Bush brother's divorce produces some startling disclosures

By: - HOUSTON (AP) -- In the annals of embarrassing presidential relatives, Neil Bush is no Billy Carter or Roger Clinton. | Monday, January 26, 2004 9:30 PM PST ∞

But his messy divorce has produced some eye-opening disclosures. Among them: He had sex with women who showed up uninvited at his hotel rooms in Asia; he had an affair and may have fathered a child out of wedlock; and he stands to make millions from businesses in which he has little expertise -- including a computer-chip company managed in part by the son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin.

It seems certain opportunities tend to present themselves when your name is Neil Bush.

For his part, Bush defended the fees he has received for consulting jobs. But he gave little insight into whether the women who offered him sex in Hong Kong and Taiwan were perhaps paid by mysterious benefactors.

In a deposition taken last March and reviewed by The Associated Press, Bush told the attorney for his wife of 23 years, Sharon, that the women did not ask him for money and he did not pay them anything.

Asked how he knew what to do when he opened his door and saw a woman standing there, the 48-year-old Bush replied: "Whatever happened, happened."

"It's a pretty remarkable thing for a man just to go to a hotel room door and open it and have a woman standing there and have sex with her," said the attorney, Marshall Davis Brown.

"It was very unusual," Bush replied.

Sharon Bush also accused Neil of fathering a child with the woman he now plans to marry. The woman's ex-husband has filed a defamation lawsuit, and DNA testing has been requested.

The titillating details have made barely a splash in Texas, where loyalty to the president runs deep. University of Texas government professor Bruce Buchanan said he doubts Neil Bush's shenanigans will become political fodder in the 2004 election.

"There are lots of examples of presidents with troubled siblings and it never seemed to have that much of an impact," he said.

Jimmy Carter's beer-swilling brother, Billy, wrote a book called "Redneck Power" and accepted money from the government of Libya. Bill Clinton's half-brother, Roger, was jailed for a year for dealing cocaine. Richard Nixon's kid brother Donald took $205,000 from Howard Hughes in the hopes of opening a fast-food chain selling Nixonburgers.

It is not the first time Neil Bush has caused his family some trouble. At the end of his father's presidency, Neil was among a group of defendants who agreed to pay $49.5 million to settle a negligence lawsuit over the $1 billion collapse of the savings and loan he directed in Colorado.

Bush denied wrongdoing and was not charged in the grand jury investigation, but the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision found Bush's conduct "involved significant conflicts of interest and constituted multiple breaches" of his fiduciary duties.

Bush has gone on to reap profits from other ventures. In the deposition, he said he hoped to receive an estimated $2 million for acting as a consultant to Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., co-founded by Jiang Zemin's eldest son.

"Now, you have absolutely no educational background in semiconductors, do you Mr. Bush?" Brown asked.

"That's correct," said Bush, who holds an MBA from Tulane University.

Bush recently told the AP he has "not received one penny of compensation" from Grace Semiconductor because he never did the consulting. He did not respond to a request for comment on his divorce proceedings.

Bush has focused most of his energy on Ignite Inc., an Austin-based educational software startup. So far, he has raised $23 million from investors, including Winston Wong, the other founder of Grace Semiconductor.

"Let's face the reality," Bush told the AP in 2002. "I probably have access to people who probably wouldn't meet with a development-stage company, but I feel I'm held to a higher standard."

Bush's tax returns, obtained by the AP, showed $357,000 in income from Ignite and at least $798,218 from three transactions involving the stock of Kopin Corp., a small U.S. high-tech company where he had previously been a consultant.

There is no evidence he has tried to enlist help from the president for any of his ventures. Bush spokesman Taylor Gross said the White House had no comment.

Still, said Rice University political science professor Bob Stein, "there is a family pattern here where the Bush sons -- Jeb, Neil and George -- have benefited tremendously by their connections through their father."

Currying favor with a relative of the president can "start to smell bad," said Steven Weiss, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.

Rex John, who has known Neil Bush since his Denver days, said he has never known Neil Bush to use his family connections to obtain business opportunities.

"I'm sure it has opened many doors for him, but it wasn't Neil out there trying to get them open," John said. "Neil would never do anything like that. That's not his style."

After Neil Bush severed his 23-year marriage to Sharon in May, he proposed last month in France to Maria Andrews, a former volunteer for former first lady Barbara Bush.

Sharon Bush's lawyer in the defamation case, David Berg, allowed the AP to review the deposition but said he did not have a copy of Sharon Bush's testimony. He would not make her available for an interview.

Sharon Bush, 51, alleged her ex-husband could have fathered Andrews' 3-year-old son. That prompted Andrews' former husband to file a defamation lawsuit against Sharon Bush. Neil Bush submitted a tissue sample for analysis.

In the meantime, he has been ordered to pay $1,500 a month in child support for two of his children, Pierce, 17 and Ashley, 14. The couple's oldest child, Lauren, is 19.

Evangelist Graham spends 20th day in hospital, continues to recover

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Twenty days after he fell and broke his hip, evangelist Billy Graham continues to recuperate at St. Luke's Medical Center.

Graham, 85, was in good condition Monday and is continuing to receive physical therapy after having partial hip replacement surgery, said Carol Chaffin, a spokeswoman for the Mayo Clinic, which owns St. Luke's.

The evangelist was in Jacksonville for a checkup at the Mayo Clinic when he fell and broke his left hip in his hotel room Jan. 6. He had partial hip replacement surgery later that day.

Doctors have not said when Graham will be released from the hospital.

Hollywood stagehand charged with murder, sexual assault

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Hollywood stagehand was charged Monday with the murder of one woman and the sexual assault of two others, authorities said.

Paul Alan Ott, 35, of Los Angeles, pleaded innocent to one count of murder and related charges. If convicted of all counts, he faces multiple life terms.

He is being held on $2 million bail and was scheduled to return to court Feb. 13.

Ott is suspected of killing Edith Mejia, 42, whose body was found in his sport utility vehicle last week.

Prosecutors allege Ott lured another woman into his vehicle, forced her to help load the woman's body into the SUV and later sexually assaulted her in his apartment before she managed to escape.

A third woman came forward last week after seeing Ott's photo in the news and told authorities she was bound and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Ott on Jan. 15.

Ott was arrested Thursday after he tried to flee police by jumping from the second floor of a Hollywood apartment complex. He suffered minor injuries.

He has worked as a stagehand, moving equipment on movie and television sets, authorities said.

Man with meat cleaver arrested at British airport

LONDON (AP) -- A man was arrested for having a meat cleaver at an airport in northern England, police said Monday.

The 31-year-old was arrested at Humberside Airport on Sunday, a police spokesman said, adding that the suspect had been due to board a flight for Amsterdam.

The man was taken to a police station in the nearby town of Scunthorpe for questioning, the spokesman said. No other details were immediately available.

Affleck, Lopez lead Razzie worst-movie nominations for `Gigli'

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's real-life romance crashed and burned. Now, the two are front-runners for worst on-screen love affair.

Affleck and Lopez's mob-comedy bomb "Gigli" had a leading nine nominations -- among them worst picture and worst screen couple -- for the Razzies, an annual spoof of the Academy Awards that mocks the year's most awful movies.

Mike Myers' storybook adaptation "Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat" and "From Justin to Kelly," featuring "American Idol" stars Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, came in second with eight nominations each, including worst picture.

The other worst-picture nominees announced Monday were the crime romp "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and the reality-TV adaptation "The Real Cancun."

"Gigli" also was in the running for worst actor and actress, supporting actor (Al Pacino and Christopher Walken), supporting actress (Lainie Kazan), and worst director and screenplay (Martin Brest). Affleck's worst-actor nomination also cited his performances in "Daredevil" and "Paycheck," while Walken's nomination also was for his role in "Kangaroo Jack."

A spokesman for Lopez said last week that she and Affleck had broken up after a year and a half of tabloid gossip about their wedding plans, which they abruptly called off last September. The roughly 500 Razzies voters probably were swayed by rumors about Affleck and Lopez's relationship.

"Ostensibly, we're talking about their on-screen performances, but I'm sure all the endless twaddle about their personal lives played into their being nominated," said Razzies founder John Wilson. "But it is an embarrassingly bad movie, and unfortunately, it's not a fun bad movie."

Nominations for the 24th annual Razzies, organized by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, were announced a day before the Oscar nominations. Razzie "winners" will be announced Feb. 28, a day before the Oscar ceremony.

Myers and Guarini joined Affleck in the worst-actor lineup, along with Cuba Gooding Jr. ("Boat Trip," "The Fighting Temptations" and "Radio") and Ashton Kutcher ("Cheaper by the Dozen," "Just Married" and "My Boss's Daughter").

Besides Lopez, the worst-actress category included Clarkson, Angelina Jolie ("Beyond Borders" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life") and "Charlie's Angels" co-stars Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. Barrymore's nomination also cited her role in "Duplex."

The $100 million hit "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" brought another nomination for all-time Razzie champ Sylvester Stallone, who was cited for worst supporting actor. Stallone has a record 30 Razzie nominations and nine wins, including worst actor of the 20th century.

"He plays five different characters, none of them well, in `Spy Kids 3-D,"' Wilson said. "He can claim he was in a movie that made $100 million, but he's still Sylvester Stallone."

Besides Stallone, Pacino and Walken, supporting-actor nominees were Anthony Anderson ("Kangaroo Jack") and Alec Baldwin ("The Cat in the Hat"). Joining Kazan in the supporting-actress category were Demi Moore ("Charlie's Angels"), Kelly Preston ("The Cat in the Hat"), Brittany Murphy ("Just Married") and Tara Reid ("My Boss's Daughter").

Prosecutors seek life in prison for confessed German cannibal

KASSEL, Germany (AP) -- A German who confessed to killing, dismembering and eating another man who allegedly agreed to the arrangement over the Internet should spend the rest of his life in prison for murder, prosecutors said Monday.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Marcus Koehler said Armin Meiwes, 42, acted simply to "satisfy a sexual impulse" and filmed himself dismembering the victim before he ate him so he could "admire himself as a human butcher." Meiwes considered eating his victim as a kind of twisted "communion," Koehler said.

Defense attorney Harald Ermel argued that the slaying was a "homicide on demand" -- a form of mercy killing -- because the victim gave his consent to be killed and eaten. That crime carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

When his trial opened Dec. 3 at the state court in the central city of Kassel, Meiwes confessed in detail to the March 2001 killing of 43-year-old Bernd Juergen Brandes at his home in the nearby town of Rotenburg.

Brandes traveled from Berlin in reply to an Internet advertisement seeking a young man for "slaughter and consumption." Meiwes testified that Brandes wanted to be stabbed to death after drinking a bottle of cold medicine to lose consciousness.

"Bernd came to me of his own free will to end his life," Meiwes said in a closing statement Monday. "For him, it was a nice death."

Still, he said he regretted the killing.

"I had my big kick and I don't need to do it again," he said. "I regret it all very much, but I can't undo it."

A grisly video he made of the act was shown to the court in a closed session during the trial. A doctor testified that Brandes died from loss of blood and that the medication, along with a half-bottle of liquor and 20 sleeping pills he took beforehand, could not have lessened his pain.

Several experts have testified that Meiwes was fit to stand trial and was not mentally ill.

Police tracked down and arrested Meiwes in December 2002 after a student in Austria alerted them to a message Meiwes had posted on the Internet.

"If I hadn't been so stupid as to keep looking on the Internet, I would have taken my secret to the grave," Meiwes said Monday.

A verdict is expected Friday.

Gunman opens fire at German mosque, killing two men

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- A gunman opened fire during morning prayers Monday at a mosque in western Germany, killing two men who reportedly insulted him and his wife, police said.

Shortly after the shooting in Gelsenkirchen, about 25 miles northeast of Duesseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia state, authorities arrested a 59-year-old Turkish man, who admitted shooting the men in the head before about 20 worshippers. The victims, ages 58 and 48, were Turkish.

The man, whose name was not released, told police he killed the victims because they insulted him and his wife. Authorities arrested the suspect after he fled to his home.

Elvis and Castro visit Saddam's last hiding place

ADWAR, Iraq (AP) -- Castro came with Elvis on Monday to visit Saddam's last hiding place.

U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Cesar Castro, carrying a life-size cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley, was the latest visitor to this muddy farming area that has become a tourist site of sorts since Saddam Hussein was pulled out of an underground bunker on Dec. 13 after nearly eight months on the run.

Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division, chiefly responsible for finding Saddam, had taken to calling him Elvis. Their missions -- chasing tips, vague intelligence and sightings of the ousted dictator -- came to be known as "Elvis hunts."

Castro, with the Tikrit-based 4th Infantry, put his arm around the shoulders of the glittering, gold suited Elvis and got his comrades to take his pictures in front of the former dictator's last hiding hole.

"It seemed like a good idea to bring (a cutout) of Elvis to Saddam's hole to show that Elvis was even here," Castro, a 42-year-old Dallas native, said with a grin. "I was surprised though. I thought the hole was going to be bigger."

Debate has mounted in the U.S. military about the future of Saddam's last hiding place, which consists of a small cement-floored bedroom, outdoor kitchen and a humble bathroom yards away from the infamous hole where the ex-Iraqi president would escape to when he heard patrolling U.S. forces pass by.

Castro said he would like to see the hole filled in and dwellings knocked down to ensure the people of the sleepy village of Adwar, north of Baghdad, would not be bothered by future groups of sightseers seeking out a flavor of Saddam's last stand. The 4th Infantry is still deciding what to do.

"In my opinion they should destroy it so we can leave the people in their farms to continue their lives without having all these disturbances," he said.

Any final decision would likely be made with American military commanders and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

The United States and its allies launched the war on Iraq on March 20, and their troops took over the capital Baghdad less than a month later. Saddam is being held by U.S. forces at an undisclosed location.

Limbaugh's attorney lashes out at prosecutors over plea release

MIAMI (AP) -- Rush Limbaugh's lawyer lashed out at the prosecutor in his prescription drug case Monday and said the conservative radio commentator's use of painkillers was not excessive for someone suffering chronic back pain.

Attorney Roy Black went into the greatest detail yet on Limbaugh's painkiller use and his reasons for taking the prescription drugs.

While prosecutor's records said Limbaugh got prescriptions for about 2,000 pills in six months, Black said the radio host obtained around 1,800 pills in a seven-month period. Black said the average of 8.5 pills per day was "nothing extraordinary."

"There is nothing good about suffering. There is nothing good about not being able to get out of bed without medication," Black said. "People are allowed to have medication for pain that cannot be corrected by surgery. That is the case with Mr. Limbaugh."

Black also criticized prosecutor Barry Krischer for releasing letters last week detailing plea discussions in the case -- a response to a request by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel under Florida's broad public records law.

The letters showed that prosecutors rejected a deal suggested by Black in December that would have sent Limbaugh to a drug-intervention program rather than face criminal charges for illegally obtaining painkillers.

Instead, prosecutors wanted Limbaugh to plead guilty to a felony of "doctor shopping" -- visiting several doctors in Florida and California to receive duplicate prescriptions of a controlled narcotic.

Mike Edmondson, spokesman for Krischer, responded Monday that the office stood by its release of the letters Friday after calls to the state attorney general's office and the Florida Bar Association.

Krischer said in a phone call to the Bar Association's ethics staff Thursday that the attorney general's office told him the letters "are not normally to be revealed," according to bar association notes of the call released Monday by Black.

But Edmondson said "the attorney general's office was not equivocal at all on it."

JoAnn Carrin, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, acknowledged the office "got a call on a hypothetical public records issue" in the Limbaugh investigation but would say nothing more.

Prosecutors began their investigation of Limbaugh, 53, after his former maid said last year that she was his longtime supplier of prescription painkillers. No charges have been filed.

Plea discussions began about a week before Limbaugh stunned listeners in October by admitting his addiction on the air and entering rehab for five weeks.

Two bits' worth: Michigan joins lineup of state quarters

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan's new quarter features an outline of the state with the four Great Lakes that border it and one -- Lake Ontario -- that does not.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm overruled the apparent public favorite to choose the Great Lakes State design, unveiled on Monday.

In a 2002 poll, the design came in fourth behind designs showing an antique automobile and other icons. But it was favored by the 25-member Michigan Quarter Commission.

Dozens of people lined up outside heated tents on the Capitol lawn Monday to exchange a quarter from their pockets for the new Michigan coin, which also shows a textured outline of Michigan.

The coin, being released on the 167th anniversary of Michigan statehood, is the 26th in the U.S. Mint's 50 States Quarter Program. Five new quarters are released each year in the order the states joined the Union.

New study adds to evidence modern humans not descended from Neanderthals

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A study of the skulls of Neanderthals, comparing them with early and modern humans, concludes that that ancient group is unlikely to have been the ancestor of people today.

Scientists have long debated whether modern people are related to Neanderthals, the squat, powerful hunters who dominated Europe for 100,000 years before dying out on the arrival of modern humans.

The new study, led by anthropologist Katerina Harvati of New York University, measured 15 standard landmarks on the face and skull of Neanderthals, early modern humans, current humans as well as other primate species. The results are published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study found that the differences measured between humans and Neanderthals were significantly greater than those found between subspecies of any single group, indicating Neanderthals were not a subspecies of humans. In addition, the difference was as great or greater than that found between closely related primate species, such as humans, gorillas and chimpanzees.

While Harvati says the analysis "cannot completely rule out" a relationship between humans and Neanderthals, it strongly suggests they are separate species.

Her report comes just four months after anthropologist Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis reported the discovery of a jawbone in a cave in Romania that may be evidence of the earliest modern humans in Europe.

The jawbone, dated at 34,000 to 36,000 years ago when humans overlapped with Neanderthals, has characteristics similar to other early modern humans, but also certain features that indicate a possible Neanderthal connection, the researchers said. That suggests the possibility of interbreeding with Neanderthals.

Last March, Richard G. Klein of Stanford University, reported that while studies of DNA indicate that Neanderthals and humans had a common ancestor, there is no evidence that the two ever mixed in substantial numbers, which means that when the Neanderthals died out, so did their genes.

But a study published in 2002 suggested that the genes of people today carry vestiges of genes of Neanderthals and other extinct branches of the human family.

That report by population biologist Alan R. Templeton of Washington University in St. Louis suggests there were at least two distinct human migrations out of Africa, the first between 420,000 and 840,000 years ago and the second between 80,000 and 150,000 years ago.

According to Templeton, the most recent migration, and perhaps both, were not "replacement events." Rather, he said DNA evidence shows evidence of interbreeding.

Odds and Ends

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) -- A man who came to a court hearing wearing a bumblebee costume -- to protest what he called a "sting" operation by prosecutors -- left a judge buzzing.

Conrad J. Braun, 54, was in Johnson County District Court on Friday to hear a judge rule whether a blackmail case filed against him last summer should go to trial.

District Judge John Anderson III was not amused by Braun's getup, which included yellow stripes, cloth wings and a foot-long stinger.

Anderson told Braun that although there is no rule prohibiting the wearing of such a suit in court, the judge has a duty to uphold court decorum.

Braun assured the judge that he meant no contempt to the court and promised he would not do it again.

Anderson bound the case over for trial, which he scheduled for May 3.

The blackmail charge alleges that Braun made a threat against his former wife's husband.

MOORETON, N.D. (AP) -- Eric Koch certainly started life off in a hurry.

Unwilling to wait for a hospital, the fifth member of Rod and Sherry Koch's family was born Tuesday in an antique, cast-iron bathtub upstairs in their own home. Eric greeted his parents minutes before the Breckenridge, Minn., ambulance could get there, and Dad delivered him.

After waking with contractions, Sherry quietly walked downstairs unworried -- she expected 12 hours of labor just as she had done for her other two children. Not Eric.

Fifteen minutes after Sherry woke him, Rod found himself on the phone with 911 dispatch, kneeling beside her as she was lying in the bathtub, about to deliver their second son.

"The 911 dispatcher said, 'Well, can you see how the baby's coming?' And I was a little flustered. I said, 'Well, it's coming out,"' Rod recalled.

Eric's head was already crowning, he said.

"I mean, this baby was really in a hurry ... It seems like once Sherry lay down in the tub, that her contractions never stopped," he said.

Eric weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long at birth.

Said Sherry: "I'll never look at our tub the same again."

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. (AP) -- Page Long's faith in the Carolina Panthers could net him $10,000.

Last summer, while visiting Las Vegas, Long's sister-in-law, Lori Hunt placed a $100 bet for him that the Panthers would win the Super Bowl. Before the 2003 season started, the odds that Carolina would become NFL champions came in at 100-to-1.

"It's a sucker bet. You just don't think you're going to win when you make a bet like that," said Long, a gate supervisor for U.S. Airways for 18 years who lives in Mount Holly, just west of Charlotte. "But there's a lot I can do with that money."

Hunt placed her brother-in-law's bet with a sports book at the Luxor Hotel casino. The people who took the money tried to convince her to simply take Long's money and tell him she lost it on the roulette table, she said.

"I walked out of there feeling really dumb," Hunt said. "When I told them I wanted to put $100 on the Carolina Panthers to win the Super Bowl, they all just laughed at me. They said I'd be better off taking the money and putting it in my pocket."

After Hunt brought the voucher back with her, Long put it in a lock box and forgot about it, although he felt the Panthers had the talent to help him collect on his bet.

On Sunday, the Panthers play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Cosmetic tattoo artist Teri Reid does not usually have to put her customers under general anesthesia when she is applying permanent eyeliner, eyebrows or lipstick.

Then again, her customers generally do not bite, kick or weigh 1,000 pounds.

Reid, a registered nurse who specializes in so-called permanent cosmetics, has expanded her clientele to include horses.

The tattoos she puts on American paint horses are not for cosmetic reasons, however. Unlike horses with dark coats, the dappled dark and light coloring of paint horses can leave little natural pigmentation around the eyes.

When the horse is exposed to sunlight, the resulting glare can lead to squinting, sunburns, cataracts and cancer, said Holly Akagi, Reid's assistant.

Akagi came to Reid in August with a request: Would Reid apply a permanent black eyeliner to her horse's eyes?

"My horse had a terrible time being out in the sun," Akagi said. "She'd squint all the time, and her eyes would drip."

The process of adding pigment to horses' eye areas began in the 1980s, Reid said. The American Paint Horse Association approves of the procedure, and Akagi said the permanent eyeliner can actually increase a horse's value.

Reid agreed to do the job, and the results were successful, Akagi said.

"It really makes the horse more comfortable," she said. "I liken it to sunglasses for her, or when football players put black under their eyes to deflect the glare."

Six-year-old boy found with slashed throat at home with his dead mother

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A 6-year-old boy was found with his throat slashed, bloody and unable to speak, and his mother was stabbed to death in the neck and head.

When friends of the Baltimore family came to the house Sunday morning, the boy opened the door, but could not speak. Officers later found the body of Shella Christian, 42, in a bedroom, said police spokesman Donny Moses.

The boy, whose name was not released, was listed in critical condition Monday, Moses said.

"The child was unable to speak when found because a lot of blood had settled in his throat, but he'll be able to speak in a few days when a breathing tube is removed," said Detective Albert Marcus.

Authorities believe the attacks occurred late Friday or early Saturday. Police had no motive and no suspects, Moses said.

Two men fleeing police get stuck in the mud

SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) -- Two men fleeing police were captured after they ran across a muddy lake bed, lost their shoes and got mired in the muck.

Kevin Chawlk, 17, and Richard Neri, 20, got about a quarter of a mile across the lake in near freezing temperatures early Saturday before they got stuck. It took rescuers three hours to get the men out.

One was wearing just a T-shirt and shorts.

"They'd have died if we hadn't found them," said East Spencer Police Sgt. James Schmierer. "A couple of idiots is what they are."

Police began chasing the men in their car after they were clocked at 67 mph in a 45 mph zone, authorities said. The car eventually crashed into a tree and the men jumped out and ran into the woods.

Neri was charged with driving with a revoked license and fleeing to elude arrest. He was jailed on $15,000 bail after being treated at a hospital. Chawlk was not charged.

Toddler found stabbed in Philadelphia schoolyard; mother charged with attempted murder

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A woman repeatedly stabbed her 1.5-year-old daughter and left her with a steak knife lodged in her back in a snow-covered schoolyard, where she was found alive Monday, police said.

Tamika Fowler, 19, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and related offenses in the attack on Shytaisia Shirley, police Capt. John Darby said. The toddler was hospitalized in critical condition, but was expected to survive, he said.

Bystanders found Shytaisia sitting upright in a snow bank in a west Philadelphia schoolyard with the 4-inch knife in her back early Monday and flagged down police, Darby said.

The girl was wearing jeans and a thermal shirt, but had no coat, shoes or socks, Darby said. Initially, police had said she was wearing only a diaper.

Police stopped Fowler about a block away and she acknowledged being the girl's mother, Darby said. He said Fowler gave a statement to police, but would not elaborate.

The victim was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with two stab wounds to the abdomen and one to the back, and was treated for "hypothermia issues," Darby said. Temperatures in the city were hovering around 20 when the little girl was found.

Shytaisia was in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery.

Utah polygamist pleads guilty to incest for taking 15-year-old cousin as wife

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A member of Utah's polygamous Kingston clan was sentenced Monday to a year behind bars for taking as his wife a 15-year-old cousin, who was also his aunt.

Jeremy Ortell Kingston pleaded guilty to incest in an arrangement with prosecutors. The felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if Kingston successfully completes three years' probation.

"I realize that I was the adult, she was the minor," said Kingston, 32, addressing Judge Michael Burton in the packed courtroom before being sentenced. "I would like to tell her I am truly sorry for the mistake I made."

Kingston was 24 when he took LuAnn Kingston as his fourth wife in 1995. Family members say he has at least 17 children. His legal wife and four of his children attended the hearing, but did not speak to reporters.

The sentencing follows the recommendation from prosecutors, who agreed that Kingston should not be sentenced to more than a year in jail or prison. He had entered his guilty plea in October.

LuAnn Kingston left her marriage in 2000, taking with her their two daughters. She said she went to police hoping to set an example for other polygamous wives.

In asking the court for leniency Monday, Kingston had suggested that LuAnn had pursued him and they had fallen in love. But she denied the marriage was consensual.

"I was glad that they saw through all of his save-face comments," she told reporters after the sentencing.

The Kingston clan, also known as the Latter Day Church of Christ, includes an estimated 1,200 members. The secretive group has amassed a $150 million business empire, running Utah companies that include pawn shops, restaurant supply stores and dairies.

The clan is not part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practiced polygamy widely until the 1890s, when church leaders renounced it as a condition for Utah statehood. Polygamists are now excommunicated from the Mormon church.

Last year, Jeremy Kingston's uncle, David Ortell Kingston, was released from prison after serving four years for committing incest with a 16-year-old niece.

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