Boston

Director of rehab center for priests suspended

The director of a rehabilitation center for priests accused of molesting children has himself been suspended for sexual abuse allegations dating to the 1970s.

The Rev. Robert Beale was placed on administrative leave Wednesday by the Archdiocese of Boston after church officials reviewed an allegation that Beale molested a minor while a parish priest.

Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, would not release details but said church officials found the allegation credible.

She said the rehabilitation center, Our Lady’s Hall, currently has no patients.

Beale did not return calls for comment Thursday.

San Francisco

Court protects use of medical marijuana

Ailing Californians who use or grow marijuana with a physician’s approval are protected by state law from prosecution, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.

In its first review of a 1996 medical marijuana initiative, the court said medical users who are arrested may have the charges dismissed without a trial if a doctor has approved use of the drug.

The ruling overturns the felony conviction of a blind diabetic who was arrested after police spotted 31 marijuana plants growing in the front yard of his home in Twain Harte in Tuolumne County.

“The possession and cultivation of marijuana is no more criminal so long as its conditions are satisfied than the possession and acquisition of any prescription drug with a physician’s prescription,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote for the court.

California

Dragnet for girl’s killer leads to other arrests

Authorities hunted statewide Thursday for the killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, pursuing hundreds of tips and warning that anyone who resembles the suspect or drives a similar car could be questioned.

“There have been numerous detentions, there have been a few arrests, there have been vehicles impounded,” Orange County Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo said. But so far, no sign of the killer.

Investigators said they were checking to see if Samantha’s case was similar to unsolved child killings nationwide. However, the focus of the manhunt remained in Southern California, where about 400 Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and local police officers were joined by nearly 100 FBI agents.

The girl was abducted Monday outside her Stanton home. Her body was found Tuesday near a highway. Authorities said she had been sexually assaulted and smothered.

Virginia

Attorneys general seek ban on tobacco lozenge

The attorneys general of 42 states want the Food and Drug Administration to regulate sales of a tobacco lozenge made by a Virginia cigarette company.

Ariva, manufactured by Star Scientific Inc. of Chester, is made of compressed tobacco flavored with eucalyptus. It delivers a dose of nicotine equal to a cigarette. The company promotes Ariva as an alternative for smokers when they are in places where smoking is banned.

Star Scientific began test-marketing Ariva in November and said it now sells the lozenges in about 30,000 stores in 40 states.

The attorneys general said that Ariva has never been tested for safety and that its bright packaging and sweet taste could appeal to children.

FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Kolar said Thursday that the FDA was reviewing the matter.

Washington

Youth gun programs ineffective, report says

Gun-safety programs aimed at young people have done little to reduce the 20,000 children killed or injured by guns in the United States every year, according to a report published Thursday.

Guns should be made “child-proof” by designing them with a series of safety features which the industry has been slow to adopt, the child health experts in the report, “Children, Youth and Gun Violence,” concluded.

Instead of targeting children, parents should become the new focus of gun-safety campaigns, according to the report published in The Future of Children.

Gunshots are the second-leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 19, after car accidents.

Los Angeles

Officer on videotape enters innocent plea

The policeman who was videotaped punching a handcuffed teenager pleaded innocent to assault Thursday and his attorney said the incident amounted to a “reasonable use of force” under the circumstances.

Officer Jeremy Morse entered the plea and his partner, Bijan Darvish, pleaded innocent to filing a false police report. Each faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

The men were freed on $25,000 bail each, which was provided by the Inglewood Police union, and the next hearing was set for Aug. 13.

Morse’s attorney, John Barnett, said the video and a surveillance tape from the gasoline station that was the site of the confrontation will help clear his client of wrongdoing. The surveillance tape has not been released by authorities.

“It was proper, reasonable use of force,” said Barnett, who has alleged the teenager, Donovan Jackson, 16, grabbed Morse’s testicles while handcuffed.

California

Ex-boyfriend charged with poisoning lipstick

A man has been charged with poisoning his ex-girlfriend’s lipstick and anti-depressant medication with insecticide.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Vincent Hall, 36, pleaded innocent to felony charges of poisoning and making threats. An attempted murder charge was dropped, and bail was set at $10,000.

Hall faces a maximum of nine years in prison if convicted.

The former girlfriend testified that the alleged poisoning attempt came a few days after she and Hall agreed to split up, and that Hall had moved his belongings out of her home by the time she returned from work June 16.

The woman said she tasted something foul after trying to bite an anti-depressant tablet in half.

She and her daughter sniffed the tablets and determined the smell was a commercial bug-killing spray.

New Jersey

Donors’ descendants sue Ivy League school

Descendants of a couple who donated what has become a $600 million endowment at Princeton University have sued the school in a bid to transfer the money to another university.

Relatives of the late Charles S. and Marie H. Robertson claim that Princeton has attempted to prevent family members who manage the Robertson Foundation with university-appointed trustees from fulfilling its mission.

They also charge that the Ivy League school is planning to mix the foundation’s assets with the university’s endowment, preventing family members from overseeing the foundation’s funds.

Princeton President Shirley Tilghman denied the allegations and said the family didn’t have the legal right to withdraw its endowment. She also said legal restrictions allowed the funds to be used only for Princeton’s benefit.

Charles Robertson was a 1926 Princeton graduate. His wife was an heir to the A&P grocery store fortune. They created the foundation in 1961 with 700,000 shares of A&P stock, worth $35 million at the time.