■UNITED STATES
Police issue unusual tickets
A Texas police chief apologized on Friday after at least 39 people received traffic tickets because they couldn’t speak English. “I apologize to the Spanish speaking, Hispanic community.” Dallas police chief David Kunkle said at a press conference. The situation came to light after a woman went to court to challenge a ticket issued by an officer which cited her for being a “non-English speaking driver.” Kunkle said his department reviewed its records and found that 38 similar tickets had been written in the past three years by six different officers. All fees will be refunded and the police will ask for all convictions to be reversed, he said. The department is also considering dereliction of duty charges against the officers involved and the sergeants who reviewed the citations. Kunkle said the misunderstanding of state law could have stemmed from an effort to shift to an electronic citation system. Lists of citations were distributed which included a federal statute which requires drivers of commercial vehicles to have sufficient proficiency in English to operate the vehicle safely.
■UNITED STATES
Diva causes dining ruckus
An Argentine diva has been charged with creating a ruckus at a Manhattan restaurant. The case against Gabriela Pochinki was adjourned on Friday on contemplation of dismissal. That means the misdemeanor disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructing-government charges will be tossed if she stays out of trouble for six months. A criminal complaint says Pochinki irked fellow patrons by yelling into her cellphone, then screamed at a manager and refused to leave when asked by the manager and a police officer. Pochinki has appeared in leading roles worldwide.
■UNITED STATES
‘War hero’ sentenced to jail
A Marine sergeant has been sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Virginia court martial for pretending to be a war hero who had been seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sergeant David Budwah, 34, pled guilty before the court martial at the Quantico military base to having sought an exemption on the basis of post-traumatic stress disorder, which he did not actually have, court documents showed. He was also found guilty of having worn medals and ribbons he had not earned and obtaining seats at concerts, dinners and sporting events that were intended for wounded US military personnel. He acknowledged having lied during an interview with a journalist from the Herald-Mail newspaper, in which he claimed to have been injured “by a hand grenade filled with glass, nails and other debris. I dove on a buddy to shield him from the blast, and the blast damaged half my face,” he told the reporter. Between 2000 and 2006 Budwah was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Prince defends big bonuses
Prince Andrew defended big bonuses yesterday, saying they were “minute” in the grand scheme of things but were an easy target for people angry at the financial crisis. “I don’t want to demonize the banking and financial sector,” the Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “Bonuses, in the scheme of things, are minute. They are easy to target. A number [of people] will have abused their privilege of a bonus, so get rid of the excesses, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
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