Mom, stepmother accused of assault on girls at school

Mom, stepmother accused of assault on girls at school

FRESNO, Calif.

Two women have been arrested for reportedly going onto a school campus and assaulting a pair of teenage girls, including one who the women say had been bullying their son, police said Tuesday.

The mother, stepmother and other relatives of a 12-year-old Fresno, Calif., boy drove to the campus of Cooper Academy, rushed into the cafeteria filled with 100 people for an after-school activity and confronted the two girls, age 12 and 13, Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez said.

In the confrontation, a 15-year-old daughter of one of the women started to fight with one girl, who later complained of pain to her head and arm, Gomez said.

The two women, age 29 and 33, and the 15-year-old girl were later arrested on suspicion of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor cruelty to a child, Gomez said.

The boy’s mother said Tuesday that she was interviewed by a police detective who told her that she would not be charged. The Associated Press is not naming the mother because her son is the victim of purported bullying.

Bipartisan deal on Medicare cuts

WASHINGTON

An extraordinary bipartisan accord between House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is letting both parties exhale as they move toward ending the nagging annual threat of Medicare cuts to physicians.

For Boehner, R-Ohio, the package announced Tuesday lets him claim a rare if modest bipartisan pact to strengthen the finances of the costly Medicare health care program for seniors.

Pelosi, D-Calif., was focused more on the extra money the plan contains for health care programs for children and low-income people.

The measure also would make permanent programs helping low-income seniors pay Medicare deductibles and poor families retain Medicaid as they get jobs.

Sandy Hook shooter’s home is demolished

NEWTOWN, Conn.

The Connecticut home of Adam Lanza, who carried out the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school, has been demolished, Newtown officials said Tuesday.

The 2-acre lot where the 3,100-square-foot house once stood in a leafy, suburban neighborhood will be left as open space under a plan approved by town officials.

Several neighbors had asked for the building to be taken down, describing it as a constant reminder of the tragedy. Among them, Dave Ackart said in a letter: “Not only is the property a constant reminder of the evil that resided there — those of us who walk, run, drive, ride or otherwise must pass it multiple times a day, are having a hard time moving on.”

Yemen leader asks UN to back military action against rebels

UNITED NATIONS

Yemen’s embattled president asked the U.N. Security Council to authorize a military intervention in support of his government to oust Houthi Shiite rebels who control much of the disintegrating country’s north and are advancing south.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said in a letter to the council obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press that he also had asked members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League to immediately provide “all means necessary, including military intervention to protect Yemen and its people from the continuing Houthi aggression.”

Associated Press