Midday Roundup: Protesters force buses of detainees to turn back

Turn that bus around. Protesters in Murrieta, Calif., blocked three buses of illegal immigrants headed to an area processing center, forcing the drivers to turn around and head back to San Diego. The protesters chanted “Go home,” and “We want to be safe.” The buses contained women and children from Central America who recently crossed the border into Texas. They were sent to Murrieta for processing and supervised release until court dates could be scheduled. Murrieta Mayor Alan Long encouraged the protests after he learned the federal government planned to release the detainees in his city. “Murrieta expects our government to enforce our laws, including the deportation of illegal immigrants caught crossing our borders, not disperse them into our local communities,” Long said Monday. The city defeated two previous attempts to send migrants to the facility, he said.

Revenge killing. Tensions exploded in Israel yesterday after the body of an Arab teenager was found in a forest outside Jerusalem. Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir had been kidnapped, likely in retaliation for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens whose bodies were found earlier this week. Palestinian leaders blame Israeli settlers for the teen's death and say police know who forced him into a car in front of a mosque early this morning. Israeli officials say they don't know for sure Khdeir’s murder was related to the earlier incident. “There are attempts to make a connection between the two incidents and we are still checking all directions,” Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israeli minister of internal security, said on Israel Radio. “There are many possibilities, criminal and nationalistic, and everything is being examined in a responsible manner.”

Incompetent? Doctors say one of the two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing their friend 19 times is not competent to stand trial. The girls, who plotted the crime for months in hopes of currying favor with a fictional character in online horror stories, are being tried as adults. But an attorney hopes to persuade the judge to move one of the girls’ cases to juvenile court, where she will have more services available if she doesn’t go to trial. Neither girl has been identified because of their age. The victim, another 12-year-old girl, miraculously survived the May 31 attack and is recovering at home.

Best and worst. A new Quinnipiac University poll ranking American presidents since World War II puts Barack Obama at the bottom of the list. One-third of survey respondents dubbed Obama the worst president since the 1940s. Slightly more than one-quarter, 28 percent, said George W. Bush was the worst president. On the other end of the spectrum, 35 percent of respondents said Ronald Reagan was the best commander-in-chief since World War II. Bill Clinton ranked as the second best president, at 18 percent, followed by John F. Kennedy, with 15 percent.

Star power? A convicted felon rearrested in Stockton, Calif., on June 18 became an internet sensation after police posted his booking photo on their Facebook page. The photo of Jeremy Meeks, 30, who has the chiseled chin and cheek bones and piercing eyes of a model, earned him scores of swooning fans and an agent. Gina Rodriguez, who represents such dubious personalities as Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, Donald Sterling's former companion V. Stiviano and "Octomom" Nadya Suleman, said she thinks the "handsome felon" has a bright future ahead of him. People just need to look past his gang tattoos and rather long rap sheet to see his true worth.