Cardinal Bernard Law, central figure in abuse scandal, dies

Cardinal Bernard Law, central figure in abuse scandal, dies

BOSTON

An official with the Catholic Church says Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86.

Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. The official asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to announce the death to the public.

Law was the Boston archbishop in 2002 when court documents revealed he had failed to stop priests who molested children.

Law and other church leaders had moved guilty clergy from parish to parish in Massachusetts without alerting parents or police. He resigned amid a public uproar over his actions.

Vatican officials later appointed him to run a major basilica in Rome. Critics condemned the appointment as a reward for the cardinal.

12 reported dead as foreign tourist bus crashes in Mexico

MEXICO CITY

At least 12 people died when a bus carrying cruise ship passengers to Mayan ruins in eastern Mexico flipped over on a highway early Tuesday, officials said.

Seven Americans and two Swedes were among the injured, Quintana Roo state Civil Defense spokesman Vicente Martin said. He said authorities hadn’t yet established the nationalities of the dead.

Video images from the scene showed the bus on its side in vegetation off the two-lane highway, with some survivors lying on the pavement and others walking around.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement that passengers from two of its ships, the Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas, were involved in the crash.

Teen is 5th suspect in Ohio shooting that killed boy

CLEVELAND

A third 15-year-old boy has been charged in a Cleveland shooting that killed a preteen boy and left five teenagers wounded, bringing the number of people charged to five.

Two 15-year-old boys and two young adults previously were arrested in connection with the Nov. 25 shooting.

The latest teenage defendant was arrested last week and held on suspicion of crimes including aggravated murder. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles charged with crimes.

Police say at least 20 shots were fired at a group of teenagers outside a liquor store.

Twelve-year-old Parma seventh-grader Abdel Bashiti was fatally shot when he and his father walked outside their family’s beauty-supply store after the gunfire began.

A judge will decide whether to transfer the juvenile defendants’ cases to adult court.

Cleveland to hire firm to address police complaints

CLEVELAND

Cleveland says it plans to hire a private firm to finish a backlog of unfinished investigations into citizen complaints against police.

At issue is the city’s Office of Professional Standards, which has had difficulties for years finishing investigations or doing them correctly.

Cleveland.com reports the city outlined its plan to hire a company in a Friday court filing.

The city says the agency’s six full-time investigators and six temporary ones will focus on completing investigations into complaints filed next year.

Associated Press