Florida : State placed children with ex-con relative

Police say three children were beaten and one was sexually molested after social workers placed them with a relative who had a lengthy criminal arrest record that included indecent exposure.

The Family Continuity Program, an agency funded by Florida’s embattled Department of Children & Families, did only a local background check on Mervin Kitnurse, missing a string of arrests in south Florida dating from 1996, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. He had been on parole for indecent exposure as recently as November.

Kitnurse, 36, of North Port, gained custody of the niece and twin nephews last summer.

Kitnurse was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12. He was being held without bail in the Sarasota County Jail.

California: Suspect faces jail time for Sequoia forest fire

A woman charged with starting a massive fire last summer in Sequoia National Forest will spend 18 months in prison under terms of a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court.

Under the deal, signed by Peri Dare Van Brunt, her public defender and the assistant U.S. attorney, Van Brunt is scheduled to enter guilty pleas Monday to three federal misdemeanors, each with a maximum sentence of six months.

The fire, the worst in Sequoia National Park, reportedly spread after Van Brunt’s campfire blew out of control July 21.

The fire burned for six weeks, blackening 150,696 acres of forest and causing $60 million in damage, including the destruction of three homes and five commercial properties.

New Hampshire: State stages memorial for Old Man of Mountain

It was the closest thing to a funeral a rock ever got.

Gov. Craig Benson joined more than 500 people Saturday to remember the Old Man of the Mountain, the granite New Hampshire icon that crumbled down from its mountain perch a week ago.

“The Old Man continues to look down on us, hoping that we will find a way to memorialize him that’s fitting. We will do that,” said Benson, who had declared a “Family Remembrance Day” for the Old Man.

The Old Man has been the state symbol for decades, lending his profile to highway signs and license plates.

Maine: President of university dies at commencement

The president of a small university died of an apparent heart attack Saturday in the midst of the school’s commencement activities, a university official said.

John H. Joseph, president of the University of Maine at Machias, collapsed shortly before the graduation ceremony as he chatted with students wearing caps and gowns, officials said.

Students trained as emergency medical technicians performed CPR, but Joseph did not respond, said Richard Scribner, a professor who assisted at the scene.

Joseph, 60, had been scheduled to preside over the graduation of 135 students.

Oregon : County seeks Klingon language interpreter Position available: Interpreter, must be fluent in Klingon.

The language created for the “Star Trek” TV series and movies is one of about 55 needed by the office that treats mental health patients in metropolitan Multnomah County.

“We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak,” said Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health clients.

Although created for works of fiction, Klingon was designed to have a consistent grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

“There are some cases where we’ve had mental health patients where this was all they would speak,” said the county’s purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway.