NY Judge Seen Several Times on Surveillance Video Before Death

A New York judge who was mysteriously found dead was captured on surveillance cameras nine times before she went missing, according to the New York Daily News, making her disappearance and death more bewildering as police look for answers. Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, 65, was discovered April 12 by passersby who notified authorities that a body was lying in the water. But video footage captured her movements prior to her death showed her the evening before eight different times walking around Harlem, which is where she lived. She was seen on camera again early the next morning going into the entrance of a state park at the edge of the Hudson River. Her body was recovered 13 hours later, but it is unclear exactly when she went into the water. The NYPD has said there was no evidence of foul play and a medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death.

Ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Sentenced in SUPES Academy Scandal

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd Bennett was sentenced to 4½ years in prison on Friday for conspiracy to take hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for giving contracts to a consulting firm, the Chicago Tribune reported. “I’m ashamed and I’m sorry. I let down the students and their families. They deserved better,” Byrd-Bennett said. She was felled by e-mails between her and SUPES Academy founder Gary Solomon, who offered her the kickbacks in exchange for $23 million in no-bid contracts. Solomon was sentenced last month to seven years in prison.

Motive Unclear in Fatal Shooting of Delaware Trooper

Police do not have a motive for why a Delaware man got into a fatal standoff with police resulting in the death of a state trooper and his own. Burgon Sealy Jr., 26, shot and mortally wounded Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard, 32, on Wednesday in a convenience store parking lot. One other suspect was taken into custody, but after an 18-hour standoff, Sealy himself was killed when law enforcement officers came to his family home in Middletown, Del., where he had barricaded himself. Delaware State Police Supt. Col. Nathaniel McQueen did not say if Ballard was targeted by Sealy “That investigation is still unfolding, and as those facts become available, we’ll certainly make them available,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

Bernie Sanders: $400K Obama Speech ‘Does Not Look Good’

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called former president Barack Obama’s scheduled speech for which he will receive a $400,000 payment “distasteful.” News surfaced earlier this week that the former president would be speaking at a conference in September, sponsored by Wall Street bank Cantor Fitzgerald and that he would be receiving the large sum. But Sanders is among Obama’s critics over the move. “Look, Barack Obama is a friend of mine, and I think he and his family represented us for eight years with dignity and intelligence,” Sanders told CNN. “But I think at a time when we have so much income and wealth inequality … I think it just does not look good.”