Court document: Newtown teacher carried loaded gun in school
National News
Court documents show a Newtown middle school teacher who was arrested on a weapon possession charge was carrying a loaded .45-caliber pistol in a holster inside the school.
A Danbury Superior Court judge on Wednesday entered an initial not-guilty plea for 46-year-old Jason Adams before continuing the case to May 25.
Adams was arrested April 6 after a school employee saw the pistol and notified authorities.
Police say Adams had a valid pistol permit, but Connecticut state law prohibits possession of firearms on school grounds.
Adams was placed on administrative leave. He has not responded to messages left at his home.
Newtown Middle School is less than 2 miles from the site of the December 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 20 first-graders and six educators.
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Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban
Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”
The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.
Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.
Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.