Wayne Byers – Evening – Dec 24

CSi Weather…

TONIGHT…CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT.
LOWS IN THE MID 20S. WEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.CHRISTMAS DAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTHWEST
WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH.
.THURSDAY NIGHT…CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND
15 MPH.
.FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 15. NORTHWEST WINDS AROUND
15 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR ZERO. HIGHS
AROUND 15.
.SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS ZERO TO 5 ABOVE.
.SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE
OF SNOW. HIGHS AROUND 15. LOWS AROUND 5 BELOW.
.MONDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS 5 TO 10 ABOVE.
.MONDAY NIGHT…DECREASING CLOUDS. LOWS AROUND 10 BELOW.
.TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS NEAR ZERO.

(CSi) The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that three Jamestown Police Department officers who were involved in a 2010 shooting will receive “qualified immunity,” in a civil suit claiming excessive force was used.

Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages as long as their actions do not violate constitutional rights.

On September 18, 2010, officers Joseph Stadler, Michael Craig and Sidney Mann fired shots at Michael Partlow after Partlow confronted them with a shotgun outside of his Jamestown apartment, after a night of drinking with his aunt and her boyfriend.

Partlow’s aunt told police he was suicidal and had a shotgun.

At Partlow’s trial in March 2012, Mann had testified that Partlow exited the apartment and “activated the mechanism loading a round into the chamber and bladed his body toward us and squared off the weapon at us.” The officers opened fire, hitting Partlow in the right eye, right forearm, both hands, left groin and hip and right shin.

The court found that the officers were “faced with these tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving circumstances,” and “the officers made a split-second decision to apply deadly force. Even if Partlow intended to do no harm to the officers as he moved the shotgun, the officers’ use of force was objectively reasonable.”

Partlow was convicted of terrorizing and given a two-year, suspended sentence.

The jury returned a special finding that in the course of committing the offense, Partlow did not inflict or attempt to inflict bodily injury upon another person, nor did he threaten imminent bodily injury with a firearm. By law these are the requirements for qualified immunity.

The case has been remanded to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Fargo police are looking for help in identifying a man considered to be a “person of interest” in a rape investigation.
 
     The case involves a man who last weekend walked into an unlocked apartment occupied by three North Dakota State University students. KFGO radio reports that the suspect sexually assaulted one woman and attempted to assault another woman. One of the victims broke free during a struggle and ran to a neighbor’s apartment.
 
     Police have released the image of a man who showed up on a trail camera during an investigation into window peeping last April. No further details were released.

 BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Clean cars could be trumped by refined runways at the Bismarck airport.
 
     City commissioners have delayed a decision about plans for a car rental wash at the airport because nearly $50 million in runway repairs are needed.
 
     The debate is whether the city should use $2 million in airport cash reserves to pay for the car wash or save it for the local share of the runway costs to match federal funds.
 
     Commissioner Josh Askvig says the city should lease land to the car rentals and have them or a third-party developer build the car wash. He says there are “bigger things to do” at the airport.

 PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota health officials say the first death related to the flu in the state has been reported.
 
     State epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger says the patient was a Hutchinson County resident in the 80-89 age group.
 
     Kightlinger says the state has seen 144 lab-confirmed flu cases during the 2014-2015 season. Forty-eight people have been hospitalized.
 
     State health officials reported this week that South Dakota’s flu activity level has increased from “regional” to “widespread,” the highest level of flu activity. Widespread activity indicates increased flu-like activity or flu outbreaks in at least half of the regions in the state.
 
     Health officials are urging residents to get the flu vaccine.
 
     Common signs of the virus include abrupt onset of fever, muscle aches, sore throat and cough.

 ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A St. Paul woman is facing a second-degree murder charge accusing her of purposely drowning her 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub amid a dispute with a boyfriend.
 
     Charges filed Wednesday allege 25-year-old Kayla Marie Jones had accused her boyfriend of molesting the child. According to the complaint, Jones told police she had been molested herself as her child and she held her daughter under water in the tub to “save her from this world.”
 
     Jones was scheduled to appear in court later Wednesday.
 
     She surrendered to police who were responding to a 911 call early Tuesday at an apartment building. The charging papers say her clothes were wet and she showed no emotion.
 
     Emergency personnel tended to the young girl who wasn’t breathing. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

In world and national news…

BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) – A mayor is pressing for calm in his St. Louis suburb after a white police officer fatally shot a black 18-year-old who police say pointed a handgun at the officer. St. Louis County police have identified the young man killed during the Berkeley encounter as Antonio Martin. Police say the officer was questioning the 18-year-old and another man about a theft at a convenience store when the young man pulled a handgun. They say the officer fired three shots, one striking the 18-year-old. Berkeley is near Ferguson, where Michael Brown’s August shooting death by a white police officer sparked sometimes violent demonstrations.
 
     SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Presidents of the three biggest Northern California police unions have published an open letter warning that recent anti-police rhetoric and sentiments are threatening officers’ safety. The heads of unions representing police in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose say recent demonstrations against police brutality have devolved from legitimate free speech expressions to tasteless vilification of officers. The letter also took exception to protester chants calling for dead police officers.
 
     WASHINGTON (AP) – Amid deadly combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and long deployments in those countries, tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers fled the service since 2001. But the Army has only prosecuted about 1,900 cases of desertion. The numbers reflect the complexities of those cases — even as a top military commander reviews the investigation into Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He left his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for five years. 
 
     HOUSTON (AP) – Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized in Houston after experiencing shortness of breath. Spokesman Jim McGrath said in an email Wednesday that “all is well,” but that there was “no new news to report.” The 90-year-old Bush was taken by ambulance yesterday evening to Houston Methodist Hospital. McGrath said the former president was hospitalized as a “precaution.”
 
     NEW YORK (AP) – Actor Seth Rogen says comedies are “best viewed in a theater full of people.” So that’s the way he’d like people to see his new film, “The Interview.” But he tweets that people watching it at home can always “call some friends over.” “The Interview” can now be streamed online or purchased by people at home — a day before it appears in hundreds of theaters around the country. This, just days after Sony Pictures Entertainment canceled the release of the film, following a hacking attack and threats of terrorism.
 

 BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims are gathered in the biblical town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations.
 
     The central Manger Square is decked out in white and yellow lights, and a towering Christmas tree. And on a cool, clear night there’s been a carnival atmosphere. Vendors hawked corn, candy apples, watches and balloons. Scout troops played bagpipes, horns and drums. And bands from around the world performed on a stage, singing Christmas carols and original Christmas rock ballads, mostly in English.
 
     One Ohio woman said she, her son and her husband are in Bethlehem for Christmas to “be right here where it all took place.” Irene Adkins says, “It feels wonderful.”
 
     It’s been a difficult year in the region. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last spring, and Israel battled Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip during a 50-day war over the summer.
 
     Elsewhere in the region, a dwindling Christian community has suffered persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists.