Citizen Staff Writer
RealFAST WEEK IN REVIEW
Compiled by PAUL SCHWALBACH
pschwalb@tucsoncitizen.com
1 Still alive: The Tucson Citizen’s closure is delayed as potential buyers negotiate with Gannett Co. Inc., the media chain that owns the newspaper. The paper was to have closed March 21, until “very interested buyers” stepped forward. How many buyers? Two, says a Gannett exec, but a company spokeswoman won’t confirm that number. An investigation into the sale process is “ongoing,” a Justice Department spokesperson says.
2 Payne trial: Jurors, who will determine whether Christopher Mathew Payne is executed or spends the rest of his life in prison, hear stories of his character and upbringing. Payne was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of child abuse and two counts of concealing or abandoning a body in the deaths of his children, Ariana Payne, 3, and Tyler Payne, 4.
3 Immigrants: An Associated Press computer analysis of every person being held on immigration charges on a recent Sunday night shows that most did not have a criminal record and many were not about to leave the country – voluntarily or via deportation.
4 Remains: Skeletal remains found in the bed of the Santa Cruz River in Marana could be those of a man swept to his death by floodwaters in Tucson last summer.
5 Grandma: The U.S. Border Patrol says a 43-year-old Douglas grandmother had her two grandchildren with her when she tried to smuggle a marijuana-stuffed purse into the country.