Florida Sentinel Bulletin

VIRGINIA — A man dressed up in a cow suit and stole 26 gallons of milk from a Northern Virginia Wal-Mart.

Eyewitnesses say a short time later the thief was seen handing over the stolen dairy products to another individual outside the Wal-Mart, according to authorities who are baffled as to how the man managed to get all of the jugs out of the busy store unnoticed.

Employees later spotted the man “skipping down the sidewalk” before vacating the area.

He was arrested and released on a summons to appear in court

PENNSYLVANIA — Convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal was ordered a new sentencing hearing by a federal appeals court on Tuesday.

The federal appeals court found for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial were unclear. Last year the U. S. Supreme Court ordered the Third Circuit to review that decision.

Abu-Jamal’s conviction ruling of first-degree murder for killing officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 still stands.

But a new sentencing could mean a lesser punishment for Abu-Jamal, who has been fighting to have his sentence overturned for years.

FLORIDA — A Florida man is in police custody today after authorities say he barraged a Christian radio station and performed a sex act before threatening to rape a host.

Donald Destin, 30, was arrested in Orange County, Florida after police say he walked into the La Voix Evangelique D’Orlando station Monday around 6 a.m.

A female radio host was on-air at the time and claims that Destin began performing a sex act on himself before trying to rape her.

The victim led the man outside where she locked herself in her car.

A listener heard the attempted attack on-air and called authorities.

Destin was arrested after stealing the woman’s purse and fleeing the scene.

He is facing charges of attempted sexual battery, burglary of an occupied structure and battery.

BENTON HARBOR, MI — The Rev. Jesse Jackson predicts Benton Harbor could become the next important battlefield in the fight for civil rights.

Like the marches in Selma, a movement started in Benton Harbor could “redefine democracy for America,” the 69-year-old civil rights activist said during a meeting at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Benton Harbor on Wednesday.

Benton Harbor drew national news attention after the city’s emergency manager issued an order Friday reminding city officials that a new law has stripped them of their authority.

Public Act 4, made law in March, suspends the powers of elected officials whose municipality was taken over by the state and gives those powers to the emergency manager.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A man accused of placing a bomb along the planned route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade is facing a federal hate crime charge.

Kevin Harpham is named in a new indictment issued Thursday by a grand jury in Spokane. It adds two counts — one accusing him of violating the federal Hate Crimes Act and the other accusing him of attempting to use an explosive device in connection with the hate crime.

The 36-year-old Harpham earlier pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and unauthorized possession of an unregistered explosive device. Public defender Roger Peven says he hasn’t seen the new indictment.

The bomb was found and disabled in Spokane on Jan. 17 before it could explode.

ATLANTA, GA — Bishop Eddie Long seemed to have some words directed towards his accusers during his Easter sermons this past Sunday.

While Long’s sermons didn’t directly mention the lawsuits against him or any words of the possible settlement, Long did seem to speak in cryptic message.

“You ain’t messin’ with me. I shall rise again and I ain’t going through this,” Long said on Easter Sunday.

“You have to go down there and let the devil know that what they thought was gonna kill you, didn’t kill you. What they thought was gonna bring terror to you, didn’t bring terror to you and you made the enemies public spectacle,” Long said during one sermon, which is believed to be a message for his accusers.

WASHINGTON – The No. 3 Democrat in the House said Tuesday he believes Congress and the White House can find a consensus on tackling the nation’s growing indebtedness as long as “a lot of compassion” is brought to the table.

But Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina told MSNBC that government safety-net programs like Medicare and Medicaid must not “be shredded.”

Clyburn is the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. Progress can be achieved in deficit negotiations, he said, “if sacrifices are, in fact, shared.” Clyburn also said he thinks Democrats are willing to give some on entitlement program changes so long as Republicans show a willingness to work on closing loopholes in the tax code that benefit the wealthy.

LITTLEROCK, AR  — A tornado destroyed 50 to 80 houses and killed at least two people in an Arkansas town on Monday and floods caused at least three deaths in the state as storms continued to lash the region, authorities said.

In Missouri, a warning of imminent failure for a levee on the Black River in the southeast part of the state prompted the mandatory evacuation of about 1,000 people.

In Vilonia, Arkansas, a town of some 3,000 people north of Little Rock, two deaths were confirmed and between 50 to 80 houses were destroyed by a tornado, according to Faulkner County emergency management. Police reported a path of destruction half a mile wide.

Law enforcement officials said there was another fatality in Washington County in northwest Arkansas from a drowning when a woman was swept away by rapidly moving water.

FT. LAUDERDALE — An ex-marine beat his wife in the private chambers of a judge at the couple’s divorce hearing.

Caty Scott-Gonzalez was denied a restraining order, but now she should have no problem getting a legal separation y.

Paul Gonzalez fractured her nose and face, blackened her eyes and split her lips after Judicial Circuit Court Judge Ronald Rothschild ordered him to pay child support and set visitation rights.

“I know that he is capable of that kind of behavior, but I didn’t think he’d take it to that extreme in front of who he did it in front of. They had to taser him twice in order for them to remove him from me,” Caty Gonzalez said.

Paul has been charged with a felony battery charge and bond set for $1 million.