BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Four peace activists who spilled human blood on an American flag to protest the war in Iraq were convicted Monday of damaging governmental property, but escaped the most serious charge against them.
The four members of Catholic Worker, a social justice organization, were acquitted of conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States, said group spokesman Tarik Abdelazim. They also were convicted of entering a military recruiting station for unlawful purposes.
The defendants -- Daniel Burns, 45; Peter DeMott, 58; and sisters Teresa Grady, 39; and Clare Grady, 46 -- splattered their blood on the windows and walls, posters, pictures and an American flag at an Army and Marine Corps recruiting station near Ithaca, about 65 miles south of Syracuse.
The Ithaca residents were arrested March 17, 2003. Dubbed "the St. Patrick's Four," the group said that under international law they were not guilty of a crime, and compared their actions to those of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony.
"That blood was already on the flag," Clare Grady testified. "We just made it visible."
A previous trial in Tompkins County Court ended when the jury deadlocked. The U.S. District Court jury deliberated about eight hours over two days.
Swazi king chooses new teen fiance, who drops out of school to marry him
NHLANGANO, Swaziland -- King Mswati III has chosen a 17-year-old as his bride-to-be, selecting a teenager just a month after retreating from a campaign to encourage girls to wait until they are 18 to have sex.
Ntfonjeni Dlamini, in charge of traditional matters for the royal family, told state radio Sunday that the chosen girl is Phindile Nkambule. Students at the private high school she had attended in the capital said they had already heard she was dropping out to marry the king.
In 2001, Mswati temporarily revived the ancient "umchwasho" rite, which bans sexual relations for girls younger than 18 in a bid to fight AIDS. About 40 percent of this African nation's 1 million people are infected with HIV.
But the rite -- symbolized by the wearing of woolen tassels -- was ridiculed as old-fashioned and unfairly focused on girls. In August, the king announced he was ending the ban a year early.
Speculation that Phindile would be the next royal bride has been rife since she was seen being driven by royal bodyguards at the time of the annual reed dance, which came days after the king ended the umchwasho ban.
According to tradition, the king is meant to select a bride at the reed dance, the culmination of a rite of spring at which girls gather reeds to build a wind break for the queen mother. Phindile was among the thousands of girls who performed before the king at the reed dance.
In recent years, the king has increasingly made his bridal choice in private, after a thorough screening by palace aides and his mother.
According to Swazi tradition, the king is always meant to have a bride in waiting, but can only marry her when she is pregnant. Mswati, 37, has 12 wives, one other bride-to-be and 27 children.
Traditionally, Swazi king's allied themselves through marriage with each of the nation's powerful families. Mswati's late father, King Sobhuza II, who led the country to independence from Britain in 1968, had more than 70 wives.
Some Swazis, though, question whether ancient traditions fit modern needs. Mswati's lavish lifestyle, including fine homes and cars for all his wives and brides-to-be, contrasts with the absolute poverty of most of his subjects.
When the king chose a 17-year-old as his ninth wife in 2001, he was accused of violating his own anti-AIDS chastity campaign. The king's aides argued the ban was designed to discourage casual relationships, not marriage.
Archaeologists in Austria find remains of two infants in grave dating back 27,000 years
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of two newborns dating back 27,000 years while excavating a hillside in northern Austria, the scientist in charge of the project said Monday.
Last week's find near the Danube River city of Krems is important because the newborns were buried beneath mammoth bones and with a string of 31 beads -- suggesting that the internment involved some sort of ritual, said Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, the project's leader at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
"They could be twins," she said. "They have the same (length) limbs and were buried together."
The burial -- one of the oldest in the region -- is also significant in that the children were not simply disposed of after their deaths, Neugebauer-Maresch said. The burial suggests "they were members of society," she said.
Archaeologists are combing the area to see if the infants' mother is nearby, as giving birth to twins in that era would have been extremely difficult and potentially fatal.
Judge asked to bar use of defendant's nickname "Scuz" at upcoming murder trial
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- A defense attorney asked a judge to bar any references to his client's nickname in his upcoming murder trial, saying jurors might think someone called Scuz is, well, scuzzy.
Demetrius "Scuz" Fiorentino, 31, is charged with the April 2004 shooting death of Joel "Wellz" Taylor, 19, during a botched drug deal in a Coatesville crack house.
In his request Friday to Common Pleas Judge Phyllis Streitel, defense attorney Laurence Harmelin cited the dictionary definition of scuzzball as "an unpleasant, dirty or dangerous person; creep" and scuzzy as "dirty, shabby or foul in condition or nature."
But Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Finnegan said it would be nearly impossible for witnesses to identify the defendant without using his nickname.
"All of these witnesses are going to have to call him by the name they know," she said. "We're not calling him a scuzzball or scuzzy. ... It's 'Scuz' because that is his nickname."
Harmelin also asked to have the trial moved out of Chester County, citing publicity surrounding the case. Finnegan wants the trial to stay in the county.
The judge did not immediately rule on the requests. Jury selection in Fiorentino's capital murder trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 19.
Burn victim sues PG&E over transformer blast
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A woman badly burned when an electrical transformer exploded in the heart of the Financial District sued Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Monday, alleging the utility did not perform adequate inspections, her husband said.
Lisa Nash, a 47-year-old marketing executive and mother of two, was on her way to her office Aug. 19 when a transformer beneath the sidewalk blew up, shooting a column of flames into the air and blowing a manhole cover across the street.
Nash suffered second- and third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body, including her hands and the tops of her feet, Mike Nash said. She was listed in serious condition at St. Francis Hospital.
She has had five surgeries and recently came out of a drug-induced coma. Her breathing tube was also recently removed.
"Her voice is very soft, and she gets tired very quickly, but she can talk," her husband told KTVU-TV.
Attorney Mike Danko, who filed the suit Monday in San Francisco County Superior Court alleging negligence, said the explosion was one of three involving PG&E equipment in the Bay Area in recent months.
PG&E spokesman John Nelson said the company offered to cover Nash's medical expenses and assistance beyond her medical needs and rehabilitation.
"We're very sorry that she was injured by our equipment and we want to convey ... that PG&E will do the right thing for them," Nelson said. "We have to review the suit and determine the assertions but again, we are eager and willing to talk to them or their attorney about whatever assistance we can provide."
Last week, the company blamed the explosion on an improperly installed gasket that allowed moisture to seep into an underground electrical vault, causing the high-voltage transformer to short.
After the explosion, Mayor Gavin Newsom demanded that the company perform more inspections of its equipment in the city.
"Enough is enough. Excuses be damned, there will be accountability," Newsom said just after the explosion rocked downtown, causing a panic as smoke billowed up from the street and workers evacuated nearby office buildings unaware of what had happened.
Ancient find delays Santa Fe civic center construction project
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- An archaeological dig -- where human bones have been recovered -- is expected to delay construction of a new $55 million convention center in Santa Fe.
Tesuque Pueblo officials have expressed concerns over what they believe are remains of tribal ancestors.
Tim Maxwell, director of the state Office of Archaeological Studies, said about 100 "human elements" -- mostly finger and toe bones -- have been identified at the site. Because the archaeologists lack a state permit to excavate burials, they must leave human remains where they find them.
"We're in this Catch-22 because actually the law requires us to find out about the burials before we get a permit," Maxwell said. "But we can't do that because we're not allowed to touch the burials."
Since midsummer, archaeologists have been working near Federal Place on the ruins of Fort Marcy, a U.S. Army post dating from 1846. They have discovered ceramic dishes, iron tools and leather shoes.
Areas where prehistoric ruins -- including American Indian graves -- have been identified are covered with black tarps. A fence and other security measures have been added since the theft of a large pottery shard last month.
City officials want to replace the existing civic center with a 72,000-square-foot civic center and two-level underground parking garage. The construction schedule called for a July 2007 opening, but the archaeology issue will delay demolition of the existing center and construction of the new one.
Mayor Larry Delgado, City Manager Mike Lujan and three city councilors met last week with Tesuque Pueblo Gov. Mark Mitchell and tribal councilors. City officials also plan to meet with officials of Pojoaque Pueblo and other tribes.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 calls for American Indian remains unearthed in excavations to be offered to tribes that can demonstrate a kinship. Tesuque officials have indicated they don't want to accept the remains, nor do they want to see them "sitting on shelves" in museums.
Maxwell said there's no way to prove the people buried in what is now downtown Santa Fe were Tesuque ancestors. He said there are inadequate DNA signatures on the Tewa people, who have centuries of intermarriage with other native groups and Europeans.
But in last year's preliminary excavations, "We saw enough pottery that we suspect that these were probably Tewa ancestors," Maxwell said. "Certainly, we don't know enough to say the Tesuques are direct descendants of the people who lived at this site, but the pottery indicates they at least have a common ancestor."
Archaeologists have long speculated that Santa Fe was built on the site of an Indian village, which was abandoned before the Spanish founded the city in 1607.
Stephen Lentz, chief archaeologist on the downtown dig, said the north side of downtown is believed to be the site of a Tewa settlement, circa 1200 A.D.
Gunman shoots three at upstate New York cosmetics factory, then kills himself
NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. (AP) -- A fired employee walked into a nail polish factory Monday and shot the co-owners and a manager in the head before killing himself, police said.
All three of the people shot by Victor M. Piazza survived, although one was critically injured.
Piazza was fired from Verla International after being arrested in 2004 on charges he had child pornography on his company computer. He was sentenced to 10 years probation, police said.
"I'm sure that he was upset at management," said Police Chief Michael Biasotti. "We don't know why this occurred."
Piazza walked through the factory's front door at about noon, armed with a .38 revolver.
Factory co-owners Mario Maffei, 57, and Robert Roth, 65, were in stable condition Monday evening. Office manager JoAnne OBrien, 48, was in critical condition, authorities said.
District Attorney Frank Phillips said Piazza had no history of criminal violence but was arrested in the mid-'80s for unlawfully dealing with a child. Officials did not have details on that arrest.
Police found Maffei lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his head. Roth was at the bottom of a stairway. Both men were conscious. OBrien was found slumped in a chair, unconscious.
Around 3:30 p.m., police removed a body from the factory, which lies just outside the old industrial city of Newburgh, about 55 miles north of New York City. The factory employs about 400 people, and workers were allowed back in to collect their belongings before being sent home Monday.
A man who answered the phone at Piazza's house identified himself as the gunman's father but declined to give his first name. He said police informed him of his son's death, but gave no other details.
He did not know how long his son had worked at Verla but said there was nothing to indicate he was upset with his former employer.
"Oh, no, nothing like that," he said.
A call to the company was not answered Monday afternoon.
Burlingame pays $1,600 to obscure Star of David shape on playground
BURLINGAME, Calif. (AP) -- The city of Burlingame has paid $1,600 to obscure a design at the newly opened Pershing Park playground that a resident felt resembled the Star of David.
The park was closed on Thursday of last week while a contractor filled in a pattern in the playground's surface that consisted of six yellow stars laid out in the shape of the Star of David. Residents had complained it was disrespectful for children to step on the design.
The pattern was changed to an arch shape that more closely resembles a sun.
The original contractor made a mistake in fashioning the design to look like a star, said Randy Schwartz, director of parks and recreation. The design was supposed to resemble the pattern in the playground's climbing net.
"Our intent was not to disrespect any religion or any religious organizations," Schwartz said.
Magazine names Enrique Iglesias `sexiest bachelor'
NEW YORK (AP) -- For People en Espanol, Enrique Iglesias es muy caliente.
The Latin crooner tops the magazine's second annual "25 Sexiest Bachelors" list in an issue on newsstands Oct. 3.
He's cited for his "smoldering good looks and successful crossover appeal." Iglesias, 30, has been linked to Anna Kournikova, who is frequently found on "sexiest" lists herself.
Asked about his most embarrassing sexual experience, Iglesias says, "I've had many, but I'll have to say when alcohol kills the romance -- in fact, when alcohol kills everything, if you know what I mean."
Iglesias is followed on the list by singer Pablo Montero, actors Eduardo Yanez and Gabriel Soto, and Wilmer Valderrama of Fox's "That `70s Show."
Valderrama, 25, was listed in People magazine's "Top 50 Bachelors" issue in 2002. He's dated Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore and Ashlee Simpson, and has been linked to Jessica Alba and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
"It's very difficult for me to fall in love. Truthfully, I've only fallen in love twice in my life," he says.
The list also includes Enrique Murciano (CBS' "Without a Trace"), Eduardo Xol (ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), Robert Grant (Showtime's "Queer as Folk") and Tony Gonzalez, the Pro Bowl tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Judge refuses to stop killing of pigs on Santa Cruz Island
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday denied a request to halt the extermination of thousands of feral pigs on Santa Cruz Island.
The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy say the pigs must go because they're damaging archaeological sites and threatening native species like the endangered Santa Cruz Island fox.
The pigs are descended from animals that ranchers brought to the island in the 1850s.
Rick Feldman, a Santa Barbara businessman who initiated a lawsuit to stop the killings, was angered by Judge Dickran Tevrizian's decision against issuing a preliminary injunction. The lawsuit is still pending.
"We'll probably appeal in a week or two because we want to stop the killing as soon as possible," Feldman said. "I'm very upset, but on the other hand he gave us even more grounds for what we believe will be a devastating reversal of his ruling."
Feldman believes the judge was biased and didn't seriously consider evidence that the pigs could be sterilized or removed from the island.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said he was pleased with the ruling.
"The government's position through the course of the litigation has been that the environmental review process was thorough, and it examined all options related to the protection of endangered species on the island," he said.
Mrozek said it would be illegal to move the pigs and unfeasible to track down and sterilize them.
Hunters hired by the Park Service and the conservancy began shooting and trapping pigs in April. They have killed about 2,500 of the island's estimated 3,000 pigs, said Julie Benson, a spokeswoman for The Nature Conservancy.
"We believe we're doing the right thing to save the island fox and nine threatened plant species, and to restore the ecological balance," Benson said.
The ambitious Santa Cruz Island Restoration Plan also calls for reintroducing bald eagles to the island, moving golden eagles to the mainland and breeding foxes in captivity.
Three East Bay pot clubs get one-month shutdown reprieve
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Three Alameda County medical marijuana clubs may stay open at least another month, despite refusing to provide sheriff's officials with personal information on their owners and employees.
The clubs, in unincorporated areas of San Leandro and Hayward, were previously given a Sept. 30 deadline to shut down because they had not completed a controversial new permit application. The dispensaries protested on grounds that part of the application was too invasive.
Sheriff's Capt. Steve Roderick said deputies will tentatively allow the clubs to remain open, pending approval by the county. Roderick said the disputed portion of the application is optional and will be shortened.
The protesting clubs received support from Supervisor Nate Miley, whose district includes some of the dispensaries. Miley, who agreed the applications were a bit invasive, plans to ask the Board of Supervisors to approve the deadline extension at its Oct. 4 meeting.
Two swimmers die as Rita makes surf deadly along Florida beaches
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Two swimmers died and more than a dozen others had to be rescued from rough surf kicked up by the remnants of Hurricane Rita along the Florida Panhandle, officials said.
On Saturday at Miramar Beach, where the water had been closed to swimmers, Walton County Sheriff's deputies pulled a Kentucky man from the surf. Ronald J. Hallquist, 52, of Walton, Ky., was pronounced dead at the scene.
A second man died Sunday at Pensacola Beach, about 50 miles west of Miramar Beach. Witnesses saw 54-year-old Martin D. Gelfand walk out of the surf and collapse as he turned back toward the water, said Sgt. Robert Johnson of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Gelfand was a law professor at Tulane University in New Orleans.
"It's been bad all week. We've been telling people to stay out of the surf. You can't even wade in it," said Bob West, public safety manager for Santa Rosa Island Authority.
Surfers came to the aid of three lifeguards rescuing several swimmers east of the pier at Casino Beach on Sunday, officials said. The swimmers had all been caught by a rip current.
Ex-schools chief in New York's Long Island admits stealing millions
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) -- For years, ex-Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone admitted, he stole millions of dollars in taxpayer money to finance everything from his breakfast bagel to European jaunts on the Concorde.
His next big journey on the taxpayers' dime will be to prison.
Tassone, 58, of Manhattan pleaded guilty Monday to first- and second-degree grand larceny before Nassau County Judge Alan Honorof in a scandal that state Comptroller Alan Hevesi has called "the largest, most remarkable, most extraordinary theft" from a school system in American history.
As part of a plea bargain, Tassone will spend four to 12 years in prison and pay back an estimated $2 million. If convicted at trial, he could have faced 25 years.
Four other people have been charged. Prosecutors have said they anticipate further arrests, and Tassone will cooperate in the continuing investigation as part of his plea deal, District Attorney Denis Dillon said.
About 50 district residents booed as Tassone entered the courtroom. Many, including former school board president William Costigan, said afterward they were dissatisfied with the penalty Tassone was promised.
"I think he should serve the maximum sentence," Costigan said, although he conceded he was glad to see Tassone "admit in open court that his actions had caused pain and suffering. ... We have become the poster boys for school scandals."
Speaking barely above a whisper, Tassone read an apology in court.
"I will make restitution to the Roslyn schools and I am sorry for my poor judgment," he said. "I only hope and pray that someday, the Roslyn community will remember the good I did for the district."
An audit by Hevesi earlier this year found that $11.2 million had been pilfered between 1996 and 2004, although prosecutors have been able to link slightly less than $7 million to the current defendants.
Sentencing was set for Nov. 29.
The fifth person accused is the district's former independent auditor, Andrew Miller, who prosecutors say helped cover up some of the pilfering. Dillon said Tassone provided information that led to the charges against Miller and suggested the probe "may lead to information on the 50 or more school districts that he audited across Long Island."
The $2 million taken by Tassone paid for flights aboard the Concorde for vacations in England, cruises, hotel and resort accommodations, dermatology treatments, furniture, jewelry and meals. More than $1 million allegedly was stolen via ATM cash advances, and prosecutors said the defendants even had their dry cleaning and cable TV bills picked up by taxpayers.
Records show that Tassone and a former school official withdrew the district's money from ATMs almost every day between February 2001 and October 2002, with Tassone taking out a monthly average of $21,747.
Tassone is the first of the defendants to settle criminal charges.
The schools in Roslyn, 20 miles from Manhattan, are among the best in the state. The district, where homes frequently sell for millions, sends 95 percent of its high school graduates to college, and SAT scores are among the nation's best.
Odds And Ends
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- Muriel Saunders has done a lot during her 71 years. Now she's seeking one more accomplishment -- homecoming queen of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.
Saunders, who is working toward a master's degree in communications, was nominated by two fellow graduate students. The 71-year-old said she didn't take the idea seriously until she was named one of the five finalists.
Saunders is no stranger to campaigning -- she served on the Muskogee School Board for 11 years.
She spent time recently in front of the University Center and other spots on campus handing out campaign stickers and candy. Thursday afternoon, she had to cut her campaigning short when the chocolate candy melted in the heat.
"This really isn't different from running for school board," she said. "You have to get out and communicate."
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Frustrated by rising gas prices, two high school teens got fed up and decided to saddle up.
Mellissa Evans and Chapa Stevenson made their 30-mile roundtrip trek to school last week on their horses, Nighthawk and Wink.
The seniors live in Rush Valley, a town of about 500 people 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
"When you have a car that gets 10 miles per gallon, you have to do something," Evans said.
The trusty steeds spent their days in a stall inside the high school's animal laboratory.
On Thursday school officials stepped in, telling the girls that horses on school grounds were against the rules.
"I guess we'll have to go back to carpooling," Evans said.
Evans' mother, Karren, is disappointed her daughter can't ride her horse to school anymore.
"It took hours for her to get to school," she said. "But hay is much cheaper than gas."
MORGANTOWN, Ky. (AP) -- An online poker site wasn't bluffing when it offered $100,000 to have its name stamped on a community.
Officials at PokerShare.com are offering that sum if the western Kentucky hamlet of Sharer -- which has no city council, no grocery and no post office -- changes its name to PokerShare.com.
The proposition has Butler County Judge-Executive Hugh Evans scratching his head, but he's not keen on the idea.
"I can't speak for everybody, but certainly speaking for myself, this isn't going to happen," Evans said Thursday. "When you talk about poker and gambling, we're not for that in our county. It's very conservative."
First dibs went to Sharer because of the similarity of its name to PokerShare.com, said Darren Shuster, a public relations agent working for the poker site.
He found Sharer by doing a MapQuest search on the Yahoo search engine.
Sharer, established on Feb. 15, 1900, was named for Postmaster Moses J. Sharer or his family, according to the book Kentucky Place Names. The post office closed in the early 1980s.
UNION CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Thousands of motorists who were slapped with tickets are suddenly off the hook after city officials decided there was a problem with the city's traffic signals.
Officials discovered last week that the yellow-light duration on all five of the city's camera-enforced intersections was too short, in some cases by more than a second.
Since Union City began using the cameras over the summer, about 3,000 photographs have caught people driving through red lights. Each ticket carries a $351 fine.
Officials learned of the problem after they received complaints from residents, who claimed they were unfairly ticketed. The state Department of Transportation sets the minimum amount of time that a traffic signal must remain yellow before turning red, based on the road's speed limit.
A review of the traffic signals found the error. By 10:21 a.m. Sept. 17, all of the intersections were reset to the state-required standards, officials said.
Officials decided to throw out all tickets issued before Sept. 17, although many violators ran red lights by more than just one second, said Union City Police Capt. Brian Foley.
"Some of the violations were blatant. Most could have stood anyway, since they greatly exceeded the time by several seconds," Foley said.