NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 McCain health: In an interview broadcast Sunday, Sen. John McCain said battling brain cancer is a challenge but that his prognosis is “pretty good.” McCain said he has faced other challenges and he’s “very confident about getting through this as well.” The 81-year-old Arizona senator told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he will have a MRI on Monday and that his test results so far have been excellent. McCain returned to Washington last week as the Senate returned from its summer break.
_2 Stabbing case: A Wisconsin jury this week will begin weighing whether a girl accused in the stabbing of a classmate to please the horror character Slender Man was mentally ill at the time. Prosecutors say Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured Payton Leutner into a Waukesha park and stabbed her 19 times in 2014. All three girls were 12 at the time. Weier pleaded guilty in August to attempted seconddegree homicide but maintains she’s not responsible because of a mental disease or defect. Attorneys will begin selecting jurors Monday to decide whether she was suffering from a mental defect. A plea agreement calls for Weier to spend at least three years in a mental hospital if she’s found to have been mentally ill and 10 years in prison if she’s not. Payton survived the attack.
_3 Officer injured: The owner of a vacant home in Whitehall Township, Pa., that had been burglarized faces charges after police say he apparently suspected someone was breaking into the property again, called 911 and then shot a police officer who responded. Two officers had entered through an open basement door Saturday, but as they approached the staircase leading to the first floor, William Sturtevant, 46, fired a shot down into the basement, prosecutor Jim Martin said. One officer was hit in the leg and was in stable condition. Sturtevant faces counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.
_4 Suspect drowns: An auto theft suspect in Northern California drowned in a river while trying to flee from deputies. The Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Department said the chase began Saturday when Rancho Cordova police officers tried to pull over a reported stolen car and two men inside the vehicle refused to stop. The driver led officers on a high-speed chase to an access to the American River, where he ran into a riverside park. Officers saw the suspect trying to swim across the river and appeared to struggle. He was unconscious by the time rescuers pulled him from the water.
_5 Confederate memorials: Leaders of Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati are considering whether a pair of Confederate memorials should be removed. The church has a stained-glass memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and a plaque dedicated to Confederate general and Episcopal Bishop Leonidas Polk. Dean Gail Greenwell recently called for the removal of both. The effort come in the wake of racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, Va. Her request was submitted to the church’s vestry, which will make a decision.