| Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleads guilty to false imprisonment Mar 12th 2012, 17:24 By The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO--San Francisco sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has pleaded guilty to false imprisonment in a domestic violence case. Mirkarimi entered the plea Monday in a San Francisco courtroom. He was fined $590 and sentenced to three years of probation and a year of counseling. He will also be required to take parenting classes.
He previously pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness after he allegedly grabbed his wife in front of their toddler son New Year's Eve. New sheriff mired in domestic abuse drama His wife, Venezuelan actress Eliana Lopez, later denied she was the victim of domestic violence. A three-judge panel ruled Friday that a video in which Lopez displayed bruises on her arm while tearfully describing the incident could be used as evidence. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | | Drunk buggy driving? Amish nabbed after hitting cop car Mar 12th 2012, 16:24 By NBCPhiladelphia.com Authorities in western New York say they've charged four young Amish adults with illegal possession of alcohol after their buggy collided with a police car responding to a report of a drinking party under way. The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office tells media outlets that the crash occurred around 7:15 p.m. Sunday in the rural town of Sherman, near the Pennsylvania border in New York's southwest corner. Officials say deputies were responding to reports that people were drinking in several Amish buggies on a country road. For more, visit NBCPhiladelphia.com As a patrol car arrived on the scene, one of the Amish buggies changed lanes, colliding with the police vehicle. The buggy flipped onto its side, causing minor injuries to one of the people on board. Police say several other buggies fled the scene. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Former steelworker hopes $2 billion chemical plant will revive Appalachia city Mar 12th 2012, 12:15  Jason Cohn / Reuters First year apprentice ironworker George Vacheresse pauses during a class at Ironworkers Local 539 in Wheeling, West Virginia. Vacheresse was a steelworker for 17 years but decided to retrain after watching layoffs erode the workforce at his machinist shop over 17 years. He hopes his new skills will lead to a much higher-paying job.  Jason Cohn / Reuters The town of Wheeling, West Virginia is emblematic of the economically struggling region it sits in, and could get a big boost from a new Shell chemical plant planned for the area. Real estate agents, restaurants, banks and others report a business jump that they expect to be made permanent by the arrival of chemical plants. Reuters reports from Wheeling, West Virginia — In George Vacheresse's lifetime, Appalachia has fallen from its prime when steel mills and coal mines anchored middle-class communities and offered hope there always would be enough work to go around. In this historically poor region nestled in the misty mountains of the eastern United States, most steel mills shut down long ago and the coal workforce has shrunk by 90 percent in the past 40 years. Now Vacheresse and other residents are counting on cheap natural gas from the massive reserves in the Marcellus and Utica shale rock formations to reinvigorate the region's economy. In the Northern Appalachia area alone, where West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania converge, billions of dollars of investment is planned by major companies, including most recently Royal Dutch Shell, to recover the gas and build new chemical plants. "I hope it gives us jobs for everybody," said Vacheresse, 39, who last fall joined an apprentice scheme at a Wheeling, iron workers' labor union to learn how to work in steel construction. He made the move after watching layoffs erode the workforce at his machinist shop over 17 years. He expects his new skills will lead to a much higher-paying job building Shell's planned new $2 billion cracker, industry slang for a chemical plant. "Something like this could carry our region for years and years," he said. Read the full story.  Jason Cohn / Reuters Charles Comas, owner of Comas Family Barber Shop on Main Street in Wheeling, West Virginia, finishes giving a hair cut to regular customer John Oliver on March 6, 2012. Oliver, who has lived in Wheeling his whole life, remembers when the now sparsely occupied downtown was so packed with people "you couldn't walk down the street without bumping into someone." He is skeptical that the burgeoning shale gas industry or the rumoured Shell cracker plant will help the city.  Jason Cohn / Reuters A community garden is seen in a vacant lot left over from one of few demolished buildings on Main Street in Wheeling, West Virginia. The city is struggling to find creative ways to deal with their down economy while waiting for new investment.  Jason Cohn / Reuters First year Ironworker apprentices (left-right) Ian Welshhans, Daniel Truax and Jason Taylor practice their welding skills during a class at the Ironworkers Local 549 training facility in Wheeling, West Virginia on March 6, 2012.  Jason Cohn / Reuters An old Ohio Edison electric plant, rumored to be the site for the first new U.S. chemical cracker plant in more than 20 years, is seen across the Ohio river from Moundsville, West Virginia. Follow @msnbc_pictures | |
