AVALANCHE DEATH: A 23-year-old skier died Friday after being pulled from an avalanche in California’s snow-laden San Gabriel Mountains, authorities said.
CIRCUMCISION DISPUTE: The wishes of a 12-year-old boy should be considered in a dispute between his divorced parents about whether he should be circumcised, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday. The father converted to Judaism in 2004 and wants the boy circumcised as part of the faith; the mother says the operation could harm her son physically and psychologically.
DRIVER’S PLEA: A not guilty plea was entered Friday in Arkansas on behalf of Felix Badillo Tapia, 28, a bus driver charged with four felonies after testing positive for amphetamines in a deadly crash. The bus was carrying 47 people from Chicago to Dallas.
COMMENT FLAP: Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi resigned from the peace institute he co-founded in Rochester, N.Y., after condemnation of his comments that Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in a culture of violence that “is eventually going to destroy humanity.” Gandhi, the fifth grandson of the revered pacifist, said Friday that his comments, which were posted on an online forum, “have resulted in pain, anger, confusion and embarrassment. I deeply regret these consequences.”
MACHETE ATTACK: A 42-year-old man from Manorville, N.Y., pleaded not guilty Friday to second-degree murder after being accused of hacking his wife to death with a machete after an argument over his refusal to take medication, police said. The couple’s 17-year-old daughter discovered the body of her 46-year-old-mother when she went to awaken her for a ride to school Thursday.
