In the Nation

CALIFORNIA

2 face charges in children's death

Prosecutors said Thursday they plan to file first-degree murder charges against a woman and teenager in the death of two children found in a California storage locker.

Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo made the disclosure at a news conference in Salinas, Calif., where authorities believe the children - ages 3 and 6 - had been killed.

Prosecutors say they will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

Police have said the children were killed in an apartment around Thanksgiving, then taken 300 miles to the locker in Redding.

The Associated Press typically does not identify abuse victims; it is not naming the woman and teenager because their relationship to the children is unclear. - AP
FLORIDA

Judge removed after fight threat

A judge who was captured on video berating and threatening to fight an assistant public defender was ordered removed from the bench Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.

Brevard County Judge John Murphy got into an argument last year with now-former assistant public defender Andrew Weinstock over whether a defendant could have a speedy trial. The judge at one point said, "If you want to fight, let's go out back." The two men left the courtroom and Murphy was accused of hitting the man. He denied that.

The justices said Murphy's actions eroded public faith in the courts. - AP
NEVADA

Vegas officer is shot; man sought

A police officer was wounded and the shooter was being hunted Thursday after a shootout with police responding to a domestic disturbance at apartment complex south of the Las Vegas Strip, authorities said.

The shooting happened a little before noon, and the officer was taken to University Medical Center for treatment of a wound that wasn't believed to be life-threatening, said Officer Laura Meltzer, a department spokeswoman. He wasn't immediately identified. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo was with the officer at the hospital, Meltzer said.

Police cordoned off a wide area, closed streets around the apartment complex, and searched parking lots, apartment hallways, and a vacant building. It wasn't clear if the gunman was wounded. - AP
MASSACHUSETTS

Boston raises age for tobacco buys

Boston health officials voted Thursday to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products - and electronic cigarettes - from 18 to 21.

Mayor Marty Walsh said the city now joins more than 85 other Massachusetts cities and towns - as well as New York City and Hawaii - in hiking the age for purchasing cigarettes.

A group representing convenience store and gas station owners opposed the change, which takes effect Feb. 15. - AP