Fraternity brothers sentenced

Eleven Penn State fraternity members went to trial of which four have been sentenced in connection with the death of a pledge during a hazing ritual, with three receiving jail time. Luke Visser, Joseph Sala, Joshua Kurczewski and Michael Bonatucci, former members of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, were sentenced on Tuesday in Centre County Court in Pennsylvania. Each had pleaded guilty to hazing-related charges in connection with the February 2017 death of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza, a sophomore at Penn State. Piazza died after drinking large quantities of alcohol during his first night of pledging at Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Visser was sentenced to two to six months in jail and two years of probation. Kurczewski, who also pleaded guilty to one count of furnishing alcohol to minors, received three to nine months in jail and one year of probation. Bonatucci was sentenced to 30 to 60 days in jail and a year of probation. Sala received three to six months of house arrest and two years of probation. The men must also pay fines and perform community service. Piazza was pledging the Beta Theta Pi fraternity when he drank 18 drinks in 82 minutes as part of a hazing ritual. He fell down a flight of stairs into the fraternity house's basement, and fraternity members waited 12 hours to call 911. Piazza ended up dying from a traumatic brain injury. In December, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed an anti-hazing bill named after Piazza that requires Pennsylvania schools to have policies and reporting procedures in place to stop hazing. It became the 45th to enact anti-hazing laws.

In Other News Lori Lightfoot became the first African-American woman picked to lead Chicago as mayor. Lightfoot faced a historic runoff Tuesday against Toni Preckwinkle, who is also an African-American woman. Current mayor, Rahm Emanuel, was not in the race, as he was not seeking a third term. Lightfoot, 56, a former assistant US attorney, describes herself as "an out and proud black lesbian." When she is sworn in, she will also be the first mayor in the Windy City who identifies as a lesbian. In February's general election which had 14 candidates, Lightfoot and Preckwinkle were the top two vote-getters, which led to Tuesday's runoff. Violent crime totals in Chicago have made headlines in recent years. In 2016, the city reported its highest number of homicides in two decades: 762. But killings have dropped since then: 650 in 2017 and 550 in 2018. Police have credited the drop in violence partly to hiring more police officers, and stronger community policing. An Ohio teen has been arrested in connection with a series of prank calls to police in upstate New York and across the country. The 17-year-old, who is accused of making "swatting" calls, was charged with 40 felony and 33 misdemeanor delinquency charges in Mahoning County, Ohio. Swatting is the act of making a false police report -- usually of an urgent or violent crime -- to lure law enforcement or SWAT teams to a location. Authorities didn't release the teen's name or the number of incidents they are investigating. The dangerous prank has found its way into the public eye in recent years because of some high-profile celebrity victims such as Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian, but also for turning deadly. Last week, a California man who made a hoax call that led to a fatal police shooting in Kansas was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty.