Philadelphia

Soda sales banned to battle obesity

Philadelphia school officials banned the sale of carbonated soft drinks in city schools on Wednesday in an effort to battle youth obesity.

Starting in July, only milk, water, fruit juice and the occasional sports drink will be available from most of the district’s 740 vending machines and in its cafeterias.

“This policy will go a long way in supporting one of the district’s core missions; doing everything we can to keep our students safe and healthy,” School Reform Commission chairman James Nevels said.

The 214,000-student district followed a recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics to eliminate soft drinks as a way of fighting obesity. The district estimated it will lose $500,000 a year from soda sales.

Pittsburgh

2nd-grader suspended for using profanity

A second-grader was suspended for a day for telling a classmate he would go to hell for saying, “I swear to God.”

Brandy McKenith, 7, was suspended for swearing for saying the word “hell,” but her family says she was referring to the biblical location of fire and brimstone.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools’ student code of conduct prohibits profanity, but doesn’t provide a definition, spokeswoman Pat Crawford said. The school would not comment further.

Brandy’s father, Wayne McKenith, said when he learned about the suspension, he thought perhaps his daughter had said something worse, so he called the teacher for details. He was told another student overheard his daughter say the word.

“I said, ‘Hell? She got suspended for that?”‘ McKenith said.

He said he asked the school to evaluate its profanity policy.

Texas

Stay of execution for killer ordered

A federal judge Wednesday blocked the execution of a convicted killer whose erratic behavior at trial included dressing like a cowboy and trying to subpoena Jesus Christ.

Acting a day before Scott Panetti was set to die by injection in Huntsville, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks granted a 60-day stay so that a state judge can reconsider whether Panetti is too mentally ill to be executed.

Sparks said evidence presented by Panetti’s attorney indicates Panetti is “delusional and misunderstands whether and why he will be executed.”

Panetti, 45, was sentenced to death for the 1992 slayings of his estranged wife’s parents.

During his trial, he fired his attorney and insisted on representing himself. Panetti wore cowboy attire during the proceedings, mimicking the Ringo Kid, the John Wayne character in the Western “Stagecoach.”

Panetti blamed the shootings on “Sarge,” one of his personalities.

New York

30 face charges of gang violence

Thirty members of three street gangs on Long Island were charged Wednesday with “a chilling catalog” of violent crimes, including five murders, a firebombing and numerous assaults and robberies, federal authorities said.

Officials said the suspects included some leaders of the Bloods gang in Nassau County, MS-13 in Suffolk and Nassau Counties and a lesser-known gang calling itself “Murder Unit.” Seven of those charged face a possibly death penalty, and many others life in prison.

The investigation included agents of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Long Island law enforcement agencies.

Andrew Hruska, chief assistant to U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf, said the “unusual” amount of federal resources on the case was “a dramatic response” motivated by the gang members having waged war not only on each other, but also having victimized a number of innocent bystanders.