The Baltimore family of a slain federal prosecutor said Thursday they are shocked by the 38-year-old’s “tragic and violent death” and are cooperating with investigators. Jonathan Luna, an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, had 36 stab wounds when he drowned in a Pennsylvania creek last week.
FEDS SEEK DEATH: Federal prosecutors in Birmingham, Ala., said Thursday they would seek the death penalty against Eric Rudolph, who is charged in a 1998 abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse. Rudolph, 37, was arrested in May in North Carolina after being on the run for five years. He is being held without bond in a Birmingham jail.
MALVO A LIAR?: Did Lee Boyd Malvo lie to police when he said he was the triggerman in last year’s sniper killings, or did he lie to psychiatrists when he claimed he served only as John Allen Muhammad’s spotter? Testimony at Malvo’s trial in Chesapeake, Va., Thursday centered on those conflicting claims, a key part of the question of whether Malvo was brainwashed by Muhammad.
FOOD RULE DELAY: New rules requiring food importers to give the government advance notice of shipments go into effect Friday–but officials will delay strict enforcement for eight months to avoid disrupting trade. The FDA said it will work to educate the tens of thousands of importers during a “phase-in period” that will last until Aug. 12.
NEW SHUTTLE SENSORS: Taking a lesson from the Columbia disaster, NASA plans to embed high-tech sensors in the wings of the three remaining space shuttles to detect any blows from debris, an oversight panel said Thursday in Houston.
AMTRAK SETBACK: A federal judge rejected Amtrak’s request to block a threatened one-day walkout by railroad unions to protest what they say is chronic underfunding of passenger rail. Unions representing 8,000 of Amtrak’s 21,000 employees had planned the work stoppage for Oct. 3 but agreed to postpone any action until the court ruled. No new date has been set.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
