American Scene

Boy hospitalized after school bus fight

ALBUQUERQUE — A first-grader underwent brain surgery after an apparent fight with another first-grader on a school bus in the southern New Mexico city of Las Cruces, a district official said Wednesday.

The elementary school boys were riding home April 14 when there was an apparent shoving match and one boy hit his head, said Las Cruces Public Schools spokeswoman Jo Galvan.

“We do not know how he ended up falling yet. … We just know he was crying when he got off the bus. The driver asked him what happened, and the kid said the other kid pushed him,” she said.

The bus driver, following district policy, contacted school officials about a possible injury.

NEW YORK

FBI, IRS raid state senator’s clinic

NEW YORK — Federal authorities on Wednesday carted away campaign posters and cardboard boxes from a government-funded clinic run by the state Senate majority leader a day after New York’s attorney general accused him of siphoning $14 million from it.

Investigators were looking for evidence to support possible money-laundering, mail-fraud and tax-fraud charges against Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., a law enforcement official told Associated Press on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation had not been completed.

On Wednesday, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo confirmed that his office is assisting federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in a criminal probe against Mr. Espada. His chief of staff, Steven Cohen, said potential charges against the senator could include mail fraud, wire fraud, theft of government funds and conspiracy.

About a dozen FBI and IRS agents and investigators from Mr. Cuomo’s office were at the Soundview Healthcare Network in the Bronx, where a canopy above the front door lists Mr. Espada as its president and chief executive.

TENNESSEE

Civil rights leader laid to rest

MEMPHIS — After years of fighting for social justice, civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks was laid to rest Wednesday.

Political leaders and civil rights figures gathered to pay their respects to the 85-year-old former lawyer, judge and NAACP director. Mr. Hooks died last week at his Memphis home after a long illness.

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