Scout president says ban on gays won’t last
NEW YORK – The national president of the Boy Scouts of America, Robert Gates, said Thursday that the organization’s longstanding ban on participation by openly gay adults is no longer sustainable and called for change in order to avert potentially destructive legal battles.
In a speech in Atlanta at the Boy Scouts’ national annual meeting, Gates referred to recent moves by Scout councils in New York City and elsewhere to defy the ban.
“The status quo in our movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained,” he said.
Vietnam hero killed in Waco shootout
WACO, Texas – One of nine bikers killed at a shootout outside a Texas restaurant was a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient whose family members dispute police claims he was in a criminal group.
An Associated Press review of Texas court records and a database maintained by the state Department of Public Safety turned up no criminal history in Texas for Jesus Delgado Rodriguez, 65, of New Braunfels. And his son Vincent Ramirez told the San Antonio Express-News that he was not violent.
Rodriguez was one of nine bikers killed Sunday when gunfire erupted at Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, where motorcyclists had gathered for a meeting. Authorities have said the shooting began during an apparent confrontation between two rival motorcycle gangs – the Bandidos and the Cossacks.
Six officers indicted in Baltimore death
BALTIMORE – A grand jury indicted all six officers charged in the case of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries he suffered in police custody, allowing the state’s attorney to press ahead with the most serious charges despite criticism that she was part of an “overzealous prosecution.”
The indictments announced Thursday were similar to the charges Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced nearly three weeks ago. The most serious charge for each officer, ranging from second-degree “depraved heart” murder to assault, stood, though some of the lesser alleged offenses had changed.
Gray suffered a critical spinal injury April 12 after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, Mosby has said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored.
Associated Press
