Associated Press
NEW YORK — A nor’easter blustered into New York and New Jersey on Wednesday with rain and wet snow, plunging homes right back into darkness, stopping commuter trains again, and inflicting another round of misery on thousands of people still reeling from Superstorm Sandy’s blow more than a week ago.
Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn’t be a big deal, but large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with the electrical system highly fragile and many of Sandy’s victims still mucking out their homes and cars and shivering in the deepening cold. Exactly as authorities feared, the nor’easter brought down tree limbs and electrical wires, and utilities in New York and New Jersey reported that some customers who lost power because of Sandy lost it all over again as a result of the nor’easter.
Anti-Muslim filmmaker gets prison
LOS ANGELES — The California man behind an anti-Muslim film that roiled the Middle East was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison for violating his probation stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction by lying about his identity. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder immediately sentenced Mark Basseley Youssef after he admitted to four of the eight alleged violations, including obtaining a fraudulent California driver’s license. Prosecutors agreed to drop the other four allegations under an agreement with Youssef’s attorneys, which also included more probation.
None of the violations had to do with the content of “Innocence of Muslims,” a film that depicts Mohammad as a religious fraud, pedophile and womanizer. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale argued Youseff’s lies about his identity have caused harm to others, including the film’s cast and crew. The movie sparked violence in the Middle East, killing dozens.
Quake in Guatemala kills at least 39 Wednesday
SAN MARCOS, Guatemala — A 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Guatemala on Wednesday, killing at least 39 people as it toppled thick adobe walls, shook huge landslides down onto highways and sent terrified villagers streaming into the streets of this idyllic mountain town near the Mexican border.
One hundred people were missing, and hundreds were injured. The quake, which hit at 10:35 a.m. in the midst of the work day, caused terror over an unusually wide area, with damage reported in all but one of Guatemala’s 22 states and shaking felt as far away as Mexico City, 600 miles to the northwest.
San Marcos, where more than 30 homes collapsed, bore the brunt of the temblor’s fury.
Spanier arraigned
in Sandusky trial
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former Penn State president Graham Spanier was arraigned and released on bail at a brief court appearance Wednesday on charges he lied about and concealed child sex abuse allegations involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Spanier, accompanied by his wife, signed paperwork after his bail was set at $125,000, but he was not required to post any of that amount. He was ordered to forfeit his passport and be fingerprinted. He didn’t enter a plea.
Afterward, defense attorney Elizabeth Ainslie told reporters her client is “not guilty, absolutely” and disputed prosecutors’ claims Spanier conspired with university athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz.
She said Spanier, who testified before a grand jury in the matter, has not been given the opportunity to present his side of the story.
All briefs compiled from the Associated Press
