Lateef Mungin, CNN:

New Orleans police said they arrested a suspect in the Mother’s Day shooting that left 19 people wounded this week.

In a post on its Facebook page, the police department identified the man taken into custody as Akein Scott, 19. It did not provide any more details on the arrest.

I was just reading an opinion piece by David Dennis for the Guardian that mentioned the killer was still at large; news of the arrest came out a few hours after that was published.

BBC News:

A police force has begun recording attacks on members of subcultures, such as goths and emos, as hate crimes.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the first force in the UK to treat the offences in such a way.

Previously hate crimes were only registered for offences against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

Even without this new addition, Manchester still recognizes more hate crimes than my state does, as Nevada’s statue doesn’t cover transgender people (although that might change soon).

Jacob Baynham writing for Men’s Journal about Troy Knapp:

For years, a violent drifter with a long arrest record has roamed the wilderness of southern Utah, trapping what he eats, raiding weekend cabins for supplies, and evading one of the biggest manhunts in the West. He’s armed, dangerous, and desperate to stay free. What would it take to bring him in alive?

As it turns out, all it took was him encountering a father and son who were hiking back after a hunting outing; he was arrested after they identified him to authorities, just a few days before this story’s issue was due to hit newsstands. Baynham’s story is compelling, alternating between admiration for the man’s outdoorsmanship ability and matter-of-fact reporting of his crimes and bizarre behavior:

Immediately after identifying Knapp, sheriffs in 10 counties, along with U.S Marshals, launched one of the biggest manhunts in the West. Being pursued ignited Knapp’s rage. His break-ins became more frequent and sinister. He left behind bullet-riddled cabins and threatening notes for his pursuers. “Hey, sheriff, fuck you!” one note read. “Gonna put you in the ground!” He doodled swastikas in the margin. He destroyed religious icons and defaced pictures. In one cabin, he defecated in a pan on the floor.

Interesting piece about the evidence that lead exposure and crime reates are highly correlated. I recommend reading it. Although I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being taken for a ride.

I totally missed this until now, but in 2010, Jake Adelstein, author of neato book Tokyo Vice, used his yakuza contacts for the noblest of purposes: reviewing the accuracy of SEGA’s video game Yakuza 3:

M: I like the fact that you power up by eating real food. Shio ramen gives you a lot of power — CC Lemon, not as much. It all makes sense.

S: The breaded pork cutlet bento box is like mega power. More than ramen. That’s accurate.

K: Kiryu is fighting all the time. He’s gotta be a fucking idiot. No yakuza is going to run around getting into fistfights like that. Especially not an executive type. He’ll wind up in jail or in the hospital or dead, maybe even whacked by his own people for being a troublemaker. These days, he’d probably get kicked out before even going to jail. Guys like that start gang wars and nobody wants that now. When a yakuza gets into a fight, it’s serious business.

One of the most amazing things I’ve ever read.

Kira Kay reporting for PBS Newshour:

In 2001, a group of academics set out to collect the oral history of Northern Ireland’s combatants, they say to record the truth, before it was too late.

…

Interviewees like William Smith were promised that their testimony would remain confidential until their deaths. And that’s how it went for years, the tapes hidden away under lock and key on Boston College’s campus.

But in 2010, that all changed, after infamous IRA commander Brendan Hughes died and his interviews were released.

…

And then, last summer, a bombshell: The U.S. Department of Justice, acting on behalf of United Kingdom law enforcement, subpoenaed the tapes of several interview subjects who were still alive.

This is a hard one. The piece points out that these legal acts can cause (and, in fact, are causing) future informants not to cooperate. But then, how do you balance the desire and need for justice?

Wil Longbottom writing for the Daily Mail:

This Dutch traveller was caught trying to smuggle more than a dozen live hummingbirds in special pouches sewn into the inside of his underwear at Rochambeau airport in Cayenne, French Guiana.

The birds were individually wrapped in cloth and taped up to prevent them from ‘escaping’ from their sweaty travel container.

There are pictures. Whether you want them or not.

Geoffrey Sant for Slate:

The practice of hiring “body doubles” or “stand-ins” is well-documented by official Chinese media. In 2009, a hospital president who caused a deadly traffic accident hired an employee’s father to “confess” and serve as his stand-in. A company chairman is currently charged with allegedly arranging criminal substitutes for the executives of two other companies. In another case, after hitting and killing a motorcyclist, a man driving without a license hired a substitute for roughly $8,000. The owner of a demolition company that illegally demolished a home earlier this year hired a destitute man, who made his living scavenging in the rubble of razed homes, and promised him $31 for each day the “body double” spent in jail. In China, the practice is so common that there is even a term for it: ding zui. Ding means “substitute,” and zui means “crime”; in other words, “substitute criminal.”

W-w-w-w-what?

You may have heard that Jerry Sandusky of Penn State was convicted on forty-five child sexual abuse counts last week. I was reading an article on it from the Associated Press in the paper and this passage jumped out at me:

The accuser known in court papers as Victim 6 broke down in tears upon hearing the verdicts. Afterward, a prosecutor embraced him and said, “Did I ever lie to you?”

I kind of choked up a bit.

Bill Mears, CNN:

The Supreme Court confirms the 73-year-old justice’s Washington home was burglarized earlier this month. It follows a February incident in which Breyer, his wife and a guest were robbed in his Caribbean vacation home by a machete-wielding intruder.

I hadn’t heard about the machete incident until now. Poor guy.