolf is urging the state Senate to consider a pension reform bill House lawmakers passed Tuesday. The bill would revamp retirement benefits for future state and school employees in Pennsylvania. House Republicans claim the legislation would save an estimated $5.05 billion over 32 years. It involves a so-called “stacked hybrid plan.” New hires would keep traditional pension benefits for the first $50,000 of their salaries, while salaries above that level would shift to what’s known as a defined-contribution system. A separate pension reform bill won approval in the Senate in December. “It’s obviously a completely different [version] than ours, and so we’ve got to review that,” Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Republican, said of the House bill. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

ATLANTA, GEORGIA
OPIOIDS | More than 1,200 people died of a drug overdose in the Peach State in 2014, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Federal health officials agree that medication-assisted treatment—employing drugs like methadone and buprenorphine—coupled with counseling are the most effective ways to treat an addiction to opioids like heroin and prescription painkillers. Yet, Georgia has put a one-year moratorium on issuing new licenses to clinics that provide this type of treatment. According to state Sen. Jeff Mullis, the state needs to figure out why so many opioid treatment centers have opened in Georgia, which has 67 such clinics— more than any other southeastern state. Advocates for medically-assisted treatment in the state argue that these programs in Georgia are filling a need that other Southern states aren’t meeting. Tennessee, for instance, only has 12 such clinics, and many residents seek treatment where they can get it, often across state lines. [NPR]