New York: Officer sent to prison for beating of Haitian

A former police officer was sentenced to five years in prison Saturday night in a last-minute deal that avoided a fourth trial on charges he lied about the torture of a Haitian immigrant.

U.S. District Judge Reena Raggi sentenced Charles Schwarz to five years in prison for perjury. In exchange, prosecutors dropped outstanding civil rights charges and a second perjury count.

Schwarz, 36, was scheduled to stand trial for a fourth time beginning Monday for his part in the attack on Abner Louima inside the bathroom of a Brooklyn police precinct.

Prosecutors had alleged that Schwarz held Louima down while fellow police Officer Justin Volpe sodomized the man with a broken broomstick. Schwarz denied ever being inside the bathroom.

Volpe pleaded guilty, and is serving a 30-year sentence.

Washington, D.C.: Democrats face steep fines for ’96 scandal

The Federal Election Commission has imposed record fines totaling at least $719,000 against Democrats involved in the party’s 1996 fund-raising scandals, according to published reports.

FEC documents described how Democratic fund-raisers demanded illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals in China and other countries in exchange for meetings with then-President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Among those who were penalized by the FEC were the Democratic National Committee, $115,000; the Clinton-Gore campaign, $2,000; and the Buddhist Progressive Society, $120,000, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Saturday.

They said the DNC also agreed to surrender an additional $128,000 representing illegal campaign donations that were not returned.

Minneapolis: Judge rules Qwest blocked competitors

A Minnesota administrative law judge ruled Friday that Qwest Communications deliberately violated federal laws to block local telephone competitors.

Qwest could face fines of $50 million if the ruling is upheld by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

The ruling said Qwest violated federal law 25 times in 12 secret agreements that favored some of its telephone competitors over others.

Klein also said Qwest used the agreements to quell potential dissent in its effort to enter the long-distance market in Minnesota.

Qwest said the ruling was wrong.

Los Angeles: ‘Hillside Strangler’ dies in prison cell

Angelo Buono Jr., whose gruesome killing of young Los Angeles women in the 1970s earned him the nickname “Hillside Strangler,” died Saturday in his prison cell, corrections officials said.

Buono, 67, was found dead in his cell at Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County, said a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

There were no signs of trauma, and Buono was alone in his own cell when he died.

Buono was serving a life sentence for killing nine young women and dumping their nude bodies on Los Angeles-area hillsides in 1977 and 1978.

Indiana: Violent storms pummel parts of Midwest

Severe storms, and at least one tornado, ravaged parts of Indiana and Ohio, destroying homes and businesses, flipping cars and blowing off rooftops. Ten people were injured at a harvest festival in Crestline, Ohio, where lights toppled onto a crowd.

Friday’s violent weather raked parts of a 150-mile stretch in the southwestern corner of Indiana, dumping 5 inches of rain in some places.