Chips off the old cell block: Park service selling pieces of Alcatraz
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ---- Now you can own a piece of The Rock, aka Alcatraz Island.
The National Park Service has started selling boxed chunks of concrete from the federal prison that once housed Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert "Birdman" Stroud.
Retailing for $4.95, the souvenirs are available because the park service is renovating the decaying cell house and a guards quarters on the isolated island in San Francisco Bay.
The $7.7 million effort to stabilize the structure is the largest capital project on the island since the penitentiary was closed in 1963.
Richard Weideman, a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said park staff came up with the idea for the mementos as an alternative to ferrying tons of rubble off Alcatraz.
The proposal to peddle the chips off the old cell block was initially met with criticism from what Weideman calls "traditionalists" within the park service who objected to merchandising the landmark structures.
"Some people look at this as, `How can you sell pieces of a historic building? It would be like selling pieces of Independence Hall,"' he said. "We don't think it detracts from the historic significance of the buildings because this stuff wouldn't even be retained on the island. It would be dumped in a landfill."
Since the "Save the Rock" campaign began a week and a half ago, the cleaned and packaged slices of correctional history have been selling at a rate of 20 to 30 a day. Park staff, who have about 500 ready to go, expect the rocks to bring in tens of thousands of dollars over several years.
Former mayor sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) ---- A former mayor of Bridgeport was sentenced to nine years in federal prison Tuesday for collecting more than $500,000 in bribes and kickbacks.
Joseph P. Ganim's corrupt actions tarnished his attempts to improve Connecticut's largest city and led to a general cynicism about politics, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton said in sentencing him.
"The theft of honest services is a crime because the fabric of the democratic process is a very fragile one," Arterton said. "It cannot survive or be healthy if it is contaminated by corruption."
Speaking to the court before sentencing, Ganim thanked court personnel for their work but did not proclaim his innocence or admit guilt. He was ordered to surrender Sept. 16.
Ganim, 43, once a rising political star who had considered a run for governor, often claimed credit for bringing Bridgeport back from bankruptcy. He was mayor from 1991 until he resigned in April, two weeks after he was convicted of 16 federal corruption counts including racketeering, extortion and bribery.
Ganim was charged in a municipal corruption scandal in which 10 people and one business pleaded guilty before his two-month trial began.
Prosecutors say Ganim, who led a mostly impoverished city, collected $529,505 from his accomplices, who received more than $2 million in bribe-generated consulting fees and profits.
Ganim's closest associates, including former campaign manager Leonard Grimaldi and former fund-raiser Paul Pinto, said Ganim collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and gifts for steering city contracts to them and their clients.
Pinto and Grimaldi, who both entered guilty pleas, testified that Ganim had an insatiable appetite for the finer things in life. They provided Ganim with a new home gym, monogrammed shirts, jewelry, cases of expensive wine, home improvements, massages, cash and lavish meals.
Ganim was the only witness in his defense. He admitted he accepted gifts including meals, wine and clothing, but denied they were in exchange for official actions.
Former cadet, friend admit Ecstasy smuggling plot
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) ---- A former cadet at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and his friend pleaded guilty to smuggling 380,000 Ecstasy pills into the country.
Mark Posthumus and James Pagano, both of Kendall Park, N.J., pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to smuggle the drug into the United States between August 1998 and January 1999, when Posthumus was a cadet at the academy in Kings Point.
Posthumus and Pagano, both 30, flew to the Netherlands at least five times and purchased large amounts of the drug, according to court papers.
At the port of Rotterdam, they handed a gym bag containing the pills to an unnamed cadet. That cadet, taking part in shipboard training missions, then smuggled the pills into the United States.
Acting on a tip, FBI agents and Dutch police arrested Posthumus and Pagano in Rotterdam in January 1999 as they gave a gym bag containing 93,000 Ecstasy pills to another cadet.
Posthumus was discharged from the academy a few months before he was to graduate in January 1999 and another cadet resigned, an academy spokesman said.
Posthumus and Pagano have served several years in a Dutch prison, according to court papers. Posthumus faces up to nine years in prison and Pagano could get more than eight years.
Swimmer finishes 1,243-mile Columbia River swim
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) ---- Christopher Swain, who swam the length of the Columbia River to protest pollution, finished his yearlong journey Tuesday.
The 1,243-mile swim began at the river's source in Canada and ended with Swain pushing through 8- to 10-foot swells at the river's mouth in Astoria.
"I was overwhelmed," Swain said Tuesday. "There was a moment when everything hit me."
Swain conceived of the swim as a way to bring attention to the harm done to the river by dams, pollutants and other threats.
"I wanted to put the river in the public eye, and I did it," he said.
Swain, of Portland, Ore., swam between five and 25 miles a day, depending on the water temperature and his health. He was flanked by a small motorized raft, run by volunteers. Every 20 minutes or so, he would swish out his mouth with hydrogen peroxide against infection from the polluted water.
He battled cold, wind, debris and infections he blames on the pollutants he swam through.
Swain said Tuesday that he met with more than 13,000 people along the way, including thousands of school children with whom he shared his story.
He also saw some of the impacts of the changes to the river in flooded towns and traditional American Indian sites, and people sickened by pollutants in the water, he said.
"This started out as a swim for a clean Columbia, but it ended up as something different," he said. "What affected me most was the people. All these issues on the river can all be reduced to human terms."
Swain now plans to spend more time with his daughter and wife, who is expecting their second child, but intends to continue his campaign for the river.
"I feel like I've accomplished 10 percent of my task," he said. "The challenge is now to keep my promises, and go back to the schools and communities I visited along the way."
Teen ends five-year custody battle with decision to stay in South Dakota
WINNER, S.D. (AP) ---- A 14-year-old at the center of a rancorous custody battle elected Tuesday to live with his late mother's boyfriend in South Dakota and spend summers and holidays with his biological father in Illinois.
The decision by Timmie Meldrum ends a five-year fight between farmer Chuck Novotny and the teen's father, Timothy Meldrum of Colona, Ill.
"It's finally over, after five years. Thank goodness," Timmie Meldrum said after signing a one-page document with the heading "Timmie's Choice." The document names Novotny as his primary physical custodian.
On a second identical document listing Tim Meldrum Sr. as physical guardian, Timmie scrawled "Refused."
A settlement last August granted both men joint legal custody, but allowed the boy to choose where to live after spending the school year in Illinois. He returned to Winner on June 1 for summer break.
Timmie maintained throughout the case he wanted to live with Novotny, who began caring for him in 1992. Timmie's mother, who eventually divorced Meldrum, died in a car accident in 1998.
On Tuesday, accompanied by his lawyer, Timmie went to the Winner courthouse to make it official.
He then returned to Novotny's ranch to share the news with the man he calls Dad and a 9-year-old half-brother. Timmie said he would call his father to explain his decision.
The parties, including Novotny and Meldrum, were restricted from commenting because of a gag order. Lawyers also declined comment.
The matter drew national attention to the rights of nonparents and stirred changes in state law regarding their standing in custody battles.
After the death of Timmie's mother, Meldrum sought to regain custody of his child, and Novotny and Timmie fought back.
Novotny argued Meldrum had abandoned Timmie; Meldrum countered that Novotny had prevented him from seeing his son.
A judge ruled in favor of Meldrum, and in 2001 the state Supreme Court refused to block his order requiring Novotny to turn over the boy. The justices said Novotny was unlikely to win on appeal because South Dakota law did not recognize a custody claim by someone who is not a parent.
Timmie was taken to Illinois later that summer, as a crowd of television cameras recorded the emotional transfer in which the boy lashed out at his father.
On appeal, the state Supreme Court decided another hearing should be held to determine the best placement. The settlement came in the midst of the new hearing.
Brother of former congressman charged with murder
EUFAULA, Okla. (AP) ---- The brother of former Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts is accused of fatally shooting a man in a dispute over money.
Lawrence Watts, 52, was charged Monday with first-degree murder in last week's slaying of Anthony Greco, 49, of Anadarko.
He was released Thursday from the McIntosh County Jail on $30,000 bond.
Watts is the older brother of the former congressman, who retired in January from the House of Representatives, where he was the fourth highest-ranking member of the Republican leadership.
The shooting happened Wednesday outside the older Watts' barbecue restaurant in Eufaula, police said. Greco was shot in the arm and chest.
Authorities said Watts went into the courthouse and told them he had shot a man.
Greco's son, Anthony Hawkins, said his father was a cabinet maker and was owed money for some work he had done at Watts' home.
"My father went to speak with him about it. He tried to recover the money he felt was owed to him," Hawkins said.
Prosecutors had originally told District Judge Steven Taylor last week that they anticipated charging Watts with first-degree manslaughter.
Assistant District Attorney Greg Stidham said Tuesday that he opted for the murder charge instead after reviewing autopsy evidence and talking with investigators.
Stidham said he could not discuss the specifics of the case but said the murder charge requires the formation of intent to kill another person.
Watts' attorney, Deborah Reheard, said Watts had hired Greco to work for him and there was a dispute over whether Watts owed Greco money. She said she knows of no new evidence that would have warranted changing the charge to murder. She would not elaborate on what Watts said happened.
Last week, a spokesman for J.C. Watts had said he had no comment on the shooting.
Fish removed from Arizona ponds to avoid post-fire killoff
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ---- Two weeks ago, a fast-moving wildfire forced residents on Mount Lemmon to flee.
Now, expected fallout from the fire ---- ash and sediment that will gush down the mountain once summer rains begin ---- has forced officials to evacuate a rare fish.
Biologists and volunteers armed with buckets, traps and an electroshock device on Tuesday caught more than 600 Gila chubs, a fish that is proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
"I would say this has been hugely successful," said Tom Whetten, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which headed up the operation.
The evacuation team used nine net traps set out overnight in several small ponds along Sabino Creek about two to three miles inside Sabino Canyon.
The now-dry creek is fed by runoff from the Catalina Mountains, and water flows into the Sabino Creek drainage directly from Mount Lemmon northeast of Sabino Canyon. Fire near the 9,157-foot mountaintop raced through tens of thousands of acres and destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses.
The traps, circular nets fitted with a series of progressively smaller hoops and baited with dog food, caught more than 400 of the chubs ---- a type of minnow native to the canyon and other small creeks, streams and river tributaries in Arizona.
"The fish can swim in and can't actually get out," said Don Mitchell, Game and Fish fisheries program manager for the Tucson area. "The fish aren't smart enough to find the little hole they swam in to get out."
Volunteers carefully picked the gray fish out of the traps, counting each, and tossed other unwanted critters such as crawfish back into the water.
Almost another 200 chubs, ranging in size from 1 to 10 inches, were found in three deeper pools nestled between massive granite rocks. They were scooped up in nets after being stunned by an electroshock device.
The fish were carried out in buckets to roadside pickup trucks with two large square tanks, which will transport them to a hatchery in central Arizona and a research facility in southern Arizona.
"We will just hold them in a safe location until things calm down," Mitchell said. "We don't know how much ash and sediment the canyon is going to see."
"This is a fish that's really in trouble," said David Hall, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's School of Renewable Natural Resources who has monitored the fish for years.
Paul Barrett, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, said not all the fish would be removed. "Even if we have a full flush here (in the canyon), we won't lose every fish. We would think there would be some individuals that will hang out near the edges. That's why we don't want to take every fish out."
The evacuation project was undertaken to keep the fish from being killed once the rains come, and with them the massive debris from the 40,500-acre fire.
"Our fear is if we get enough ash and soot and sediment into the canyon, we could lose them," Mitchell said. "There's a line of thought that these fish are genetically different than other Gila chubs in the area."
The Gila chub is a candidate for the endangered species list, and the population in Sabino Canyon is one of the largest among about two dozen separate stream and tributary populations in Arizona.
Deadly cannon accident blamed on artillery captain's 'demeaning' leadership
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) ---- An artillery captain was relieved of his job after an investigation determined that his negligence and "demanding, demeaning behavior" contributed to the deaths of two soldiers in a live-fire training exercise, according to an Army report.
The officer failed to follow standard procedures and caused so much stress for a group of inexperienced soldiers that they made errors that sent two cannon shells more than a mile off target in March 2002 at Fort Drum in northern New York.
The shells burst near a mess tent where members of an intelligence battalion were eating breakfast, killing two soldiers and injuring 13.
Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Goedkoop, Fort Drum's acting commander at the time, concluded in the May 2002 report that both the battery commander and the fire direction officer "acted in a negligent manner by failing to follow several procedures which should have prevented this accident."
The Army blocked out the names of the soldiers involved before releasing the nine-page document, which was first reported on Tuesday by The Watertown Daily Times.
Maj. Dan Bohr, a post spokesman, said Tuesday that Fort Drum officials had no additional comment.
The battery commander, a captain, was relieved of his command of Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 15th Artillery Regiment, in May 2002, based on Goedkoop's recommendation. He has since left the Army. The fire direction officer and a noncommissioned officer were reassigned.
Among other things, investigators found the captain misjudged on a map the distance to the impact area by using "his thumb and little finger to estimate range to the target."
The report noted the crew was inexperienced and some members inadequately trained.
"All soldiers interviewed indicated that the battery commander was not well respected for his leadership style. His demanding, demeaning behavior negatively affected everyone around him," the report said.
Original producers of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' say they haven't been paid
LOS ANGELES (AP) ---- The original producers of the hit independent film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," have sued star Nia Vardalos and the production company headed by actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, saying they haven't received their share of the film's profits.
MPH Entertainment Inc. originally purchased the script from Vardalos for $60,000, then sold the rights to bigger producers in exchange for 3 percent of the profits, according to a lawsuit filed late Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The lawsuit claims that, despite reports that the movie has grossed more than $600 million from worldwide box office receipts, home video sales and rentals and television broadcast rights, MPH has not received any of the profits.
An exhibit attached to the lawsuit claims to show an accounting statement from Gold Circle Films, one of the defendants, indicating the movie, which was released last year, has actually lost $20 million.
Attorney Henry Gradstein, a lawyer representing MPH, said future statements from Gold Circle may show profits and may acknowledge MPH's 3 percent claim. But he questions why, more than a year after the film was released, an accounting statement shows gross receipts of only $77.3 million.
"It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense that they have only received $77 million so far," Gradstein said Tuesday. "The only way we are going to get an accounting is by going forward with this case."
"We haven't seen the complaint but we stand by the integrity of our accounting," said Steve Zeller, a spokesman for Gold Circle Films. "MPH Entertainment will see their appropriate participation in due course."
Attorneys representing Vardalos and The Playtone Co. did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Nearly 100 people have contracted salmonella at St. Louis hospital
ST. LOUIS (AP) ---- At least 99 people have contracted salmonella at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and the source of the intestinal illness remains a mystery.
The number of cases could rise because several people are still being tested, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. The most recent case of the bacterial infection was confirmed Friday.
The cafeteria at the hospital was closed June 6 after city health officials learned that three hospital employees were sick.
The hospital has taken samples from more than 400 people who visited the hospital or ate in the cafeteria since May 1. The cafeteria reopened June 15 after two days of cleaning.
Salmonella can be found on several kinds of food, but especially on raw meat, eggs, dairy products and seafood. It is blamed for 1,000 deaths every year in about 40,000 cases nationally. The illness causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.
Parents sue Tennessee school after hidden cameras catch students undressing
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ---- A Tennessee middle school allowed security cameras to film children undressing in locker rooms and then stored the images on a computer accessible through the Internet, according to a lawsuit filed by a group of angry parents.
The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Nashville seeks $4.2 million in damages.
The parents contend the school system violated students' rights by putting hidden cameras in boys and girls locker rooms at Livingston Middle School. The cameras reportedly captured students, ages 10-14, in various stages of undress.
"The parents have been devastated by the conduct of the school officials, by the videotaping and by the breach of trust," said attorney Mark Chalos, who represents the parents of 16 girls and one boy.
Chuck Cagle, lawyer for Overton County Schools, said he wouldn't comment because he hadn't read the lawsuit.
EduTech Inc., the company that installed the surveillance cameras in several Overton County schools also was named in the lawsuit. Officials with the company had no comment.
Parents learned of the cameras when a student reported a suspicious device in the school at Livingston, about 80 miles east of Nashville.
The lawsuit contends that images captured by the cameras were stored on a hard drive in the office of the assistant principal could be accessed from remote computers by the Internet. It claims the computer's password security had not been changed from the factory default setting.
The images were reportedly accessed 98 times between July 2002 and January 2003 ---- sometimes late at night and early in the morning ---- and through Internet providers in Tennessee and South Carolina.
William Needham, director of Overton County Schools, said the assistant principal has been transferred to another school in the system.
Chalos said he doesn't know if the cameras are still operating.
Judge denies jailed Mexican ex-pop star's appeal for bail
CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) ---- A federal judge refused to dismiss charges of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors against pop star Gloria Trevi.
Judge Monica Montes on Monday rejected Trevi's request to be set free, and the 35-year-old remains in a maximum security prison in Chihuahua, 760 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Trevi's attorney, Humberto Chavez, said before the ruling that he would appeal if Montes ruled against her.
Trevi was one of Mexico's biggest pop stars of the 1990s. Her first three records featured songs of adolescent frustration and sold over five million copies. Even though her last hit came in 1996, Trevi continued to fascinate Mexico with posters and calendars portraying her nude and seminude.
Prosecutors say Trevi and her manager, Sergio Andrade, sexually abused girls who joined their entourage looking for musical training. When officials discovered that Andrade's troupe had abandoned an infant in Spain in 1998, Trevi and Andrade disappeared.
Trevi, Andrade and backup singer Maria Raquenel Portillo were arrested in Rio de Janeiro in January 2000.
Trevi fought extradition for three years, conceived a child in an all-women's cell block in a Brazilian jail and vowed to marry a Brazilian diplomat to keep from returning to Mexico. But in November, she suddenly requested to return to Mexico, saying she wanted the chance to defend herself in court.
Trevi's chief accuser is Karina Yapor, now about 20 years old, who joined Trevi's entourage when she was 12. In 1998, while still a minor, she abandoned a baby in Spain. She later said Andrade was the father.
Raquenel Portillo, also known as "Mary Boquitas," was extradited from Brazil to Mexico on March 31 to face charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors and is also behind bars in Chihuahua.
Explosion registered at Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano
MEXICO CITY (AP) ---- A loud explosion from the Popocatepetl volcano Tuesday alarmed nearby communities and sent ash and lava into the air, but didn't prompt any evacuations, emergency officials said.
The explosion "of moderate intensity" occurred at 12:16 p.m., according to the National Center for the Prevention of Disasters, which monitors the 17,886-foot volcano 40 miles southeast of Mexico City.
Cloud cover prevented a view of the two-minute eruption, but the center said it threw ash 1,640 feet in the air. The wind carried the ash to the west and sent it raining down on Cuernavaca, a colonial town popular with tourists south of the Mexican capital.
Ash from the eruption also fell on the nearby towns of Yecapixtla, Yauatepec and Jiutepec.
Officials didn't order any evacuations, but said people should stay away from the zone around the crater.
Earlier, the center reported that monitors had recorded 120 small emissions of water vapor and gas over the previous 24 hours.
Children's author Robert McCloskey dies at 88
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ---- Robert McCloskey, author and illustrator of the beloved children's books "Make Way for Ducklings," "Homer Price" and "Blueberries for Sal," has died at 88.
McCloskey died Monday at a home on Deer Isle after a long illness, said Katrina Weidknecht, director of publicity at Penguin Books for Young Readers.
His books, often inspired by his family's own experiences, focused on small-town life, the family's island home in Maine, and Boston, the setting for his 1941 book "Make Way for Ducklings," about a mother duck who leads her eight ducklings through the busy streets of the big city.
In all, he wrote and illustrated eight children's picture books.
"It is just sort of an accident that I write books. I really think up stories in pictures and just fill in between the pictures with a sentence or a paragraph or a few pages of words," he once said.
McCloskey, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, had come to Boston in 1932 to study art when he watched some ducklings waddling through traffic.
"Make Way for Ducklings" was translated into 13 languages, sold more than 2 million copies and won the Caldecott Medal for the best American children's picture book. A bronze sculpture of the mother duck and her eight ducklings is a popular tourist attraction in Boston.
McCloskey and his wife, Margaret, the daughter of children's author Ruth Sawyer Durand, and their daughters, Sally and Jane, spent summers on Scott Island in Maine, leading to "Blueberries for Sal" (1948), "One Morning in Maine" (1952), and "Time of Wonder" (1957), for which he won a second Caldecott Medal.
"Blueberries for Sal" is the story of his wife and daughter encountering a mother bear and cub while picking blueberries on Deer Isle.
The setting for "One Morning in Maine," a story in which young Sal loses her first tooth, is a garage in South Brooksville, where people touched by the story still visit.
"Time of Wonder" features McCloskey and his daughters going to South Brooksville for groceries and gasoline before a big storm.
In his 1943 book "Homer Price," McCloskey drew upon his childhood roots in the Midwest to write about a young inventor.
McCloskey later recalled some of his own fanciful inventions, including a failed attempt to make a cotton candy machine. He was having trouble creating a heating element to melt the sugar.
"So I put molasses in there. When I turned it on, the molasses shot out everywhere and formed a wide band that covered the walls, the curtains and the whole front of me," he told the Bangor Daily News in 1996.
When he was a child, his parents encouraged him to develop his skills as a musician and he played the piano, drums, oboe and harmonica. Later, he became intrigued by motors and gadgets and fancied himself to be an inventor.
That all changed, he said, when he started making drawings for the high school annual. That led to the art scholarship in Boston and his first commission, bas-reliefs for his hometown municipal building.
Oklahoma executes man convicted in multistate killing spree
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) ---- An Ohio man was executed Tuesday for killing a woman during a deadly multistate crime spree nine years ago.
Lewis Eugene Gilbert, 31, was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m. after receiving a lethal mix of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. His final statement was mostly inaudible, but he thanked God several times.
"This is weird, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing God. I'm coming home," Gilbert said.
Gilbert was executed for killing Roxanne Ruddell, and had been sentenced to death for murdering a Missouri couple. Authorities said he also confessed to an Ohio killing for which he was indicted but never tried.
Eddie Ruddell, who said he is still too upset to visit his wife's grave, said execution was the only appropriate punishment. "She was a warm, caring person, loved everybody, did anything for anyone that asked," he said.
Prosecutors in Gilbert's Oklahoma trial said he and Eric Elliot started the 1994 spree by breaking into Ruth Lucille Loader's home in Ohio, tying her up, driving to the woods and shooting her in the head. Her body has never been found.
Gilbert and Elliot then drove Loader's car to Missouri, where they shot William and Flossie Brewer to death after knocking on their door and asking to use the telephone.
In Oklahoma, they ended up at a lake where Ruddell had gone fishing after her shift as a security guard ended.
Elliot tied Ruddell's hands and Gilbert shot her four times. They got away with her pickup truck and $2 or $3 before being arrested in New Mexico, authorities said.
Elliot is serving a life sentence without parole.
Gilbert's execution was delayed about an hour while an Oklahoma appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay.
Rapper Eminem's former wife, Kimberly Mathers, pleads innocent to drug charge
ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (AP) ---- The former wife of Grammy-winning rapper Eminem pleaded innocent Tuesday to a drug charge and two driving violations.
Kimberly Mathers is accused of possession of up to 25 grams of cocaine, driving with a suspended license and unsafe driving near a stopped emergency vehicle.
The drug charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Mathers, is free after posting 10 percent of a $7,500 bond. She must undergo drug screening every other week.
Police say a St. Clair Shores officer who stopped the 28-year-old on June 10 for a driving violation found cocaine on her and in the car. Prosecutors said tests have shown that the substance found in the car's glovebox and in Mathers' purse was cocaine.
Neither Mathers nor her lawyer commented after Tuesday's hearing.
Mathers was charged with possession of cocaine in July 2001 but not convicted.
Mathers divorced the rap star, whose legal name is Marshall Mathers III, in 2001. They were married in June 1999 and have a daughter together.
PEOPLE
NEW YORK (AP) ---- A former business partner is suing Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, claiming the rapper threatened him with a baseball bat in 1996 and cheated him out of $25 million.
Kirk Burrowes claims Combs used the bat threat to force him to sign over a 25 percent stake in Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs' music conglomerate. Burrowes claims he was wrongly fired as president of the company.
"Kirk just wants Sean to realize the value he had in making Sean what he is today and to do the right thing," John Bostany, Burrowes' lawyer, told the Daily News for Tuesday's editions.
In a statement Tuesday, Combs said of the $25 million lawsuit: "The allegations are pure fantasy. Kirk Burrowes hasn't been employed for seven years, and now he makes up a fictional story for financial gain."
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, also names Bad Boy Entertainment and Kenneth Meiselas, a lawyer for the conglomerate, as defendants.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ---- Marion "Suge" Knight could face up to a year in prison if state officials revoke his parole after his arrest for allegedly assaulting a parking lot attendant outside a Hollywood nightclub.
Police said the 37-year-old rap mogul was unhappy with his parking spot June 21 at the White Lotus Club, a nightspot frequented by such celebrities as Britney Spears, Bruce Willis and Tobey Maguire. Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimerich said the valet had blocked Knight's car by other vehicles when he parked it. Police said Knight then allegedly punched the attendant in the face from behind.
Attorney Robin Yanes, who represents Knight, disputed the account, saying his 315-pound client was doing everything he could to avoid prison.
"That's totally ridiculous," Yanes told the Los Angeles Times for Tuesday's editions. "I don't believe that at all. That's so un-Suge-like to hit somebody. Have you ever seen the size of Suge? If he hit one of those little valets, the guy would be broken."
The district attorney's office hasn't received a request to file criminal charges against Knight. Parole officials said they'll ask the California Board of Prison Terms to determine whether Knight violated his parole conditions.
The state agency would have 30 days to decide whether to revoke Knight's parole, which could lead to as much as a year in prison, parole officials said.
Knight -- founder of Death Row Records, now known as Tha Row -- completed 61 days in jail this year after a state prison board found that he'd associated with a known gang member in violation of his probation.
He was convicted in 1992 of assault and weapons violations and was placed on probation. In 1996, he was jailed for five years for violating probation after he and several associates, including rap star Tupac Shakur, were recorded on videotape beating a gang rival in the lobby of a Las Vegas hotel. Shakur was shot to death later in Las Vegas.
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ---- Kirsten Dunst is looking to John McEnroe for inspiration while filming the tennis movie "Wimbledon."
The "Spider-Man" actress was at Wimbledon on Tuesday filming scenes for the romantic comedy in which she stars alongside Paul Bettany ("A Beautiful Mind").
In the film, due out next fall, Bettany plays an aging British player who goes on a winning streak at the world's most famous tennis tournament. Off the court, he tries to win the heart of Dunst's character, an up-and-coming American tennis star.
"She's marketed as the bad girl of tennis," Dunst said during a break in filming.
"She's very dedicated, doesn't have many friends, has a very controlling father. She's very sexually aggressive, very tough. They fall in love, he helps her and she helps him, it's very romantic comedy."
Dunst is reading books about tantrum expert McEnroe for ideas.
"My character is very feisty, very angry. I have a lot of scenes of my yelling at the umpire," she said. "She's like a female McEnroe. That's what I want to be."
The 21-year-old actress has been taking tennis lessons for three months, including from 1987 champion Pat Cash.
"I'm a quick learner so I'm getting there," she said. "I'm really good at backhand, but my forehand isn't very consistent. I'm pretty good at dancing around the court. The serve is something I really haven't got yet."
Dunst said she's also become friendly with world No.1 Serena Williams, herself a budding actress.
"Serena and I have talked quite a bit. I like her a lot, she's very cool," Dunst said. "She was going to come to watch me practice the other day, just to laugh at me."
NEW YORK (AP) ---- Trisha Meili, who became known as the Central Park jogger after the brutal attack that almost killed her there 14 years ago, jogged past the site of her assault during a charity run-walk event.
The former investment banker took second place in the 5-mile Hope and Possibility race Sunday, accompanied by about 1,000 others running to support disabled athletes. The race, sponsored by the Achilles Track Club, went by the spot on the upper end of the park where Meili was attacked on April 19, 1989.
Meili, 42, has said she has no recollection of that night. Her memoir, "I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility," was recently published.
Five teenagers were convicted in the attack and served prison sentences ranging from 6 years and 8 months to 13 years. Their convictions were thrown out in December after Matias Reyes, 31, an imprisoned murderer, said he alone had attacked the jogger. A DNA test confirmed he was involved.
Chicago officials plan to file complaint against building owner over porch collapse
CHICAGO (AP) ---- City officials plan to sue the owners and managers of a building where 13 people died in a porch collapse over the weekend, claiming there was no permit to build the porch.
The complaint also will allege the three-story apartment building was illegally converted from five units to three, according to the Building Department. City building officials plan to ask for a court order requiring immediate replacement of the porch and could seek up to $500 a day for each violation.
The city will file a complaint Wednesday in Housing Court against LG Properties, LG Properties president Philip Pappas and Restoration Specialists LLC, the Building Department said Tuesday.
"Although the cause of this tragedy is still under investigation, it is clear that the defendants did not follow the requirements of the building code when the building was rehabbed in 1998," said Norma Reyes, buildings commissioner.
Pappas is scheduled to return Thursday from a trip to Canada, according to a woman who answered the phone at LG Properties and would not comment. Mike Aufrecht, an attorney for Pappas, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.
Directory assistance did not have a listing for Restoration Specialists.
The collapse occurred about 12:30 a.m. Sunday during a party at the apartment building in Lincoln Park, an affluent neighborhood popular with recent college graduates.
About 50 people, most in their early 20s, were on a third-floor porch when it fell, causing a chain reaction that sent porches on the second and first floor plummeting to the basement.
Seven men and six women died, most of them crushed on the lower porches. At least 57 people were injured.
Police have said they do not plan to file criminal charges. The Buildings Department is inspecting 42 other buildings owned or managed by Pappas and LG Properties.
The first funeral for one of the victims of the collapse, 25-year-old Julie Sorkin, was held Tuesday. Services for most of the other victims were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Families of those who lived at the apartment building were allowed inside Tuesday to retrieve their belongings.
Inmate guilty of escape during unescorted transfer from Lompoc
DENVER (AP) ---- A federal inmate allowed to take an unescorted commercial airline flight during a transfer from California to Colorado pleaded guilty to escape Tuesday for failing to show up at his destination.
David Wayne Leyden, 39, also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm. He faces up to two years in prison in addition to his original 46-month sentence for fraud, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. attorney.
Leyden vanished Oct. 2 when he was to be transferred from a federal prison camp in Lompoc to one in Florence, Colo. He was taken to an airport, handed a commercial airline ticked paid for by the government and sent on his way.
He had 48 hours to report to Florence to continue serving his sentence. He didn't.
Leyden was re-arrested in April.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has operated the honor system for certain inmates ---- called "unescorted transfers" ---- using planes, buses and other types of commercial transportation for years, spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said.
"It's just more efficient for the government," she said.
Prosecutor says technician had enough ricin to kill 7,500 people
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) ---- A computer technician accused of making a biological weapon had enough powdered ricin in his work cubicle to kill as many as 7,500 people, the government said Tuesday at the start of his trial.
Prosecutors said Kenneth Olsen, 49, spent more than a year researching undetectable poisons on the Internet, and have hinted that he researched ways to kill his wife of 28 years so he could continue an extramarital affair.
Investigators found about 3 grams of ricin powder in two test tubes and a jar in Olsen's locked file cabinet, enough to kill 75 to as many as 7,500 people, depending on how it was delivered, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Whitaker said.
"The evidence will show Kenneth Olsen had no peaceful purpose in mind," Whitaker told jurors during opening arguments. "Kenneth Olsen produced and possessed ricin with every intent of using it to harm someone."
Federal defender John Clark said Olsen was a computer technician with plenty of time to satisfy his "irresponsible sense of curiosity" by trolling the Internet.
The government has obtained 20,000 pages of Internet site searches Olsen allegedly made from his work computer over the course of a year.
Clark said only about 1 percent of those searches had anything to do with poisons or ways to kill people. Most were searches into essential oils and massage therapy, a career change Olsen was contemplating in the face of computer industry layoffs, Clark said.
Olsen, a father of four and former Scoutmaster, is accused of making and possessing ricin, a deadly toxin that the government considers a biological weapon. Conviction on either count carries a maximum life sentence.
Olsen has been jailed without bail since his arrest in June 2002.
Roller coaster stalls, stranding passengers for two hours
LARGO, Md. (AP) ---- A roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park stalled nearly 140 feet off the ground Tuesday, stranding 24 passengers for more than two hours before workers repaired the ride. No one was injured.
The malfunction occurred at about 4 p.m. on the "Two Face: The Flip Side" roller coaster, billed as a ride "for those who want to look terror in the eyes."
Firefighters were ready to make a rescue, but maintenance workers finally got the ride running at about 6:10 p.m., said Prince George's County fire spokesman Mark Brady.
The Six Flags America outside the nation's capital remained open and other rides continued. A park spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
North Dakota fines railroad $925,000 for derailment that caused fatal ammonia spill
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ---- The state fined a railroad $925,000 on Tuesday for environmental violations stemming from an ammonia spill earlier this year that killed one person and injured hundreds.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said $500,000 of the settlement is earmarked to build a water system for a housing subdivision that was engulfed by an ammonia cloud.
The remainder is compensation for the Canadian Pacific Railway's violation of air and water pollution and hazardous waste laws, Stenehjem said.
As part of the settlement, the railroad was not required to admit it violated the law.
"From my point of view, I think that the settlement is fair," said Pat Pender, a railroad vice president.
Thirty-one cars carrying anhydrous ammonia, which is used as farm fertilizer, derailed Jan. 18, 2002, on the west edge of Minot. Eleven cars ruptured, releasing ammonia gas that billowed over the housing development.
One man died from inhaling ammonia fumes, and more than 1,000 sought medical treatment.
The subdivision's homes are served by water wells, and residents are worried about the long-term effects of the spill on their groundwater, said Thom Mellum, the Ward County emergency manager.
The railroad has already paid for the cleanup itself, including soil and ice removal, said Dave Glatt, chief of the state Health Department's environmental health section.
Gulf Coast reeling from Tropical Storm Bill; thousands without power, rain heavy in some areas
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ---- Two crewmen from a missing fishing boat were rescued Tuesday, and thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity in the wake of Tropical Storm Bill, which blew across the South with wind and record rainfall.
Some customers were likely to be without power until today, utilities said. A quarter of one Louisiana town was flooded after its levee broke ---- for the second time in less than a year.
The weakening remnants of Bill, the second tropical weather system of the year, had been downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday as it followed a diagonal track across the South.
The storm was blamed for one death, a man killed by a falling tree limb in Atlanta.
Bill plowed ashore Monday afternoon in southern Louisiana with sustained wind of about 60 mph, short of the 74 mph minimum for a hurricane. The storm's remains made their way through Mississippi and Alabama on Tuesday afternoon, with the heaviest rainfall in northern Georgia.
As many as 224,000 homes and businesses were without power early Tuesday in southeastern Louisiana, although the number of those with no electricity dwindled to about 21,500 by evening.
High water during the storm flooded the only road to the coastal sport fishing and beach town of Grand Isle, stranding residents and vacationers, including U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu. State police reopened the road Tuesday after the water receded.
Both crewmen from a missing fishing boat were rescued Tuesday ---- one from an unmanned oil rig, the other from an island. On Monday, the Coast Guard rescued four crew members from another fishing boat, which sank.
The storm's biggest threat was heavy rain in a region where the ground already was saturated by a series of storms. More flooding was possible as rivers topped their banks, and some were still rising Tuesday.
The Tennessee Valley Authority began spilling water from several Tennessee River dams to accommodate the heavy rain.
Rainfall included a record 5.72 inches by late Monday at Mobile, Ala., about four times the previous record for the date. New Orleans got 4 to 6 inches, with up to 10 inches in isolated spots east of the city, the weather service said.
On Tuesday, northwest Georgia got more than 4 inches of rain and up to 5 inches more was possible. A flash flood watch was posted for the entire Atlanta area.
Pascagoula, Miss., got 8 inches of rain by noon Monday and radar indicated 12.8 inches in the Van Cleave area, said Robert Ricks, a weather service meteorologist. However, flooding in Mississippi was limited, officials said.
A levee protecting the southern Louisiana town of Montegut broke Monday night, flooding about a quarter of the streets and some homes, fire chief Spencer Rhodes said. The levee also failed last fall during Hurricane Lili, and Rhodes said repair work had begun only weeks ago because of bureaucratic holdups.
Angry residents immediately circulated a petition calling for a lawsuit against the levee board, he said.
Several secondary roads in Alabama's Mobile County were washed away, and the Causeway, a major east-west route across Mobile Bay, remained closed Tuesday, state police said.
One person was seriously hurt when a tornado tore up a mobile home in Reserve, 38 miles from New Orleans, said Van Gilmore, assistant director of civil defense in St. John the Baptist Parish.
Judge denies bond for alleged leader of smuggling ring that left immigrants in trailer
HOUSTON (AP) ---- A federal judge Tuesday denied bond for a woman accused of leading a smuggling operation responsible for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants, rejecting defense arguments that she never intended for them to die.
Karla Patricia Chavez "is in fact a flight risk because of her continuous trafficking in human life, that's what it is," U.S. Magistrate Calvin Botley said.
Prosecutors say Chavez, 25, led the operation that more than 70 illegal immigrants trapped in a sweltering trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, 100 miles southwest of Houston, on May 14. Nineteen people, including a 5-year-old Mexican boy, died of dehydration, hyperthermia and suffocation.
Chavez, who pleaded innocent after being denied bond, was deported to the United States after she was arrested June 13 in Guatemala, as she tried to enter her native Honduras.
Chavez and most of the other 14 people indicted in the case could face the death penalty for transporting undocumented immigrants in a potentially fatal manner. Nine of the suspects are in custody.
Attorney John LaGrappe argued that Chavez wasn't the one who locked the immigrants in the trailer. Instead, he said Chavez tried to provide the immigrants with basic necessities, like food, shelter and transportation.
"Isn't Ms. Chavez a humane person trying to help people?" LaGrappe asked immigration agent Gus Meza during the hearing.
"I wouldn't consider (her) that," Meza responded. The supervisory agent with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Chavez was willing to help people only for a fee.
Meza said at least four of the immigrants found in or near the trailer identified Chavez as the leader of the smuggling operation.
Virginia governor postpones execution of condemned killer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ---- Gov. Mark R. Warner postponed the execution of a convicted murderer Tuesday to give the man's attorneys time to file a petition for a new sentencing hearing with the Virginia Supreme Court.
Warner stepped in less than four hours before Bobby Wayne Swisher's scheduled execution by injection at 9 p.m. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected Swisher's appeal for a stay about two hours earlier.
Warner said if the state Supreme Court takes no action by July 22, he would not intervene again. The governor's action Tuesday marked the first time since taking office 18 months ago that he has halted an execution.
Lawyers for Swisher, 27, said he was entitled to a new sentencing because the jury that recommended a death sentence relied on a form the Virginia Supreme Court later found defective.
His attorneys were not immediately available for comment Tuesday night.
Swisher was convicted of the 1997 rape, sodomy and murder of Dawn McNees Snyder, 22. Swisher confided to friends he killed Snyder, confessed to police and was linked by DNA.
New Jersey man in wheelchair struck by train
BELMAR, N.J. (AP) ---- A man who had been rolling back and forth across the railroad tracks in his motorized wheelchair was struck and critically injured by a commuter train, authorities said.
Warning lights were flashing and the gates were down Monday when the New Jersey Transit train struck Shelton Spizz, 59, transit agency spokesman Ken Miller said.
"Moments before, the engineer had observed this person in the wheelchair crossing back and forth across the tracks," Miller said. "He sounded his horn and placed the train into an emergency braking procedure, but was unable to stop in time."
Spizz was knocked out of his wheelchair and trapped under the train.
Miller said it was not known whether it was a suicide attempt. He said investigators have been unable to interview Spizz because of his injuries.
The man's son, Jason Spizz, said his father, an Air Force veteran, had been paralyzed last year in a boogie boarding accident.
One man critical, another charged with reckless burning
OROVILLE, Wash. (AP) ---- A man was critically burned trying to protect a home from a Washington state wildfire, and another was charged with reckless burning in the blaze that has burned more than 900 acres, destroying a house and motor home.
Charles Eder Jr., 66, of Oroville was flown to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center for treatment of burns Monday. His daughter, Janet Eder, said he was driving a bulldozer trying to protect a neighbor's home when smoke and fire overtook him. He leaped from the vehicle and rolled to extinguish flames that covered 12 percent of his body, including his arms, legs, hands and face.
Timothy D. Algaier was cited for reckless burning, Okanogan Sheriff Frank Rogers said. Algaier is accused of setting fire to hay cleaned out of his dog kennels. Rogers said gusty winds blew the flames into nearby grass and out of control.
The fire was one of several in north-central Washington, but cool, calm weather Tuesday was helping firefighters. The Nine Mile fire, about three miles east of Oroville near the Canadian border, was expected to be contained later Tuesday.
The fire season nationally still is running far behind last year's destructive pace. The National Interagency Fire Center reported Tuesday that 767,018 acres have burned so far this summer, compared to a 10-year average of 1.32 million acres as of July 1, and 2.82 million acres as of July 1 last year.
In Southern California, a handful of wildfires whipped across dry brush and grass, temporarily threatening homes in Kern County and blackening more than 120 acres in Riverside County.
One of the fires destroyed 1,200 acres near the tiny community of Lebec in Kern County. It was 95 percent contained Tuesday morning, with full containment expected later in the day, fire officials said.
The blaze was sparked Sunday by a flaming truck alongside Interstate 5. It initially forced about 400 people from 200 homes as it spread across the hills south of historic Fort Tejon State Park before 800 firefighters got a handle on it.
In Utah, officials said they were investigating two teenagers who were "horsing around with matches" shortly before the 22,000-acre Apex Fire in southwestern Utah began. The fires prompted a voluntary evacuation of the Shivwits Indian Reservation Sunday night, but it was withdrawn on Monday, said Bureau of Land Management fire information officer Jodi Hamel.
Erratic winds spurred the fire's growth on Monday, but the blaze was burning away from the Shivwits Reservation and the town of Ivins.
Prosecutors: Novelist killed wife to keep couple's money, escape debt
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) ---- A novelist beat his wife to death and tried to pass it off as an accidental fall to cash in on a $1.4 million life insurance policy, prosecutors said as his murder trial opened Tuesday.
District Attorney Jim Hardin said blood spatters at the scene suggest Michael Peterson, 59, beat Kathleen Peterson, 48, over the head, but an attorney for the novelist argued that the evidence shows she fell down stairs after drinking alcohol and taking Valium.
Peterson, who turned his Vietnam battlefield experience into a successful writing career, called 911 on Dec. 9, 2001, to report his wife had fallen down the stairs of their 10,000-square-foot house.
The first witness called, paramedic James Rose, testified that he had never seen a fall that resulted in as much blood as he saw around Kathleen Peterson.
Rose said Michael Peterson had blood on his arms, legs and clothing, and reacted to questions with little more than a blank stare.
The Petersons had $143,000 in credit card debt at the time, and cashing in on Kathleen Peterson's life insurance policy would have pulled her husband "out of the financial fire that he had built for himself," Hardin said.
Hardin said Peterson doctored the scene but was given away by the blood spatters. He hinted at a possible murder weapon, saying a "blowpoke" -- a combination of fireplace blower and poker -- disappeared from the home the day Kathleen Peterson died.
Defense attorney David Rudolf said a financial motive for the death makes no sense because the Petersons had more than $1 million in resources on top of the $600,000 to $700,000 of equity in their house.
Rudolf said experts will testify that wounds on the back of Kathleen Peterson's head and the spatter in the stairwell show it is more likely she fell after the couple spent an evening drinking, watching a video and lounging at their backyard pool.
"The truth is Kathleen Peterson, after drinking wine and champagne and taking Valium, tried to walk up a narrow, poorly lit stairway in flip flops and she fell," Rudolf said.
She had a blood alcohol content of 0.07 percent -- just below North Carolina's legal limit for driving, Rudolf said. She also had suffered from headaches and dizziness for weeks and even lost her vision for 30 minutes at one point, he said.
Peterson could face life in prison without parole if convicted.
Peterson, who earned the Silver Star for bravery, has written novels including "A Time of War" in 1990 and a 1995 sequel, "A Bitter Peace." He sold the movie rights to one of his books weeks before his wife's death.
If the judge allows it, prosecutors plan to introduce evidence related to the 1985 death of Elizabeth Ratliff, a close friend of Peterson's who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase at her home in Germany.
German officials concluded Ratliff, who lived near Peterson and his first wife, died after an apparent stroke. But after Ratliff's remains, buried in Texas, were exhumed and autopsied two months ago, medical examiners said she died from "blunt force trauma to the head" from a "homicidal assault."
German authorities have reopened an investigation.
Mr. ZIP Turns 40
WASHINGTON (AP) ---- The ZIP code, that string of numbers on virtually every piece of mail, is 40 years old.
It was July 1, 1963, when the first ZIP codes went into use, a time of 5-cent postage and one-third the amount of mail as today.
Postal officials say it's thanks to things like the ZIP code that they can now carry triple the amount of mail to 50 percent more people.
"Mr. ZIP helped to usher in the age of high technology," explained postal historian Meg Ausman, commenting on the stick figure with a mailbag used to publicize the new codes. "He helped make the business of conducting commerce in America through the mail more efficient, reliable and cost-effective."
In 1963, the five-cent first-class stamp only covered 80 percent of postal costs, with taxpayer subsidies covering the rest. Today's 37-cent rate is close to the same price, considering inflation and the fact that the post office no longer receives a subsidy for operations, postal officials say.
In 1963 the Post Office Department delivered 68 billion pieces of mail to 188 million customers at less than 60 million addresses. Today the U.S. Postal Service delivers 203 billion pieces of mail to 291 million Americans at more than 141 million addresses.
ZIP stands for Zoning Improvement Plan.