Quarantined nurse sues N.J. governor
TRENTON, N.J. – A nurse who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa and was quarantined at a New Jersey hospital when she returned sued Gov. Chris Christie and state health officials on Thursday, saying they illegally held her against her will.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and a New York firm filed the federal civil rights lawsuit in Newark for Kaci Hickox. Besides Christie, the lawsuit names as defendants former state Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd and other health department employees.
The lawsuit seeks at least $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.
Hickox, 34, was working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone during last year’s Ebola outbreak, which killed thousands of people.
Fogle’s victims begin receiving restitution
INDIANAPOLIS – Ten victims of former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle have received a total of $1 million in restitution since he agreed to plead guilty to child pornography and sex-crime charges, and his four other victims could receive their checks by the time he is sentenced next month, a move prosecutors said is rare.
The $100,000 checks were hand-delivered to each of the 10 victims or their parents over the last several weeks, with each signing a form saying they had received the money and that it is intended to benefit that particular victim, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota told The Associated Press on Thursday.
DeBrota said he’s handled only one other case in which restitution was paid to victims before sentencing in nearly a quarter-century of prosecuting child porn cases.
By the time a federal judge sentences Fogle on Nov. 19 to a minimum of five years in prison, DeBrota said prosecutors expect to have either presented checks to Fogle’s four other victims or have plans in place to disburse those funds to them.
Drug tunnel found on U.S.-Mexico border
SAN DIEGO – Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels ever dug between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday.
The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border.
Near-simultaneous police stings on Wednesday resulted in six arrests in San Diego and 16 in Mexico. Authorities recovered two tons of marijuana in the U.S. and 10 tons in Mexico.
U.S. authorities said smugglers tried to move the first load of drugs through the tunnel on Wednesday but nothing got through undetected.
Associated Press
