NEW CASTLE, N.H.

Scalia gives keynote speech for law school’s anniversary

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Friday that modern legal education has “failed” students because it includes too many elective classes unrelated to law.

Scalia, the court’s longest-serving justice, was the keynote speaker Friday night at the 40th anniversary dinner for the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

The conservative justice said that law classes aren’t as rigorous as they used to be and that the curriculum with so many electives allows students to be lazy and avoid “the austere pleasures of doctrinal courses,” the Portsmouth Herald reported.

“The teaching of law has failed,” he said.

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Scalia also targeted law professors, saying that they often become “prominent not because of how they teach but how they publish.” He said he was much the same way when he taught law at the University of Virginia, preferring to spend his time researching and writing instead of teaching.

The audience of about 300 guests and alumni laughed when Scalia said he hopes “most of what I said has no application to this wonderful law school.”

President Ronald Reagan named the 77-year-old Scalia to the high court in 1986.

The state’s only law school got its start in 1973 as the Franklin Pierce Law Center and recently completed a merger with the University of New Hampshire.

BOSTON

Senate passes amendment to aid Northeast fishermen

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The U.S. Senate has passed the first amendment proposed by Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren to provide disaster relief funds for the Northeast fishing industry.

The bipartisan amendment passed Saturday was also proposed by Alaska’s Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. It sets aside funds in the 2014 budget to aid fishermen across the region.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce last year issued disaster declarations for several fisheries, including the Northeast groundfish fishery, which is facing reductions in catch allocations for key fish stocks like cod.

The Senate approved $150 million for fisheries assistance in December. The House didn’t take up the measure.

The bill’s co-sponsors include Massachusetts Sen. William “Mo” Cowan, New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Rhode Island Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Maine Sen. Angus King.

RAYMOND, N.H.

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Man, 23, treated at hospital after attack by two pit bulls

Police in Raymond, N.H., say a man was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries caused by a pair of pit bulls.

Police and an ambulance were sent to Mildred Avenue on Friday night after a report that a 23-year-old man had been “attacked” by two pit bulls.

The victim sustained serious, but non-life threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital.

The dogs were secured before emergency personnel arrived and have been quarantined by their owner.

The Raymond Police Department is investigating.

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NEWINGTON, N.H.

Police seek leads on suspect who fled with diamond ring

Police in Newington, N.H., are releasing surveillance images of the suspect and a car they believe were involved in the theft of a diamond ring from a jewelry store.

The Portsmouth Herald said the ring was stolen Wednesday from a shop in the Fox Run Mall.

An employee of Hannoush Jewelers told police an unidentified suspect walked into the jewelry store and asked to look at some rings.

The suspect reportedly ran from the store with a 2.5-carat diamond ring worth more than $1,000.

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Police say the suspect is believed to have left the area in a car with a Massachusetts license plate.

Anyone who has information is asked to call the Newington Police Department at 431-5461.

CONCORD, N.H.

New Hampshire fugitive arrested in New York state

The U.S. Marshals Service says a New Hampshire fugitive wanted on weapon possession and other charges has been arrested in western New York.

Authorities say Dominick Stanin of Manchester was wanted on a warrant charging him with firing gunshots at a Manchester house Feb. 26. No one was hurt.

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U.S. Marshals captured the 45-year-old Stanin safely in a hotel parking lot in Henrietta, N.Y., on Friday night. Authorities had looked for him in the Rochester area because he grew up there.

Stanin is being charged in New York as a fugitive from justice. He faces charges in New Hampshire of reckless conduct, felon in possession of a deadly weapon and violating probation.

Stanin was arraigned Friday and is being held without bail until he’s returned to New Hampshire.

FREEHOLD, N.J.

Bay State man sentenced in elderly man’s carjacking

A Massachusetts man who attacked an elderly New Jersey resident and stole his car has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

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Monmouth County prosecutors say 31-year-old Rafael Laboy must serve roughly 34 years before becoming eligible for parole under the sentence imposed Friday. The term will run consecutive to a sentence he’s serving in Massachusetts for unrelated charges.

The attack occurred in May 2009.

Laboy and his cousin were driving a stolen car when it broke down on the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls. They abandoned the vehicle and walked to the 82-year-old victim’s home, where they asked to use his phone.

The cousins left when the man declined, but they soon returned and kicked in his door.

They then beat him before driving off in his car.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

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Bill would require teaching kids sex-abuse prevention

A bill introduced in the Rhode Island Senate would require public schools to teach children how to prevent and fight sexual abuse and abduction.

Bill sponsor Sen. James Doyle, a Democrat of Pawtucket, says abuse and exploitation of children can be reduced by raising awareness in young children of common dangers and warning signs.

Similar laws have been passed in five states, including Illinois, home state of the woman who has pushed for the law.

Erin Merryn was raped and abused when she was a child.

Her abusers warned her not to tell anyone what happened.

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The bill would require that children in grades kindergarten through 8 receive age-appropriate instruction on sexual abuse and assault.

Doyle says the bill will give children the tools they need to protect themselves.

Search for missing student expands, includes Boston

Brown University says the search for a missing student who was last seen on campus a week ago is expanding to Boston, Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia.

Sunil Tripathi is a philosophy major who grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He has lived in Providence since 2008. He was on approved leave from  school.

Brown spokeswoman Darlene Trew Crist said Saturday that Providence and Brown police departments are leading the missing person investigation.

The search for Tripathi has focused on the Providence area. It involved distributing fliers, searching neighborhoods and soliciting information through social media sites.

Tripathi is 6 feet tall and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black ski jacket, glasses and a wool hat.

— From news service reports


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