North Dakota man sentenced for attack aboard cruise ship

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A North Dakota man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to strangle a woman he was dating while aboard a Texas-based cruise ship. Prosecutors say 45-year-old Hector Blanco, of Watford City, was sentenced Tuesday. The attack happened in 2018 on Miami-based Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas cruise ship. Blanco admitted in his plea that he attempted to strangle the woman in their cruise ship cabin, but she was able to escape. Prosecutors say the attack happened about 45 miles from Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico.