Mistrial declared in Freddie Gray trial
BALTIMORE – A judge declared a hung jury Wednesday after the panel couldn’t reach a decision in the manslaughter trial of a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, whose injury in police custody sparked weeks of protests and fueled the nation’s scrutiny of how police treat black suspects.
William Porter’s trial was the first test of prosecutors’ case against six officers in a city struggling to rein in violent crime.
The case hinged not on what Porter did, but what prosecutors said he didn’t do. He was accused of failing to get medical help for a critically wounded Gray and was charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
The charges carried maximum prison terms totaling 25 years. It was not immediately clear whether Porter would be tried again.
Proposal gives boost to self-driving cars
LOS ANGELES – California regulators have unveiled a roadmap that would let consumers begin using self-driving cars, though manufacturers would have to prove the emerging technology is safe before a licensed driver could get chauffeured around town.
The approach California’s Department of Motor Vehicles offered Wednesday in precedent-setting draft regulations is cautious, though it does allow that Californians could be behind the wheel of a self-driving car by 2017.
Among other safety-related requirements, the cars must have a steering wheel, and a licensed driver must be ready to take over if the machine fails.
Google, which is pushing to get cars without a steering wheel or pedals to consumers, expressed “grave disappointment” with the rules, which the tech giant said would slow deployment of technology with huge life-saving potential.
King Tut’s mask repaired, on display
CAIRO – Egypt put the famed golden burial mask of King Tutankhamun back on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on Wednesday evening after the relic was repaired following a botched attempt to reattach the mask’s beard with epoxy.
In August 2014, the beard was accidentally knocked off during work on the relic’s lighting, after which workers hastily tried to reattach it with epoxy causing damage to the priceless artifact and stirring uproar among archaeologists.
A German-Egyptian team began restoration work on the mask in October. Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said the reattachment came after studies explored the best materials to use for the work.
The 3,300-year-old pharaonic mask was discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb along with other artifacts by British archeologists in 1922.
Associated Press
