Hawaii court denies construction of huge telescope

Hawaii court denies construction of huge telescope

HONOLULU

The Hawaii Supreme Court is invalidating a permit awarded for the construction of one of the world’s largest telescopes on a mountain many Native Hawaiians consider sacred.

The court ruled Wednesday that the state Board of Land and Natural Resources should not have issued a permit for the telescope before it held a hearing to evaluate a petition by a group challenging the project’s approval. The ruling sends the case back to the board for a new hearing.

A group of universities in California and Canada plan to build Thirty Meter Telescope with partners from China, India and Japan.

The group suspended construction at Mauna Kea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island after protesters blocked the road to the summit.

DNA clears man in mother’s death

SEATTLE

A Washington state man convicted of killing his mother 15 years ago has walked out of prison a free man after investigators said new DNA tests linked another man to the crime.

Attorneys with the Innocence Project Northwest told The Associated Press that Donovan Allen left Clallam Bay Corrections Center on the Olympic Peninsula on Wednesday afternoon — a day after a prosecutor dismissed the case against him.

Allen was 18 when his mother, Sharon Cox, was killed in 2000. He confessed to police after a 14-hour-long interrogation. Though he later recanted, he was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Investigators said new DNA tests recently linked Cox’s nephew, 42-year-old Brian Del Kitts, to the killing, and he was arrested last week. Kitts pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Lack of sound in police videos raises more questions

CHICAGO

Experts say the absence of audio on police dash-cam video of a white Chicago officer fatally shooting a black teenager raises red flags.

Protocol requires that all cruisers record audio. But videos from four other squad cars the night officer Jason Van Dyke short Laquan McDonald also were silent.

That’s raised questions about a possible cover-up.

Experts say it’s plausible for a single car to have an audio-system glitch. But they couldn’t imagine how a fleet of cars would all lose audio at the same time by mere happenstance.

Gregg Stutchman’s specialized in video forensics for 23 years. He says he’s never heard of audio failing on several police cars at the same incident.

He says the most likely explanation is that officers intentionally switched the audio off.

Student who was shot leaves hospital

NEW ORLEANS

A family spokesman says a Tulane University medical student shot while stopping what authorities described as an apparent kidnapping has been released from a hospital.

Sara Roen Brady of Winter Park, Florida, reached by phone Wednesday, says 25-year-old Peter Gold is expected to recover fully.

Online criminal court records show 21-year-old Euric Cain is being held without bond on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, with bond on two lesser charges totaling $400,000.

Police-released surveillance video showed a man dragging a woman toward an SUV on Nov. 20 and Gold pulling up. It shows a man shooting Gold in the abdomen, then trying to shoot him in the head.

The woman escaped with minor injuries. Police say the gunman drove off with her purse.

Associated Press