SAN FRANCISCO
Killing might be hate crime
Authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area are investigating the slaying of a young black man as a possible hate crime. The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department arrested one white suspect and is searching for two others thought to be involved in the Nov. 12 killing of a 28-year-old musician. Investigators say Will Sims was robbed, beaten and shot to death in the wee hours outside a bar near his hometown of Richmond. Investigators say Sims worked as a retail clerk, had no gang ties and a clean criminal record. Authorities arrested Daniel Porter-Kelly, 31, and charged him with robbery and murder with a hate crime enhancement.
ALLENTOWN, PA.
Delta bans rude passenger
Delta Air Lines is banning for life a passenger who rudely professed his support for Republican President-elect Donald Trump and insulted those who didn’t on a flight to Pennsylvania, the company’s CEO said Monday. Edward Bastian said in an internal memo that the airline is also refunding the cost of tickets for other passengers on the Nov. 22 flight from Atlanta to Allentown. A video posted on Facebook by a passenger shows a man standing in the aisle, yelling and insulting supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The airline had previously apologized over the man’s outburst.
ATLANTA
Storms rain down on fires
Storms roaring across the South appeared to be taking aim at some of the largest wildfires burning across the region, which could finally help firefighters in their efforts to subdue the blazes, authorities said Monday. As the storm system passed over Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee late Monday, it was heading toward some of largest wildfires in Georgia and North Carolina. The rain forecast “puts the bull’s-eye of the greatest amounts right at the bull’s-eye of where we’ve been having our greatest activity,” said an official with the U.S. Forest Service.
WASHINGTON
Obama signs veterans bill
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that seeks to ensure all telephone calls and other communications delivered through a Department of Veterans Affairs’ crisis line get answered in a timely manner by a qualified person. The legislation signed Monday comes after federal investigators substantiated allegations that some calls went into a voicemail system and that some veterans didn’t get immediate assistance.
Compiled from wire reports