The Boston Globe - 06.08.2019

A2 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019

TheNation

ORLANDO — Investiga-
tors were unableto corrobo-
rate specific allegations that a
Transportation Security Ad-
ministration supervisor in-
structed air marshals to ra-
cially discriminate against
passengers at Florida’s busi-
est airport.
But investigators for the
Department of Homeland Se-
curity’s Office of Inspector
General uncovered other con-
cerns about racial profiling of
passengers, according to a re-
port sent to lawmakers.
The air marshals making
the allegations said their con-
cerns were raised while doing
behavior detection exercises
in which they would mingle

with passengers, looking for

suspicious behavior.

If they saw someone who

looked suspicious, that per-

son wouldbe flagged for fur-

ther screening. Those officers

would then enter into a com-

puter system a report detail-

ing the behavior that raised

concerns, how the case was

resolved, and the passenger’s

flight number.

Some supervisors told offi-

cers to pay attention to Afri-

can American or Hispanic

travelers with tattoos, ‘‘baggy

clothes’’ or ‘‘gaudyjewelry’’

for potential additional

screening, a half dozenoffi-

cers told investigators.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reportcites concernsof biasbyTSA

The money was supposed

to be for those who needed to

rebuild theirlives.

In the wake of massivehur-

ricanes and wildfires that

pummeled the United States

in recent years, the federal

government made relief funds

available for those who found

themselves uprooted amid the

rubble of charredor washed-

out homes.

But in Maryland a group of

residents managed to scamthe

federal government out of $

million in relief funds desig-

nated for those who needed it

most, according to prosecu-

tors. Members of the group,

prosecutorsallege, werepart

of a scheme that stole the iden-

tity of disaster victims and ap-

pliedfor victim benefits.

John Irogho, 38, of Upper

Marlboro, Maryland, has been

charged with conspiracy to

commit wire fraud and con-

spiracy to commit money

laundering, according to fed-

eral prosecutors. Odinaka Eke-

ocha, 33, of Laurel, Maryland,

has been charged with con-

spiracy to commit money

laundering. Their arrests come

a few weeksafter another

Maryland man,Tare Stanley

Okirika, 30, of Laurel, pleaded

guilty to wire fraud conspiracy,

admitting that he fraudulently

obtained governmentbenefits

to pay his rent and for other

expenses,according to court

documents.

WASHINGTON POST

Marylandmencharged in aidswindle

ANCHORAGE — Another
chapteris set to play out this
weekin a decades-old family
disputeover controlof the
classicworksby authorJohn
Steinbeck.
A three-judge panelof the
NinthUS Circuit Court of Ap-
pealswill be in Alaska’s largest
city on Tuesday to hear argu-
mentsin an appealby the es-
tate of Steinbeck’s late son,
ThomasSteinbeck,over a
2017 jury verdict in Califor-
nia.
In that case,a federal jury
awardedthe author’s step-
daughter, WaverlyScott Kaffa-
ga, morethan $13 million in a
lawsuitclaimingSteinbeck’s
son and daughter-in-law, Gail
Steinbeck,impeded film adap-

tationsof the iconicworks.

It was up to the Los Ange-

les jury to decideif Thomas

and Gail Steinbeckinterfered

with dealsand shouldpay up.

Kaffaga had suedher step-

brother, his widow, Gail,and

theircompany.

Attorney Matthew Dowd,

representingthe Thomas

Steinbeckestate, said part of

the appealcontendsthe 1983

agreementwas in violation of

a 1976change to copyright

law that gave artists or their

bloodrelatives the rightto ter-

minate copyrightdeals.The

appealalso disputesthe award

handedup by the jury, main-

taining it was not supported

by ‘‘substantial evidence.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Courtto hear appeal in Steinbeck dispute

Daily Briefing

ByDánica Coto
ASSOCIATEDPRESS
SAN JUAN — Puerto Rico’s
Supreme Court on Monday
agreed to rule on a lawsuit that
the island’s Senate filed in a bid
to oust a veteran politician re-
centlysworn in as the island’s
governor.
The court gave all parties
until Tuesday at noonto file all
necessary paperwork,noting
that no extensions willbe
awarded.
The lawsuit seeksa prelimi-
nary injunction ordering Pedro
Pierluisi to ceasehis functions
immediately and also asks that
the court declare unconstitu-
tional a 2005 law that states a
secretary of state does not have
to be approved by bothHouse
and Senate if he has to step in
as governor.
‘‘We are a people of LAW
and ORDER,’’ Senate President
Thomas Rivera Schatz wrote in
a Facebook post. ‘‘There is no
circumstancethat places some-
one abovethe Law.’’
It is unclearhow quicklythe
SupremeCourt mightrule,or
whether it wouldholda hear-

ing or simply issue a written

opinion. The announcement

comes as Puerto Ricans, who

successfullyousted the previ-

ous governorfromoffice fol-

lowingnearlytwo weeksof pro-

tests, await yet another twist in

what is a deepening constitu-

tionalcrisis.

Constitutional attorney Car-

los Ramos said that the island’s

Supreme Court rarely holds

hearingsandthatatleastfive

of the nine judges have to agree

in orderto declarea law uncon-

stitutional.There is no dead-

line for the court to issue a rul-

ing, and it cannot be appealed

to the US Supreme Court be-

cause the issue deals strictly

with Puerto Rico’s constitution-

al law, he said.

If the court finds in favor of

the Senate, Justice Secretary

Wanda Vázquez would become

governor, Ramos said,adding

that it’s unclear whether Pierlu-

isi could remain as secretary of

state or whether he would be

strippedof all positions.

Pierluisi was namedsecre-

tary of state, the next in line to

be governor, in a recessap-

pointment last week. The is-

land’s House of Representa-

tives then confirmedhim to the

position in a 26-to-21 vote on

Friday, a movehe arguesmakes

him the replacementfor Gover-

nor Ricardo Rosselló.

However, the Senate had

not yet votedon the appoint-

ment, and it was expected to do

so.

Pierluisisaid in a statement

that thereis no time to lose.

‘‘Althoughit is regrettable

that this matter has to be eluci-

dated in our courts, I hopethat

it will be treated with the great-

est urgency and diligence for

the good of the peopleof Puerto

Rico,’’ he said.

The Supreme Court’s an-

nouncement means that a

hearing scheduledfor early

Monday evening by the Superi-

or Court of San Juan has been

cancelled.The Senate original-

ly filed the lawsuit late Sunday

with the Superior Court of San

Juan but thenasked the Su-

preme Court on Monday to

take the case.

Rosselló formally resigned

on Aug. 2 following nearly two

weeksof popular protests amid

anger over corruption, mis-

managementof funds,and a

leaked obscenity-lacedchat in

whichhe and 11 othermen

made fun of women, gay peo-

ple, and victims of Hurricane

Maria, amongothers.

Puerto Rico’s constitution

says that the secretary of state

has to be approved by boththe

House and Senate and that the

secretary of state is next in line

if the governorsteps down.

One amendment, however,

states that a secretary of state

in line to become governor

doesnot have to be approved

by both chambers. Legal ex-

perts questionthe amend-

ment’s validity and believe Pier-

luisi must be confirmedby both

chambers because the amend-

mentcontradicts the intentof

the constitutionand its state-

mentof motives.

Pierluisi has saidthe up-

comingSenate vote is a moot

point becausehe alreadyis gov-

ernor, but on Monday he issued

a statementsaying he wouldre-

spect the outcomeof theirvote.

‘‘The only thing I ask of sen-

ators is that before they make a

decisionthey listen to the peo-

ple, to whom we are indebted,’’

he said.

If the Senate votes against

his appointmentas secretary of

state, Pierluisi has said he

would step down and hand the

governorship to the justice sec-

retary, the next in line under

the constitution.

The crisiscouldnow drag on

for days or even weeks,with le-

gal experts saying Puerto Rico’s

Supreme Court will likely issue

the finaldecision if the Senate

does not approve of Pierluisi as

secretary of state and he de-

clines to relinquish his posi-

tion.

Those who opposePierluisi

saidhavinghim as governor

represents a seriousconflict of

interestbecauseheworkedfor

a firm that represented a feder-

al control board overseeing the

island’s financesamida 13-year

recession.

Puerto Ricans await court decision on new governor

Rosselló’sousterdoesn’thaltpoliticalturmoil,intrigue

DENNIS M. RIVERAPICHARDO/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

PedroPierluisi’s appointmentto thegovernorshipsparkeda

constitutionalcrisisregardingthelineof succession.

CHICAGO — While much

of the nation’s attentionwas

focused on the gun massacres

in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton,

Ohio, last weekend, Chicago

was convulsed by its own

burst of violence — the worst

weekend the city has seen in

2019.

It was an extreme example

of the routine but devastating

gun violence,often related to

gangconflicts, that cities like

Chicago, Baltimore, and St.

Louis experience on a regular

basis.

Police said seven people

were killed and 52 wounded

by gunfire throughout Chica-

go from Friday evening to

Sunday, includinga 5-year-old

boy who was shot in the leg

while sitting in a car.

Early Sunday, 17 people

wereshot in a period of two

hours in a small pocket on the

city’s West Side, turning resi-

dential blocks into chaotic

scenes of ambulances, griev-

ing family members, and cars

pockmarked with bullets.

There were 32 separate

shooting incidents through-

out the weekend, the police

said.

Shootings and homicides

have decreased in 2019, but

there have been at least 300

homicides this year and 1,

people shot, according to the

Chicago Tribune.

NEW YORK TIMES

Chicago has anotherdeadly weekend

STEVEBISSON/SAVANNAHMORNING NEWS

AREDCARPETBACKTOSCHOOL—PrincipalGifford Lockley and superintendentAnn Levett led Savannah

Arts Academy seniorspast parents and well-wishers in TiedemanPark to theirlast first day of classMonday in

Savannah,Ga., as 38,000studentsthroughoutChathamCounty started anotherschoolyear.

ByPhilipBump

andDevlinBarrett

WASHINGTON POST

NEWYORK — Cesar Sayoc,

the Floridamanwho mailed

explosive devices to promi-

nentDemocrats and media

figures, was sentenced Mon-

day to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors had called for a

life sentencefor Sayoc, a 57-

year-old pizza delivery man

and strip club worker who

pleaded guilty to mailing 16

inoperative pipebombs days

before the midterm elections

last fall.

‘‘I am beyondso very sorry

for what I did,’’ Sayoc told US

District Judge Jed Rakoff.

‘‘Now that I am a sober man, I

know that I wasa

sickman.I should

have listenedto my

mother, the loveof

my life.’’

Prosecutorsand

defense lawyers

spent muchof the

hearing wrangling

over how dangerous

the packages truly

were to thosewho

handled them.

‘‘What countsis

what he did, and

what he intended at the time

that he did it,’’ Rakoff said be-

fore imposing the sentence.

Sayoc’s defense lawyers

had pushed for a 10-yearsen-

tence, sayinghe was using

large quantitiesof steroids

whenhe became delusional in

his support for President

Trump.

‘‘He trulybelieved wild

conspiracy theories he read on

the Internet, many of which

vilified Democrats and spread

rumors that Trumpsupport-

ers werein danger becauseof

them,’’ Sayoc’s lawyers wrote

to the judge. ‘‘He heard it from

the president of the United

States, a manwithwhomhe

felt he had a deep personal

connection.’’

Trumpand his allies have

repeatedlypushedback

against the idea that his rheto-

ric could be linked to extrem-

ist violence.

Sayoc’s sentencing comes

just two days after the massa-

cre of nearly two dozen people

inside a Walmart in El Paso,

Texas, a horrific act of violence

allegedly undertaken out of

anger toward immigrants.

Several Democrats seeking to

challenge Trump in the 2020

election have connected the

president’s rhetoric to Satur-

day’s bloodshed.

Weeks before the 2018con-

gressionalelections,packages

weremailedto Hillary Clin-

ton, former president Barack

Obama,and actor Robert De

Niro,amongothers.

The spreeof suspicious

packages prompted a nation-

wide manhunt for the suspect,

and the trail eventually led in-

vestigators to Sayoc, who lived

out of a white van plastered

withpro-Trumpimages. He

worked as a DJ or bouncer at

strip clubs, and wasonce

charged withthreatening the

localpower company.

After his arrest, Sayoc

pleadedguilty to 65 counts.

Officials said he sent 16 devic-

es to 13 peopleacross the

country.

At Sayoc’s hearing, he in-

sisted the devices were ‘‘in-

tendedto looklike pipe

bombs,’’ but that he

did not meanfor

them to detonate.

Pressed by the judge

to explain further,

Sayoc added, ‘‘I was

aware of the risk that

they would explode.’’

Federal officials

called the wave of po-

tential explosive de-

vices sent out in Oc-

tober a ‘‘domestic ter-

rorattack’’ and

accused Sayoc of en-

dangeringnumerous lives.

Prosecutors said Sayoc began

searchingfor the homesof

somepeopletargeted as early

as last July 2018and contin-

ued into the fall.

The first package was

foundOctober22, and the in-

vestigation and anxiety grew

as moredeviceswereidenti-

fied in the days that followed.

CNN’s New York offices were

evacuated when a package ad-

dressed to John Brennan, the

formerCIAdirector, was

found in the mail room, a situ-

ation that played out on live

television. Packages were soon

found in Florida, Delaware,

and California.

Within days, authorities

closedin on Sayoc outside an

autosupply store in Planta-

tion, Fla., after findingwhat

ChristopherWray, the FBI di-

rector, said was a fingerprint

on one of the envelopescon-

taining a device. Wray also

said there werepotential DNA

matches connecting Sayoc to

some of the devices.

While none of the devices

detonated, Wray said they

were‘‘not hoaxdevices.’’ Au-

thorities have described them

as ‘‘improvised explosive de-

vices.’’

Man who sent

explosive devices

gets 20 years

Fla. mantargeted

Democrats and

media figures

CesarSayoc

pleadedguilty

to 65countsin

thecase.