Former D.C. mayor dies at 78
WASHINGTON – A controversial and tireless advocate for the nation’s capital who created jobs for generations of black families, Marion Barry was the ultimate District of Columbia politician, though his arrest for drug use in the midst of a crack-cocaine epidemic often overshadows his accomplishments.
The former four-term mayor will long be remembered for one night in 1990 when he was caught on video lighting a crack pipe in an FBI sting operation. In an instant, the then-mayor of the capital city was exposed as a drug user himself.
Barry, 78, died Sunday at the United Medical Center, after having been released from a hospital a day earlier. His spokeswoman, LaToya Foster, said he collapsed outside his home.
Barry died naturally of heart problems caused by high blood pressure, and his kidney disease was a contributing factor, the D.C. medical examiner said. Barry had a kidney transplant several years ago.
Memorial honors aid worker
INDIANAPOLIS – An Indiana aid worker behead by Islamic State militants in Syria was praised for his humanitarian work Sunday during a memorial service attended by hundreds that included readings from the Bible and the Quran.
Peter Kassig was remembered as a good man, son, student and volunteer who dedicated himself to helping others and lived a short but full life.
The 26-year-old Indianapolis man was captured last year in eastern Syria while delivering relief supplies to refugees of Syria’s civil war. Kassig, a former U.S. Army ranger who had served in Iraq in 2007, had returned to the Mideast in 2012 and founded a relief organization to help war victims.
Iraqi forces battle Islamic State
BAGHDAD – Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group focused their offensive Sunday on the city of Ramadi, backed by Sunni tribal fighters that the U.S. plans to arm.
Authorities in the city implemented a 24-hour curfew as Iraqi armed forces and tribesmen fought to regain Ramadi’s eastern Sijariya neighborhood, which the extremist group said it captured Friday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered more aerial support and weapons for both soldiers and Sunni militiamen battling the Islamic State group in Anbar province, where Ramadi is the provincial capital.
Associated Press
