Man fatally shot by LA police kept holding gun
LOS ANGELES – A black man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles deputies kept holding a gun as he lay dying on the ground, authorities said Sunday in response to questions about why they continued to fire on the man after he fell to the pavement.
A close-up from security footage showed 28-year-old Nicholas Robertson stretched out on the ground with a gun in his hand. He died at the scene Saturday morning in the south Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood.
Two deputies fired 33 bullets at the man after he refused to drop the gun and walked across a busy street to a filling station where a family was pumping gas, homicide Cpt. Steven Katz said.
“When he collapsed, his arms were underneath him, and the gun was still in his hand. There was never a time when the weapon was not in his possession,” Katz said.
Asked if the officers were white, Katz said no but would not elaborate.
Initial results show 19 Saudi women elected
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – At least 19 Saudi women have won seats on local municipal councils a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country’s history, according to initial results released to The Associated Press on Sunday.
The women who won hail from vastly different parts of the country, ranging from Saudi Arabia’s largest city to a small village near Islam’s holiest sites
Though not many women were expected to win seats, even limited gains are seen as a step forward for women who had previously been completely shut out of elections.
General Election Commission spokesman Hamad Al-Omar told the AP that out of 130,000 female registered voters, a staggering 106,000 cast ballots, or roughly 82 percent. More than 1.35 million men had registered to vote, with 44 percent, or almost 600,000, casting ballots.
Iowa’s Gov. breaks record after 21 years in office
DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is about to enter the political record books as the longest serving governor in American history, dating all the way back to colonial times.
On Dec. 14th, the six-term Republican will mark his 7,642nd day of service as governor. That’s just shy of 21 years in the office. Branstad will move beyond former New York Gov. George Clinton, whose service includes some pre-Constitution time, and is far out in front of any recent or current governor.
Most other long-serving governors topped out at four four-year terms, including former South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, former Ohio Gov. Jim Rhoads and former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt. All served more than one stint in the office.
Helping Branstad, 69, go longer is that Iowa is a rare state without a term limits law. Also, he has never sought higher office. He took a break in the private sector after serving four terms from 1983 to 1999, but came back to oust an incumbent Democratic governor in 2010.
Associated Press
