American Scene

ARIZONA

Nogales mayor held in bribery case

PHOENIX | The mayor of Nogales was arrested Tuesday on multiple charges including bribery, theft, fraud and money laundering, Arizona’s attorney general said.

Mayor Octavio Garcia Von Borstel, 29, was taken into custody at his office at Nogales City Hall. Search warrants were executed at the mayor’s home, business and office.

The mayor’s father, Octavio Suarez Garcia, 59, of Nogales, was also indicted and arrested Tuesday. He faces several charges that include fraud, theft and money laundering.

CALIFORNIA

State put interns in poor schools

SAN FRANCISCO | A federal appeals court has ruled that California illegally classified interns as “highly qualified” teachers and assigned them to schools in low-income and minority areas.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday in favor of poor families who claimed the state was dumping uncredentialed teachers on their schools.

A Bush administration policy adopted by a California commission held that interns on track to receive teaching certification could count as “highly qualified.”

The court found that those policies violated the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires teachers to have full state certification to teach core subjects.

Evidence cited by the court showed 62 percent of the interns teach in the poorest half of California schools.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Shooting rocks busy city corridor

Chaos broke out in the busy U Street corridor of Northwest Washington on Tuesday, with a shooting and a subsequent car crash that left at least one person dead near a funeral for a young woman who was recently fatally shot.

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