Michigan
Chicago Arab activist under scrutiny from past
DETROIT – A Chicago activist might plead guilty in Detroit to failing to tell U.S. immigration officials about her conviction in a deadly bombing in Israel in 1969, her attorney said Saturday.
A court hearing is scheduled Wednesday for Rasmieh Yousef Odeh, associate director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago.
Her case has angered pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. who accuse the government of trying to silence dissent on Israel. Her appearance at the Detroit federal courthouse last fall drew sidewalk protesters who traveled from Illinois to chant criticism of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Odeh was convicted of an attack that killed two people at a Jerusalem market in 1969. An Israeli military court sentenced her to life in prison in 1970, but she was released 10 years later in a prisoner swap with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Washington, D.C.
Obama considering new housing, budget leaders
WASHINGTON – Shuffling his second-term Cabinet, President Barack Obama plans to nominate Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan to be budget director and is considering San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to succeed Donovan, said to people familiar with the selection process.
Donovan is an original member of Obama’s Cabinet and is well-liked within the White House, where officials have lauded his work overseeing the government’s response to Hurricane Sandy.
Castro’s star has been on the rise since Obama picked him to deliver the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The 39-year-old Castro is considered a possible vice presidential pick in 2016.
Massachusetts
Woman seriously hurt in Fenway elevator shaft fall
BOSTON – Police and state inspectors are trying to determine why an elevator door at Boston’s Fenway Park was open before a woman plunged two stories down the elevator shaft after a game, officials said Saturday.
The 22-year-old woman fell from the fourth floor and landed on the roof of the elevator, which was stopped on the second floor. It happened late Friday after the Red Sox lost to the Detroit Tigers, said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.
Power to the elevator was shut off, and firefighters climbed through the elevator’s emergency hatch to reach the woman, who was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MacDonald said.
MacDonald said the woman was unconscious at the scene with injuries that appeared serious.
New York
MERS virus is in U.S., but 2nd man not sick
NEW YORK – Health officials reported Saturday what appears to be the first time that a mysterious Middle East virus has spread from one person to another in the United States.
The Illinois man probably picked up an infection from an Indiana man who earlier this month became the first U.S. case of Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The Illinois man, however, never needed medical treatment and is reported to be feeling well, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The two men met twice before the Indiana man fell ill and was hospitalized in Munster, Indiana, shortly after traveling from Saudi Arabia.
Associated Press
