Curses, foiled again

When Chicago police investigating reports of shots fired stopped a car that Shandra Kidd, 22, was riding in, she bolted. After an officer caught her, she stuck a gun in the officer’s chest and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t fire. She tried again, but again the gun didn’t go off. The officer then shot Kidd in the buttocks and arrested her. Investigators explained Kidd’s gun was empty because the cylinder opened while she was fleeing, and all the bullets fell out. (Chicago Sun-Times) Authorities investigating a spree of vehicle fires in El Paso, Texas, identified Edwardo Ramirez, 25, as the culprit because he left footprints that led to a nearby home, where he was found burning clothing in the backyard. The police report added that gold and silver spray paint on Ramirez’s hands were the same colors as fresh graffiti near the burning vehicles. Also, a tattoo on Ramirez’s stomach matched some of the graffiti. (El Paso’s KVIA-TV)

Detached attachment

Two British security officers assigned to place an electronic monitoring tag on Christopher Lowcock, 29, were fired after officials discovered the device had been attached to Lowcock’s artificial leg. According to the Ministry of Justice, Lowcock wrapped the fake limb in a bandage and then talked an agent of G4S, a security firm the government hired to tag offenders, into installing it over the bandage. Whenever Lowcock wanted to go out, he unattached the monitored leg and left it home. The second agent was fired after he went to inspect the monitoring equipment but failed to notice it was attached to an artificial leg. Managers discovered the ruse when they went to check on Lowcock a third time, only to learn he’d left home and been taken into custody for driving illegally. “Procedures were clearly not followed,” a ministry official acknowledged, noting, “Two thousand offenders are tagged every week, and incidents like this are rare.” (Britain’s The Telegraph)

Litigation nation

The Washington, D.C., city attorney general’s office filed a suit against convicted drug kingpin Cornell Jones, who founded a nonprofit organization when he got out of prison that received grants to fund a jobtraining center for people with HIV/AIDS. Instead, the suit says, Jones used $329,653 of the grant money to turn a 14,000-square-foot warehouse into a popular nightspot that advertises “five-star dining” and nude dancers. (The Washington Post)

Non-user fees

AT&T began charging its landline customers who don’t have long-distance calling plans — most rarely, if ever, make long-distance calls — a $2 a month “minimum use” fee. AT&T’s Holly Hollingsworth said the charge is necessary to cover the company’s cost “to provide customers with basic long-distance service, including account maintenance, even if no calls are made.” (Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer) Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.