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Passenger Attacks Flight Attendant, Jumps Onto Runway; Gov. Cooper Sues Lawmakers

Federal authorities say an airline passenger tried to bite a flight attendant, then jumped out of the aircraft and onto the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas Airport Thursday.

22-year-old Tu Lon Sein appeared in federal court Friday on a charge of assaulting/intimidating a flight crew member.  The man was aboard American Airlines flight 5242 as it backed away from the gate for a flight to New Bern. 

Authorities say he got out of his seat and tried to open the main door. When the flight attendant and two passengers tried to intervene, the man attempted to bite the attendant's hand. The man then made his way to the galley, pried open the door and jumped.

COOPER SUES LAWMAKERS OVER LAWS THAT LIMIT HIS POWER

Governor Roy Cooper has sued Republican legislative leaders again over laws that he argues are unconstitutional because they erode his powers.

A suit filed at Wake County superior court today asks the court to block enforcement of several laws. One reduces the number of Court of Appeals judges from 15 to 12 through attrition. It prevents Cooper from replacing the next three judges who resign or retire. 

Cooper also wants voided a law from last December that gave the wife of then-GOP Gov. Pat McCrory's chief of staff a nine-year term on the state's Industrial Commission. There are also six other boards and commissions to which Cooper says he can't appoint a majority of members.

Cooper already sued twice over other laws approved just before he took office, with mixed results.  

WOMAN CHARGED IN APRIL 1 MURDER

A 35-year-old woman is facing murder, robbery and other charges in connection with the killing of a Charlotte man last month. Shenika James turned herself in to the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina last week. She’s one of two people charged in the April 1st murder of 25-year-old Jarel D’Shaun Grace. Grace was found shot to death in the front yard of an east Charlotte home.

David Boraks previously covered climate change and the environment for WFAE. See more at www.wfae.org/climate-news. He also has covered housing and homelessness, energy and the environment, transportation and business.