Zsa Zsa's husband sues Bill O'Reilly for calling him a fraud

By: Associated Press - | Thursday, March 15, 2007 7:57 PM PDT ∞

LOS ANGELES -- Prince Frederic von Anhalt has sued Fox and Bill O'Reilly after the talk show host called him a fraud for claiming he could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.

Von Anhalt, who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed the defamation suit seeking at least $10 million in damages Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The claim stems from comments the talk show host made during a Feb. 22 segment of "The O'Reilly Factor."

"Look, this guy's a fraud," O'Reilly said, according to a transcript of the show posted on the network's Web site. "We know he's a fraud. But let's -- what I want to talk about is -- he's done. His credibility is -- is finished."

Since the show aired, von Anhalt said people give him dirty looks when he goes to the grocery store.

"They say, 'Look, here comes the fraud,"' he said. "I get lots of e-mails from people bad-mouthing me. It's very embarrassing."

Fox News spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer said Thursday that Fox had not received the suit yet and therefore could not comment on it.

Last month, von Anhalt filed legal documents seeking a DNA test to determine if he is the father of Smith's baby girl, Dannielynn. He has said he carried on a decade-long affair with the Playboy centerfold.

Two other men also claim to be the father, Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead and her most recent companion, Howard K. Stern, whose name appears on the baby's birth certificate.

Angelina Jolie adopts 3-year-old Vietnamese orphan

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) -- Angelina Jolie on Thursday adopted a 3-year-old boy she picked up at an orphanage in southern Vietnam earlier in the day, greeting him with a kiss and a hug. - Nguyen Van Trung, director of the orphanage, confirmed Thursday that Vietnamese officials had approved the adoption. Jolie was expected to meet with U.S. consular officials, who must review the adoption before a passport can be issued for the boy.

The child's name is Pax Thien Jolie, said Trevor Neilson, Jolie's adviser on international affairs. Pax means peace in Latin, but Neilson said he didn't know whether Jolie had chosen it for that reason.

"This morning he woke up at 6, just like all the children," Trung said. "He put on new clothes, and he was very excited."

Trung said the child at first seemed shy with his mother-to-be, he said. When Jolie and the boy left, the orphanage staff and children gave them a round of applause.

"It seemed like she was very good at getting along with children," Trung said.

Someone carried the boy outside to a waiting Toyota minivan with dark windows, and his face was shielded from photographers with an umbrella.

The same vehicle later arrived at the Department of Justice in Ho Chi Minh City, where Vietnamese adoption officials said a ceremony was conducted at which Jolie officially took possession of the child.

After about half an hour, two vehicles left the building, followed by a buzz of reporters and photographers.

Neilson, speaking from South Africa, said Jolie was at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday afternoon and had no plans to return home this weekend.

He said that she complained in a telephone call to him that paparazzi had attacked her car as she left the orphanage, pounding on the door and throwing things under the vehicle to prevent it from going.

"Angelina understands the interest in her life, but we hope that the paparazzi can have some restraint when it comes to the safety and emotional health of this boy," Neilson said.

He said that as far as the adoption was concerned, she was receiving "no preferential treatment of any kind."

"She is going through the process in the exact same way as other American parents except that she is under siege from the paparazzi," he said.

Jolie had arrived at the orphanage carrying her 5-year-old son Maddox, whom she adopted in neighboring Cambodia in 2002.

About 20 children dressed in traditional Vietnamese tunics, called ao dai, and offering flowers welcomed the pair as they arrived at the orphanage.

Jolie, dressed in a black skirt and shirt, was preceded at the orphanage by a phalanx of private security guards.

She filed adoption papers as a single parent, because she and her partner, Brad Pitt, are not married. Pitt did not accompany her to Vietnam.

They have three children: Maddox, adopted from Cambodia; 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia; and another daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple in May.

'American Idol' judge Simon Cowell says he sells more records than Bruce Springsteen

NEW YORK (AP) -- Simon Cowell says he's bigger than The Boss. In an interview to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," the "American Idol" judge says he's worth five times more to Sony BMG than Bruce Springsteen. - "I sell more records than Bruce Springsteen, sure," Cowell says of the 57-year-old rocker, who signed a contract that was reported to be in the neighborhood of $100 million.

"I mean, in the last five years, I've probably sold over 100 million records. If (Springsteen) got one hundred (million dollars), I should have got five hundred (million dollars)," he says.

Cowell says he sells all those records because he's signed "the biggest artist on the planet" -- Fox network's "American Idol."

"Every single 'Idol' winner is now signed through Sony BMG," says Cowell. "And this applies to ... all the countries ... we sell `Idol' to, which is over 30 countries."

Met opera singer Natalie Bodanya dies at 98 in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- Natalie Bodanya, a soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in the 1930s who also performed popular music in nightclubs and on radio, has died. She was 98. - Bodanya died March 4 at a care center in Santa Barbara from natural causes, her son, Paul Gorman, said Thursday from his home in Amherst, Mass.

She was born Natalie Bodanskaya in New York on Aug. 23, 1908.

Her mother was a garment worker and her father abandoned his three children when she was 8, her son said.

She grew up in a tenement but her talent caught the attention of Met soprano Marcell Sembrich, who helped her obtain a scholarship to the elite Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

After graduating, she won a spot with the Met and debuted in 1936 as the jilted lover Micaela in a production of "Carmen."

She appeared in other Met productions over the next decade, including "La Boheme" and "Parsifal."

She made concert tours in the United States, Canada and Europe and made guest appearances with major symphony orchestras, her son said.

She also sang for troops at USO halls in World War II, and throughout her career made nightclub and radio appearances, singing pop and show tunes such as "Summertime" and "My Funny Valentine."

"She was the first opera singer that ever sang in nightclub," her son said. "This is a New York city girl, grew up in the streets of New York, so she was a very American girl and she loved popular music."

Bodanya and her family moved to Santa Barbara in the 1960s and she began teaching music seminars around the country for the Association of American Colleges. She also gave private voice lessons.

She also helped obtain scholarships for promising students who could not afford school training, her son said.

In addition to her son, she is survived by a granddaughter, Juliet Gorman, in New York.

Feds: Intern stole dozens of Civil War documents from U.S. archives

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents -- including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death -- and sold most of them on eBay, prosecutors charged Thursday.

Denning McTague, who runs a Web site that sells rare books, worked at a National Archives and Records Administration site in Philadelphia last summer, prosecutors said.

McTague, 40, of Philadelphia, has helped officials recover most of the missing items and plans to plead guilty, his lawyer said.

The stolen documents include telegrams concerning troops' weaponry, the Lincoln death announcement sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, prosecutors said.

The sale of one of the items on eBay aroused suspicion and led to the investigation, National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. The office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said that all but a handful of the items have been recovered.

McTague, who holds master's degrees in history and information systems, secured the unpaid internship through an affiliation with a university, court papers state. The papers do not name the university, but Cooper said a professor at New York's State University at Albany recommended McTague.

McTague had been responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War. As an intern, he may not have had to go through the security checks mandated for volunteers and visiting researchers, Cooper said.

McTague's lawyer, Eric Sitarchuk, declined to comment on the value of the stolen items, which was listed only as more than $1,000 in court documents.

A telephone number for McTague could not immediately be determined, and he did not immediately respond to a query sent to his Web site.

On the Net:

The National Archives and Records Administration: http://www.archives.gov/

Denning House: http://www.trocadero.com/dennbks/

Danish company charged for T-shirt sales supporting FARC, Palestinian group

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- Seven people who raised money for Colombian guerrillas and Palestinian militants through T-shirt sales have been charged under Denmark's anti-terror law, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The suspects were associated with a Danish company that sold T-shirts over the Internet with the acronyms FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and PFLP, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The company, Fighters and Lovers, said on its Web site that it would donate $7 to the groups for each $31 T-shirt sold. However, no money has been transferred to either group, and it was not immediately clear if any shirts were sold.

In charges filed Wednesday, Prosecutor Henning Fode said the seven, who were not identified, had violated a part of the anti-terror law that prohibits economic support to terror groups.

"Both PFLP and FARC have either taken responsibility for or have been blamed for acts that must be considered to be included" in the Danish anti-terror law, Fode said in a statement.

If convicted, each faces up to six years in prison.

Company officials did not immediately answer calls seeking comment.

No trial date was set for the case, which started in January 2006 after Colombia asked Denmark to take action against Fighters and Lovers.

In October, the spokesman for another Danish group that advocated support for FARC and PFLP was charged under terrorism laws for helping raise money for the organizations.

Man drags ex-girlfriend into elevator, set off gasoline explosion north of Boston; 2 killed

BOSTON (AP) -- Raymond Echavarria dragged his ex-girlfriend into an elevator in the office building where she worked. He then used a lighter to ignite fumes from a can of gasoline, killing the couple in a fiery explosion.

Authorities found the two badly burned bodies Wednesday inside the elevator, along with the 2-gallon fuel container, the lighter and a knife. Investigators were treating the slaying as a murder-suicide.

Police said Echavarria, 23, pulled Xiomara Robles, 21, into the elevator shortly after she returned from a lunch break to the office building in the suburb of Lynn. Moments later, office workers heard an explosion inside the elevator, which became engulfed in flames.

Fire Chief Edward Higgins said Echavarria poured the gasoline out of the container and ignited the fuel vapors that had accumulated in the elevator, causing a blast that was heard throughout the three-story building.

Attorney Phil Lamonica, whose law office shares the common area with a psychiatric clinic where Robles worked as a secretary, said he bought lunch for Robles, her young son and another secretary Wednesday.

Lamonica said Robles and the boy were laughing and talking when they returned to work, but a short time later Echavarria drove up. Police said the pair apparently argued near or inside the elevator.

"I heard a lot of screaming," Lamonica told The Daily Item of Lynn. "At first, we all thought she was trapped in the elevator and had claustrophobia, so we started punching all the buttons. I ran to call the fire department and while I was on the phone, I heard the explosion."

Robles' boy was left outside the elevator and survived. Social workers placed him and the couple's 14-month-old child with relatives.

Court records showed a restraining order was issued against Echavarria on Jan. 8 after Robles alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. Echavarria was scheduled to appear in court on the kidnapping charges in April.

Mississippi gambling regulators award $1M in slot jackpot dispute

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Gaming Commission has agreed with a Biloxi woman that she won $1 million on a slot machine at the IP casino. - The three-member commission sided Thursday with Florida Eash.

The IP casino argued Eash was only owed $8,000 -- the top winning amount showed on the machine's sign. The casino said a technician for Reno, Nev.-based International Game Technology mistakenly programmed the slot machine to be a stand-alone progressive.

The $5 Double Top Dollar machine notified Eash on Feb. 19, 2006, that she had won $1 million and sent a signal to the casino's slot accounting system indicating a progressive jackpot was pending.

Gaming Commission agents and agency executive director Larry Gregory agreed with Eash, a real estate agent, but they were overruled by a hearing examiner. Eash appealed to the full Gaming Commission.

The commission reversed the examiner's decision after reviewing a transcript from the hearing, according to a www.sunherald.com article.

"The examiner is somewhat restricted on the latitude she has in regard to exercising judgment and rendering decisions," said commission chairman Jerry St. Pe said. "She is more restricted in terms of legal elements.

"The commission, on the other hand, by virtue of the gaming statutes and our own regulations has much broader latitude. Included in that responsibility is to ensure that decisions we make are consistent with the law, consistent with our regulations, but as important, exercise the responsibility of the commission to ensure fairness in our decisions and the perception of fairness," he said.

Missing Georgia boy is found dead

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) -- A 6-year-old boy who vanished a week ago while playing near his trailer-park home was found slain Thursday after a registered sex offender and three other neighbors stymied investigators for days with conflicting stories of the youngster's fate.

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said all four suspects would probably be charged with murder in the slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios.

Christopher's partially concealed body was discovered by a state ranger about three miles from the youngster's home. Doering said it was obvious the boy had been killed, but he would not say how and would not disclose how long the body had been there.

About 60 volunteer searchers, many wearing T-shirts printed with the boy's photo, hugged and wept as Doering confirmed Christopher's death to reporters.

"You suspected all along in your heart, it's just not the outcome you want," said Mari Charnock. "At least we know, though. At least it's over."

Earlier this week, police arrested four people -- a convicted child molester living in the trailer park, his parents and a friend of theirs -- in connection with the boy's disappearance.

Investigators said the four told a tangle of conflicting and ever-shifting stories -- that they knew nothing about the boy's disappearance, that the boy was still alive, and that he had been abducted, killed and buried. But repeated searches of the spots where the boy was supposedly buried turned up nothing, investigators said.

Doering said none of the tips from the suspects led to the discovery of the body. The body was found near the county airport, miles away from the patch of dense woods close to the trailer park where investigators were led to believe the boy had been buried.

Christopher lived with his father in a neighborhood of about 50 mobile homes along a narrow, U-shaped road just outside of Brunswick. Neighbors told police that they last saw the boy on the evening of March 8, playing by himself on the swing set outside a friend's home. One of his toys, a Star Wars lightsaber, was found beside the road.

George David Edenfield, a mentally slow 32-year-old man who lived with his parents across the street from the boy's grandmother, was arrested and charged with violating his probation from a 1997 child molestation conviction, which prohibits him from contact with children. Police said he admitted playing a role in Christopher's disappearance, but they would not be more specific.

Edenfield's parents were jailed on charges of obstruction and lying to police because they first denied knowing anything about the boy's disappearance, then later said they knew he had been abducted, authorities said.

The same charges were brought against a fourth suspect, Donald Dale. Police said he told them he helped bury the boy.

Doering said he escorted the boy's father, Mike Barrios, to the scene to see the body at the father's request.

"That was the hardest part," Doering said. "When it's your only son that has been killed and you want to go look for the last time, that's tough."

The police chief said the body was covered with some sort of material, but he would not be more specific.

Former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn dead at 80

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Bowie Kuhn, who saw baseball become a business of free agents making multimillion-dollar salaries during 15 tumultuous years as commissioner, died Thursday. He was 80.

Kuhn died at St. Luke's Hospital following a short illness, his spokesman Bob Wirz said.

When Kuhn took over as commissioner from William Eckert on Feb. 4, 1969, baseball just had completed its final season as a tradition-bound 20-team sport, one with no playoffs, a reserve clause and an average salary of about $19,000.

Kuhn battled the rise of the NFL and a combative players' union that beseiged him with lawsuits, grievances and work stoppages. Yet it was also a time of record attendance and revenue and a huge expansion of the sport's television presence.

Along with his bumpy reign came a string of controversial decisions.

When Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth's career record in 1974, Kuhn was not in the stands. And he banned Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from associating with their former teams because of liaisons with gambling casinos.

"I want it to be remembered that I was commissioner during a time of tremendous growth in the popularity of the game," Kuhn said, "and that it was a time in which no one could question the integrity of the game."

It was also a time of memorable feuds. Kuhn did battle with ornery owners like Charlie Finley, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner and Ray Kroc. Finley once went so far as calling Kuhn "the village idiot."

In addition to owners, Kuhn tangled with former star players like Mays, Mantle and Curt Flood, and union head Marvin Miller.

His downfall came after he presided over a 50-day strike that split the 1981 season in half.

"Bowie was a good guy, and I admired him. Even though we had our disagreements, I never lost my respect for his integrity," Steinbrenner said through spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

A prim and proper lawyer who stood ramrod erect, Kuhn was regarded by some as a stuffed shirt.

"You've got to develop a sense of humor," Kuhn once said in an interview. "You have to be able to stand back and laugh. That's invaluable, or you're apt to go slightly balmy."

Born in Takoma Park, Md., on Oct. 28, 1926, Kuhn grew up in Washington, D.C., as a fan of the original Washington Senators -- yet he allowed the expansion Senators to leave after the 1971 season and become the Texas Rangers. He graduated from Princeton in 1947 and received his law degree in 1950 from Virginia.

After school, he joined the law firm of Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, which represented the National League. In 1966, he represented the Milwaukee Braves in their legal battle with the city over a move to Atlanta and gained the respect of the league's owners.

He eventually lost that respect through repeated confrontations with many of those owners, who kept him from getting involved in negotiations during the 1981 strike.

Kuhn suspended Steinbrenner in 1974 for two years -- later shortened to 15 months -- for his guilty plea regarding illegal campaign contributions to President Nixon's re-election campaign. He then suspended Turner, the Braves owner, in 1976 for tampering with the contract of Gary Matthews.

In 1976, he voided the attempt by Finley's Oakland Athletics to sell Vida Blue, Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers for a combined price of $3.5 million, saying the deals weren't in the best interests of baseball.

He fined Kroc, the San Diego Padres owner, $100,000 in 1979 for saying he wanted to sign Joe Morgan of the Reds and Graig Nettles of the Yankees.

During Kuhn's years as commissioner, attendance in the major leagues grew from 23 million in 1968 to 44.6 million in 1982. In 1983, baseball signed a $1.2 billion television contract that would earn each team $7 million a year for six seasons, then an astonishing sum.

It was clear by now that baseball was transforming itself from a sport to a business, with revenue rising from $163 million in 1975 to $624 million in 1984.

"You can't be commissioner for 14 years and not change, for better or for worse. I hope I've changed for the better," he said. "I'm more philosophical about our problems. Initially, I used to become more upset. Now, I take problems for granted as being part of the office."

While business boomed on his watch, players wanted their cut.

Flood sued to gain free agency, but lost his U.S. Supreme Court case in 1972. In 1975, the union finally ended the reserve clause, which bound players to their teams forever, winning an arbitration case filed on behalf of Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith. Baseball hasn't been the same since.

On the field, Kuhn injected himself into Aaron's chase for Ruth's home-run record by ordering Braves manager Eddie Mathews to play Aaron in 1974's season-opening series at Cincinnati. Aaron entered with 713 homers, one shy of Ruth's mark.

A year later, Finley led a group that attempted to oust Kuhn as his first term ended.

"That was an ambush," Kuhn said. "I was blindsided. I didn't see it coming, and I wasn't prepared."

But with the support of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, Kuhn managed to gain re-election.

By 1982, a year after the strike -- baseball's fifth work stoppage under Kuhn -- owners were ready for change. At a Nov. 1 meeting at a Chicago airport hotel, AL owners voted 11-3 to give Kuhn another term, but the NL vote was 7-5, short of the 75 percent needed.

He is survived by wife, Luisa Kuhn; son Stephen Kuhn; daughter Alex Bower; and stepsons Paul Degener and George Degener.

Miners union blames roof friction for explosion that killed 12 in West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- The miners union on Thursday blamed last year's deadly Sago Mine explosion on friction between rocks and a metal roof-support system, rather than lightning.

The United Mine Workers report said the chance that lightning caused the methane gas blast is "so remote as to be practically impossible."

The union's report differs from the conclusions of state investigators and the mine's owner that a lightning strike somehow traveled two miles and ignited gas that had accumulated naturally in a mined-out and sealed-off area. A third report, by a former federal Mine Safety and Health Administration chief and special adviser to Gov. Joe Manchin, said lightning could not be ruled out.

Mine owner International Coal Group Inc. issued a statement dismissing the report as "wholly unreliable" and "nothing more than political grandstanding" designed to help the union's organizing efforts.

The January 2006 explosion killed one miner and left 12 others trapped underground for more than 40 hours. By the time rescuers reached them, carbon monoxide poisoning had killed all but one of the remaining men.

"None of these miners should have died," union President Cecil Roberts said at a news conference in Washington, D.C. "Not one."

A lightning strike was documented at about the same time as the explosion. But unlike other coal mine blasts linked to lightning, Sago had no metal conduit that could have carried the charge that far, according to the union, which participated in the Sago investigation as a legal representative of several workers at the nonunion mine.

Rather, the union contended, a spark likely came from rocks banging together or into the network of metal screens, plates and bolts used to hold up a frequently wet and steadily collapsing shale and sandstone roof. Metal rubbing on metal also could have created a spark, the report said.

The report said ICG should have done more to address the deteriorating condition of the roof.

ICG President Ben Hatfield called the roof friction theory "patently absurd" and unsupported by evidence. He said the union representatives who took part in the investigation lacked the training of the experts who helped his company and the state reach their findings.

ICG, which is facing lawsuits by families of most of the Sago victims, has said the lightning evidence is too strong to ignore, and has taken safety measures aimed at preventing similar explosions.

The federal mine safety agency has yet to release its own findings about Sago.

After the union news conference, the daughter of one of the victims said she has never believed the lightning theory.

"It was safety issues," said Ann Merideth, daughter of Jim Bennett. "We have just been through sheer hell, and knowing that my dad didn't have to die -- it breaks my heart."

-- Associated Press writer Jennifer Kerr contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Man who apologized for 1984 sex attack at University of Virginia sentenced to 18 months

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A man who sexually assaulted a University of Virginia student in 1984 and apologized to her two decades later as part of the Alcoholics Anonymous program was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday.

William Beebe, 42, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro.

Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward Hogshire ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended, as long as Beebe performs 500 hours of community service related to issues of sexual assault and alcohol abuse on college campuses. Prosecutors had recommended a two-year sentence.

The case was revived in 2005 after Beebe wrote Seccuro a letter of apology in an attempt to make amends for the assault as part of AA's recovery program. The program's ninth step calls on alcoholics to make amends to those they have harmed -- unless doing so would cause further injury. In an exchange of e-mails that ensued, Beebe wrote: "I want to make clear that I'm not intentionally minimizing the fact of having raped you. I did."

Seccuro, 40, of Greenwich, Conn., was given a drink at the party that made her feel strange, and she later passed out, leaving her memory hazy. She said she vividly recalls being attacked by Beebe, but always had a vague impression she'd been assaulted by additional members of the fraternity.

Beebe, of Las Vegas, originally was charged with rape and object sexual penetration and could have faced a sentence of life in prison if convicted. But in November, he entered into a plea deal after investigators uncovered new information suggesting Seccuro was attacked by more than one person that night.

Seccuro eventually called Charlottesville police to report what had happened. There is no statute of limitations on felonies in Virginia, and Beebe was arrested in Las Vegas.

Seccuro said that she reported the assault to university officials in 1984 but that a dean and the campus police treated her dismissively.

Seccuro, who says she has forgiven Beebe for assaulting her, said an apology is not a substitute for punishment. The attack changed her life dramatically, she said, and she deserves to finally see justice served.

Several people testifying on Beebe's behalf Thursday said he is a kind and generous friend who often helped other recovering substance abuse addicts.

"Will didn't tell me what to do, he showed me," said William Daniel Griggs Jr. of Richmond, who credited Beebe with helping in his recovery. He also said that Beebe helped care for his sick son several years ago.

Seccuro sat grimly through the testimony of Beebe's supporters. At one point she put a hand on the shoulder of her visibly agitated husband.

Seccuro went public with her name and story, hoping to lead other sexual assault survivors to seek help. She launched STARS -- Sisters Together Assisting Rape Survivors -- to raise money for rape victims and their families.

On the Net:

STARS Survivors: http://www.starssurvivors.com

Bodies of 2 people missing after boat accident found in Ill. lake; search continues for child

CLINTON, Ill. (AP) -- The bodies of two boaters missing after a boating accident were found Thursday in a spillway below Clinton Lake, and searchers still were looking for an 8-year-old boy, state officials said.

Richard L. Hunter, 59, of Normal, and his son, Jason C. Hunter, 29, were found in the roiling water at the base of the spillway, said Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Kim Knight. Jason Hunter's son, who was not identified, still was missing, she said.

It was still unclear what caused the accident. One of the boaters had called 911 from Clinton Lake on Wednesday evening to report that the group was in trouble, county Sheriff Roger Massey said.

Pieces of the boat and debris were found Thursday in Salt Creek, about 60 feet below the spillway of the 5,000-acre reservoir in central Illinois. Knight said it was raining and dark around time of the call, and said the men might not have been able to see the spillway.

Greg Forrest, who manages the Clinton Lake Marina, said the lake is higher than normal because of melting snow and ice, which can strengthen currents near the spillway. The wind was stiff at the time of the accident, meteorologists said.

Knight said the boaters had recently bought the vessel "and just wanted to take it up and down the lake."

The lake was the site of the 2003 drowning deaths of three young children trapped in a car when it rolled off a boat ramp and sank in about four feet of water. The children's mother, Amanda Hamm, now 30, was convicted of child endangerment, and her then-boyfriend, Maurice LaGrone Jr., was convicted of first-degree murder; both are behind bars.

Florida Senate leader wants to fast-track $5 million settlement for teen's boot camp death

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Senate president said Thursday he wants to fast-track a $5 million payment to the family of a teenager who died after he was manhandled by juvenile boot camp guards, but a key lawmaker indicated the House could take more time.

Gov. Charlie Crist urged a quick settlement after meeting with the parents of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson Wednesday at the Capitol. Senate President Ken Pruitt called to waive Senate rules to expedite a chamber vote on the payment.

A video shows guards striking Anderson with fists, pinning him to the ground and holding what appeared to be a white cloth to his face at the now-closed sheriff's boot camp in Panama City. The teen died a day later at a Pensacola hospital.

"The video images of the senseless and tragic death of this young man are still fresh in our hearts and minds," Pruitt wrote in a letter to Crist. "While no amount of compensation can bring back the (Andersons') son, we can provide a small measure of relief for their suffering."

However, House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, said it would be at least next week before that chamber could take a detailed look at the claims measure. He added that lawmakers sometimes take years to approve claims.

"There are a number of claims bills that have been in the process for a number of years now and those, I think, are equally important," Rubio said.

The Legislature dismantled the military-style youth boot camps last year after Anderson's death. The case also led to the resignation of Florida Department of Law Enforcement's chief.

Man convicted of killing cellmate in Colorado

DENVER (AP) -- An inmate was convicted Thursday of murdering his cellmate by a jury that viewed gruesome videotape of the killer holding up his victim's entrails as he taunted guards from his bloody cell.

The same federal jury will decide whether William Sablan should be executed in the trial's penalty phase, which is to begin Monday.

Prosecutors say Sablan, 42, and his 37-year-old cousin, Rudy Sablan, killed Joey Jesus Estrella in 1999, after a night of drinking and fighting in the cell they shared at the federal penitentiary in Florence. Rudy Sablan's trial date has not been set.

Prosecutors said Rudy Sablan strangled Estrella with a headphone cord and that William Sablan used a prison-issue disposable razor to slash Estrella's neck. An autopsy showed Estrella, 33, bled to death and that some of his organs were removed after he died.

Early in the trial, prosecutors showed jurors a videotape shot by prison guards in which William Sablan is seen holding up Estrella's internal organs and making obscene gestures. Blood flowed under the cell door, and an "S" had been written in blood on the cell wall.

William Sablan showed no reaction to the verdict, which came after two days of jury deliberations. His attorneys declined to comment outside the courtroom.

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid called it "an extremely hard case" but said the outcome was just. He said Sablan would face life in prison if the jury votes against the death penalty.

William Sablan has a more than 20-year history of violent crime. Defense attorneys argued that he suffers from mental illness, brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder that left him unable to control his impulses.

Defense attorney Nathan Chambers blamed prison guards for lapses that allowed the inmates access to homemade wine, for placing three men in a cell designed for two and for failing to respond when an alarm button was pushed in the cell.

Wild turkey struck by car to receive moment of silence at church

WALES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A church was planning a Sunday moment of silence for what the pastor called a model member of his congregation: a wild turkey.

The turkey, which died last week after being hit by a car, regularly attended Sunday services and greeted people as they arrived, said the Rev. James Huff, pastor of Lambs United Methodist Church in St. Clair County.

"He would kind of wait for me to come in," Huff told the Times Herald of Port Huron. "He knew when I got there. Service was about to begin, and then he would sit on one lady's car until we were done."

The animal had been hanging around since late last year and quickly became known for its fearless attitude. Some people said it showed up every morning at the community's bus stop and chased children. Others enjoyed watching the bird strut down the street, trying to impress female turkeys.

"We've got so many pictures of it," said Douglas Bishop, the church's music director. "It was like our mascot."

Police: 2 killed in apparent murder-suicide in elevator blast north of Boston

LYNN, Mass. (AP) -- A man pulled his estranged girlfriend into an elevator in the office building where she worked and ignited a 2-gallon container of gasoline, killing them both, authorities and witnesses said.

Authorities found the bodies of a man and woman inside the elevator after the explosion, and police were investigating it as a murder-suicide.

"Once again we have an ugly specter of domestic violence here in Massachusetts," Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said.

He identified the two dead as Raymond Echavarria, 23, and Xiomara Robles, 21.

Witnesses said Echavarria pulled Robles into the elevator. Shortly after, police said, there was an explosion inside the elevator, engulfing it in flames.

Police found the gasoline container, a lighter, and a knife at the scene.

Attorney Phil Lamonica, whose law office shares the common area with a psychiatric clinic where Robles worked as a secretary, said he bought lunch for her, her young son and another secretary Wednesday.

Lamonica said Robles and the boy were laughing and talking when they returned to work, but a short time later Echavarria drove up. Police said the pair apparently argued near or inside the elevator.

"I heard a lot of screaming," Lamonica said. "At first, we all thought she was trapped in the elevator and had claustrophobia, so we started punching all the buttons. I ran to call the fire department and while I was on the phone, I heard the explosion," he told the newspaper.

Robles' boy was left outside the elevator and survived.

The blast shook the three-story building, said Sam Gonzales, who was in a dentist's chair on first floor. "The ceiling started coming down so we got out," he told the newspaper.

Court records showed a restraining order was issued against Echavarria on Jan. 8 after Robles alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. Blodgett said Echavarria was scheduled to appear in court on the kidnapping charges on April 17.

Defense in murder cites suspect's wrongful rape conviction years earlier

CHILTON, Wis. (AP) -- The attorney for a man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit asked jurors Thursday to help set things right by acquitting him of murder in another case.

"You will set a lot of things right if you get it right here," defense attorney Dean Strang said. "The 1985 case won't matter so much anymore if justice is done this time."

In rebuttal, special prosecutor Ken Kratz said it was "absolutely improper" for the defense to ask jurors to take the old case into account. He argued that DNA evidence clearly shows Steven Avery is responsible for the case before jurors, the killing of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach.

Avery, 44, is accused of luring Halbach to his family's auto salvage yard, shooting her in the head and burning her body and belongings in the back yard on Halloween 2005.

Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon on charges of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The killing came two years after Avery was released from prison on the rape charge, which DNA analysis later showed he did not commit.

A not-guilty verdict now won't change that, Strang told jurors Thursday. "But it just won't matter so much anymore -- the injustice done to Steven then -- because there is something redemptive to human beings going back and trying again to get it right eventually," he said.

Avery settled a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against Manitowoc County last year, but his defense in this case long ago exhausted his $240,000 in proceeds, his lawyer said.

Strang also urged jurors to look skeptically at witnesses' testimony.

A day earlier, Kratz cited expert witnesses who said Halbach's DNA was found on a bullet found in Avery's garage, Avery's blood was found in her sport utility vehicle and her bones were found in a pit behind Avery's trailer.

Kratz said the DNA lets Halbach tell her own story.

"She's telling you, this is how I was killed. She telling you, this is how this person tried to hide me and where they tried to hide me. And it's the kind of evidence, it's the kind of powerful evidence that you can't ignore," Kratz said.

Defense attorney Jerome Buting said state crime lab DNA analyst Sherry Culhane, who found Halbach's DNA on what Buting called the "magic" bullet, was under pressure to find evidence that put Halbach in Avery's garage, and she deviated from protocol when she contaminated a control test. Culhane testified that it didn't change the results.

Buting also noted that Halbach's DNA was never found in Avery's trailer, only on the bullet found four months after Avery was arrested.

Las Vegas priest pleads not guilty to beating, sexually abusing church soloist

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he beat and sexually assaulted a female soloist at a parish office, and his attorneys said they intend to show that the woman and their client had a romantic relationship.

No bail was set for the Rev. George Chaanine, 52, who has been jailed since his arrest Feb. 1 near Phoenix after nearly a week on the run. He faces life in prison if convicted of attempted murder, sexual assault and other felonies.

Chaanine's accuser, a 54-year-old former Las Vegas Strip singer and church employee, said the priest hit her in the head with a wine bottle, groped and choked her until she began praying and he suddenly stopped and fled.

In a hearing last month where Chaanine was bound over for trial, the woman and her daughter testified that Chaanine seemed obsessed with wooing her, but his lawyers Jeff Banks and Scott Coffee claimed Thursday that the pair had been romantically involved.

"Relationships are a two-way street. They always are," Coffee said. "That's what we're finding in this case."

Prosecutors Lisa Luzaich and Mary Kay Holthus declined to comment about the case outside court.

Chaanine, who did not fight extradition, is charged with attacking the woman Jan. 26 at the Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church office, in a neighborhood northwest of the Las Vegas Strip. The woman was hospitalized and received 20 surgical staples to close gashes in her head after the attack.

A court hearing master, Kevin Williams, accepted Chaanine's plea Thursday. A judge is to schedule a trial and consider bail March 22.

In their testimony last month, the woman and her daughter said the priest showered her with gifts, clothing, meals and attention, and traveled alone with her to places including the Grand Canyon.

The daughter, who also worked in the church office, said that two days before the attack, Chaanine's demeanor changed. She testified that he made a motion toward his head with his hand in the shape of a gun and said he intended to send her mother "to heaven."

Chaanine has been suspended with pay from his job as parish administrator. The Diocese of Las Vegas is not paying for his defense.

Small fire erupts at Tennessee nuclear weapons plant; no injuries or contamination

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) -- Uranium chips at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant spontaneously caught fire Thursday and the small blaze was quickly extinguished, officials said.

No workers were injured or contaminated by radiation and no damage was done to the building, said Bill Wilburn, spokesman for BWXT Y-12, the managing contractor for the Department of Energy facility. The building, where about 150 people work, was evacuated.

"The fire occurred as workers were transferring uranium chips from one container to another and the chips were exposed to air," Wilburn said.

Employees extinguished the fire with powdered graphite before the plant's fire department arrived. An investigation was under way.

The Y-12 plant makes parts from highly enriched uranium for every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It also is the country's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium.

Fires occur periodically at the plant. One happened Dec. 15 when a "alcohol-moistened cloth ignited during a spark-producing task to separate parts," according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Bob Alvarez, a former DOE adviser, released a report last year saying there had been at least 23 fires and explosions involving nuclear and non-nuclear materials at Y-12 since 1992.

On the Net:

Y-12: http://www.y12.doe.gov/

Grand jury weighs charges against officers in NYC police shooting as new witness testifies

NEW YORK (AP) -- A last-minute witness testified Thursday before a grand jury that is considering whether to charge five police officers who unleashed a 50-bullet barrage that killed an unarmed man on his wedding day.

The man testified for about an hour, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury process.

The testimony came as the city anxiously awaited jury's decision on the fate of the five officers, who could face a range of charges in the Nov. 25 shooting that killed 23-year-old Sean Bell and wounded two of his friends.

Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said that the new witness was a 55-year-old man who went to a police station on Wednesday to say he had been working on the night of the shooting near the strip club where it occurred. Palladino had been briefed on the situation by detectives at the police station.

The man told detectives he heard the crash of vehicles and ran out to see what was happening, Palladino said. The man said he saw a black male fire one or two shots at a police officer and then flee into a nearby building. The man told detectives that he also heard police officers identifying themselves as police, Palladino said.

"I don't know where this man came from," Palladino told the AP. "But this guy could have a vital piece of information. ... The man told detectives that he didn't come forward sooner because he was afraid and overwhelmed."

Bell was black, as are the other victims; three of the officers are black, and two are white.

It is not known if the witness is considered credible, but his testimony could help the officers if he helps convince grand jurors that the police were justified in opening fire.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has acted as a spokesman for the family of Bell and the surviving victims, said at a news conference that there's something "suspect" about a witness suddenly turning up at a police station instead of going to the prosecutor.

"This story, as told, smells," Sharpton said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added that he wanted the state attorney general to monitor the grand jury process.

The shooting stirred outrage around New York, and officials were bracing for more of the same if the officers avoid charges.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose community outreach program went into overdrive this week as months of grand jury presentations wound down, acknowledged "there will be plenty of people who will disagree no matter what" the decision is but said the streets will be safe.

Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients, who were conducting an undercover investigation at a strip club, believed Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a car after overhearing them argue with another patron. No gun was found.

The officers testified in ascending order, based on the number of bullets they fired.

Detective Paul Headley, who fired one round, and Officer Michael Carey, who fired three, testified first. Officer Marc Cooper fired four shots, and he was followed to the stand by Officer Gescard Isnora, who fired 11 shots. Michael Oliver, who reloaded and fired 31 shots, went last on Friday.

The grand jurors had been instructed to consider several charges: second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide stemming from Bell's death; and attempted murder, assault or reckless endangerment in the wounding of two men.

Droid R2-D2 to collect mail

WASHINGTON -- Thirty years ago, in theaters near and far, far away, a movie opened the imaginations of millions, combining the magics of mythology and special effects to launch the "Star Wars" phenomenon.

A star of those films -- the brave little robot R2-D2 -- is about to take a turn collecting mail as the Postal Service and Lucasfilm Ltd. commemorate that movie launch.

The post office is wrapping mail collection boxes in some 200 cities nationwide in a special covering to look like R2-D2.

It's part of a promotion for a new stamp to be announced March 28, Anita T. Bizzotto, the post office's chief marketing officer, said.

"It's a little teaser for the upcoming announcement and we decided to have a little fun with it," she said.

About 400 mailboxes will be covered to look like the stout droid. "When you look at a mailbox, the resemblance to R2-D2 is too good to pass up," Bizzotto said.

While postal officials would like people to look for these mailboxes and maybe even drop in a letter, Bizzotto urged people not to tamper with them, noting that's a crime.

On the Net:

U.S. Postal Service: http://www.usps.com

Postal Service's R2-D2 promotion: http://www.uspsjedimaster.com/teaser/index.html

Russian man beaten to death on NJ Turnpike; suspect stopped after 90-mile chase

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.(AP) -- A man suspected of fatally beating a Russian traveler at a highway rest stop on Thursday led troopers on a 90-mile chase before he stopped and was arrested, police said.

Brian K. White, 26, of Humble, Texas, will likely be charged with murder, State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. The victim, a 75-year-old Russian citizen, was declared dead at a hospital.

Police said White beat the man at the New Jersey Turnpike service plaza near Moorestown, then drove off.

Troopers caught up with the suspect near Trenton about 15 minutes later and chased him for about an hour before he exited onto another highway, jumped out of his vehicle and charged at them.

White was quickly subdued and was not severely injured, Jones said.

He and the victim did not know one another, Jones said. Police did not know the motive for the attack.

He said White "made some statements that are probably going to lead us to seek some kind of medical attention" for him.

The victim, whose name was not released, was traveling with a business assistant who was inside the building when the beating occurred.

Three injured by cats that invade house in Nebraska

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) -- Two stray cats got into a house and attacked three people inside, then were euthanized and checked for rabies, authorities said.

The cats entered Melissa Breva's house through an open front door on Monday, and attacked two women visitors and a boy, authorities said.

"I thought I had seen it all, but I have never seen anything like this," Chief of Police Martin Gutschenritter said.

Animal control officer John Pettit responded to a call for help, Gutschenritter said.

One woman was scratched and bitten on her legs; the other woman was bitten on her right calf, authorities said.

After talking to them, Pettit went to his truck for snares, then heard screaming from inside the house.

"When he ran back, he saw a young male with blood over his face," Gutschenritter said. "He was bitten on his forehead, nose, left ear and right cheek."

After some first aid from Pettit, the three were taken to Great Plains Regional Medical Center.

When investigator John Stadler arrived and opened the bedroom door, "he saw a gray and white cat baring its teeth in attack mode," Gutschenritter said. "He shut the bedroom door and returned to his car for a dart gun."

Both cats were shot, tranquilized and taken to the animal shelter, where they were euthanized.

The bodies were sent to Lincoln for rabies checks, Gutschenritter said.

Authorities want to find out who owned the cats. Under a city ordinance, cats may run free if they don't become nuisances.

Police say they tracked down burglary suspect who left behind his prison ID

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) -- A burglary suspect was arrested after he left behind a Corrections Department identification card he used to jimmy a lock, authorities said.

Officers said they arrested Robert Alan Fry of Rock Island, Ill., after investigating the theft Tuesday of a plastic jug containing about $400 in change from an apartment in Bettendorf. They said they found Fry's Illinois Department of Corrections ID card at the apartment and arrested him Wednesday at a Bettendorf motel.

Fry, 43, was charged with third-degree burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia and interference and was taken to the Scott County Jail, authorities said.

Fry was released from the Illinois prison system in January, having served two years and three months of a 10-year sentence for a Rock Island County burglary.

Inmates who are released but are without legal identification like a driver's license can receive a Corrections Department-issued ID card.

Minnesota girl finds her dog's head in a gift-wrapped box

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A 17-year-old girl who spent weeks looking for her missing dog unwrapped a box left on her doorstep and found the pet's severed head inside, authorities said.

Homicide investigators were looking into the case because of the "implied" terroristic threat, St. Paul Police Sgt. Jim Gray said. The Humane Society of the United States said Wednesday it was offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

"This was extraordinarily heinous," said Dale Bartlett, the Humane Society's deputy manager for animal cruelty issues. "I deal with hundreds and hundreds of cruelty cases each year. When I read about this case, it took my breath away. It's horrible."

After Crystal Brown's 4-year-old Australian shepherd, Chevy, mix wandered away last month, she put up "missing" posters in her neighborhood and went door to door looking for him. She called the St. Paul animal shelter and rode the bus there several times.

"I felt empty," Crystal told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. "I couldn't talk to anyone. He was my dog. It was just me and him. ... I told him everything and he never shared any of my secrets."

Two weeks ago, a gift-wrapped box was left at the house Crystal shares with her grandmother. The box had batteries on top, and a note that said "Congratulations Crystal. This side up. Batteries included."

Crystal opened the box and found her dog's head inside. The box also contained Valentine's Day candy.

Crystal screamed when she saw her dog's face.

"She was just hysterical," said Crystal's grandmother, Shirley Brown. "She was screaming. She said, 'Grandma, it's my dog's head!'

"I said, 'no it can't be!"'

Authorities say the case is an isolated incident and the suspect likely knew the family. A motive is unclear.

"This was so cruel," Crystal said. "This is one sick, twisted person."

She now has a new puppy, another Australian shepherd. She's named it Diesel.

"Hopefully, he'll be my best friend," Crystal said.

Police search for dad accused of stabbing 11-month-old son, dumping him out of car

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A man stabbed his 11-month-old son in the back, threw the boy out the car window with the kitchen knife stuck in his back and then drove away, police said Thursday. His 5-year-old son managed to escape unharmed.

"He was conscious, but the knife was buried all the way to the handle," said Speedway Detective Jim Thiele. The boy, Devin Chandler, was in stable condition at a hospital Thursday.

Officers had found Kevin Chandler's car but were searching for him. Thiele said Chandler is homeless and had been staying with some friends or family.

Police think 31-year-old Chandler and the boy's mother, Angela Limbrock, were arguing as they prepared to leave Limbrock's apartment on the west side of Indianapolis Wednesday night.

Limbrock handed Devin to Chandler so she could retrieve his car seat inside the home. As she left the car, she heard Chandler swear at the boy and turned around to see him throw Devin out of the car window, according to a police report. When Limbrock picked up her son, she saw a knife in his back, the report said.

She ran back to the home, where residents called for an ambulance.

"We're still trying to determine motive here, but at this point I have no reason to believe he did this to get back at the mother or anything," the detective said.

Speedway Police Capt. Charles Upchurch said Thursday that the department will ask prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant if they do not locate Chandler.

"I don't know why anyone would want to harm an 11-month-old baby," Morgan said.

Chandler has been arrested several times for crimes including domestic battery, auto theft and driving while intoxicated, records show. He served time in an Indiana prison for cocaine possession and carrying an unlicensed firearm near school property, records show.

In 2005, police arrested Chandler after he allegedly kicked Limbrock in the head and body.

Coach injured in bus crash goes home, questions why he survived and players died

ATLANTA (AP) -- A college baseball coach injured in a bus crash that killed five of his players and injured 28 was released from the hospital Thursday, and said the hardest part was not being able to be with his close-knit team to help them grieve.

"It's hard not to be there as their coach," James Grandey said outside the hospital. "I want to help them through the process."

Grandey, the baseball coach at Bluffton University in Ohio, was injured along with 28 players in the March 2 crash on Interstate 75 in Atlanta. Five players, and the bus driver and his wife, were killed.

Grandey, who suffered multiple broken facial bones, said that God brings only situations that people can handle.

"I wonder why I survived ... I don't know, God has a reason," said Grandey, 29, dark bruises under his eyes and his jaw still partially wired shut. "There's a reason for those that didn't survive as well. We'll never know that answer until we ourselves pass away."

Grandey added, "In some way we'll have to find a way to turn this into a positive."

Grandey, who sat in the front seat of the bus, he said he remembers nothing of the crash.

"The last thing I remember is turning the DVD player off and laying down to go to sleep," he said. "The next thing I know I'm sitting in the median, trying to figure out how we fell."

Investigators said the bus driver apparently mistook the ramp for a regular highway lane, traveling up it at "highway speeds." The bus than crashed into a concrete barrier at a T-intersection at the top of the ramp, flipped off the overpass and fell 30 feet back onto the interstate.

Tim Berta, a student coach and senior from Ida, Mich., remained in critical condition Thursday at Grady Memorial Hospital, said spokeswoman Denise Simpson. Berta is the only player to remain hospitalized from the crash.

His father, Rob Berta, said his son, who remains on a respirator, squeezed his hand after he spoke to Tim early Wednesday.

On Wednesday, state road workers began adding safety features, such as signs and reflective stripes, to several commuter-lane exits along the interstate in Atlanta, including the one involved in the bus crash.

Paul Schlamm, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency is still investigating the crash and it has not made any conclusions or recommendations. But he said a preliminary report likely will be released next week.

On The Net

Georgia Department of Transportation: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/

Police search for dad accused of stabbing 11-month-old son, dumping him out of car

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A man stabbed his 11-month-old son in the back, threw the boy out the car window with the kitchen knife stuck in his back and then drove away, police said Thursday. His 5-year-old son managed to escape unharmed.

"He was conscious, but the knife was buried all the way to the handle," said Speedway Detective Jim Thiele. The boy, Devin Chandler, in stable condition at a hospital Thursday.

Officers had found Kevin Chandler's car but were searching for him. Thiele said Chandler is homeless and had been staying with some friends or family.

Police think 31-year-old Chandler and the boy's mother, Angela Limbrock, were arguing as they prepared to leave a friend's home on the west side of Indianapolis Wednesday night.

Limbrock handed Devin to Chandler so she could his car seat inside the home. As she left the car, she heard Chandler swear at the boy and turned around to see him throw Devin out of the car window, according to a police report. When Limbrock picked up her son, she saw a knife in his back, the report said.

She ran back to the home, where residents called for an ambulance.

"We're still trying to determine motive here, but at this point I have no reason to believe he did this to get back at the mother or anything," the detective said.

Speedway Police Capt. Charles Upchurch said Thursday that the department will ask prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant if they do not locate Chandler.

"I don't know why anyone would want to harm an 11-month-old baby," Morgan said.

Chandler has been arrested several times for crimes including domestic battery, auto theft and driving while intoxicated, records show. He served time in an Indiana prison for cocaine possession and carrying an unlicensed firearm near school property, records show.

In 2005, police arrested Chandler after he allegedly kicked Limbrock in the head and body.

Midwest flooding, southwest drought concerns in spring forecast

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's spring weather outlook raises concerns for flooding in the Midwest and continued drought in the Southwest.

The outlook for April through June includes potential flooding in the Ohio Valley and as far west as Colorado, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

"The soil moisture is high, due to the melting of an above normal snowpack, which resulted from record snowfall in December and January," said David L. Johnson, director of NOAA's National Weather Service.

According to the forecast, warmer than normal temperatures in recent weeks have increased the risk of flooding due to ice jams over portions of eastern South Dakota, eastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

In addition, high soil moisture over northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania and extreme southwestern New York state could lead to flooding if additional heavy precipitation occurs, the agency said. Snow and rainfall in December through February were above average in much of the center of the nation, while large sections of the East, Southeast and West were drier than average.

Much of southern California just experienced its driest fall and winter in more than a century, the report said.

"With the dry season fast approaching, there are major concerns that drought conditions will not only fail to improve but actually worsen in coming months," said Doug Lecomte, drought specialist for the NOAA Climate Prediction Center. "The outlook for any significant drought improvement from now through spring looks grim for not only southern California but for much of the Southwest as well."

Florida also is approaching its dry season and dry winter weather over the southern half of the peninsula has brought fire danger indices to abnormally high conditions.

"The National Interagency Fire Center's Seasonal Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for February through June 2007 calls for the potential for significant wildfire activity to be higher than normal this spring over portions of the southern tier of states and northern Minnesota," said Tom Wordell, Wildland National Interagency Fire Center fire analyst.

The outlook calls for drought to continue or worsen through June over much of the Southwest, potentially spreading into portions of Utah and western Colorado.

Drought also is expected to persist across Florida, while improvement is predicted over the extreme northern Plains as well as portions of Texas and Oklahoma.

On the Net:

National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov

NOAA Seasonal Outlooks: http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag143.htm

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

Coach injured in bus crash goes home, questions why he survived and players died

ATLANTA (AP) -- A college baseball coach injured in a bus crash that killed five of his players was released from the hospital Thursday and said his close-knit team would have to find a way to turn the tragedy into something positive.

James Grandey, the baseball coach at Bluffton University in Ohio, was injured along with 28 players in the March 2 crash on Interstate 75 in Atlanta. Five players, and the bus driver and his wife, were killed.

Grandey, who suffered multiple broken facial bones, said at a news conference that God brings only situations that people can handle.

He said he was sitting in the front seat when the bus crashed.

"I wonder why I survived ... I don't know, God has a reason," he told reporters outside the hospital, dark bruises under his eyes and his jaw still partially wired shut. "There's a reason for those that didn't survive as well. We'll never know that answer until we ourselves pass away."

Grandey, 29, added, "In some way we'll have to find a way to turn this into a positive."

Investigators said the bus driver apparently mistook the ramp for a regular highway lane, traveling up it at "highway speeds." The bus than crashed into a concrete barrier at a T-intersection at the top of the ramp, flipped off the overpass and fell 30 feet back onto the interstate.

Tim Berta, a student coach and senior from Ida, Mich., remained in critical condition Thursday at Grady Memorial Hospital, said spokeswoman Denise Simpson. Berta is the only player to remain hospitalized from the crash.

His father, Rob Berta, said his son, who remains on a respirator, squeezed his hand after he spoke to Tim early Wednesday.

On Wednesday, state road workers began adding safety features, such as signs and reflective stripes, to several commuter-lane exits along the interstate in Atlanta, including the one involved in the bus crash.

Paul Schlamm, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency is still investigating the crash and it has not made any conclusions or recommendations. But he said a preliminary report likely will be released next week.

On The Net

Georgia Department of Transportation: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/

NY police officer charged in sex, bribery case; defense claims link to notorious relative

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- A police officer was charged with soliciting sex from at least four women while in uniform -- in one case propositioning a victim of domestic violence under the guise of checking on her welfare.

Prosecutors said others victimized by Southampton Officer Guy Giammatteo included a pair of prostitutes who provided sex in his police cruiser in exchange for dropping arrest warrants, along with a Hamptons nightclub owner who was given inside information on investigations at the club in exchange for sex.

"These are crimes that are as brazen as they are appalling," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said at a news conference following the arraignment. "He is a sexual predator in a police uniform."

Giammatteo, 32, a five-year veteran who is married with children, pleaded not guilty to bribe receiving, coercion and official misconduct in a 14-count indictment unsealed Wednesday. He was released on $10,000 bail and ordered to return to court on April 13. He could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Defense attorney William Keahon contended that the officer's brother-in-law -- notorious Hamptons killer Danny Pelosi -- had orchestrated the arrest in a vendetta against relatives who testified against him in his 2004 murder trial. Spota ridiculed that contention, calling it a "fantasy," and Pelosi's attorney, Anthony LaPinta, termed it "ludicrous."

The prosecutor said Giammatteo began committing the acts shortly after joining the department in April 2002. A police statement said the investigation was sparked by an anonymous September 2006 letter alleging misdeeds by Giammatteo.

Pelosi, 43, was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2001 beating death of Theodore Ammon, an East Hampton millionaire. At the time of the killing, Pelosi was having an affair with Ammon's wife, whom he married months later. They later separated, and she died of cancer in 2003. He is serving a prison term of 27 years to life.

Woman pleads guilty to murder in drowning, beheading of daughter in Washington

SEATTLE (AP) -- A mentally troubled woman accused of drowning her 6-year-old daughter, cutting off her head and throwing the remains off a bridge has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Under a plea agreement accepted Wednesday, prosecutors will recommend a 23-year prison term for Samara Laverne Spann, 32. Sentencing was set for May 18.

Spann has undergone several mental evaluations since she was charged in June 2005 with killing her daughter, Kyeimah, whose remains were never found.

Spann told investigators she was using drugs heavily at the time of the killing, officials have said.

Spann's father, Gary Spann, told The Sacramento Bee in 2005 his daughter routinely called the girl a "devil child," and she belonged to a cult that worshipped the late rapper Tupac Shakur as the reincarnation of the 16th century political philosopher Machiavelli.

She also was upset because her daughter kept getting out of bed and interrupting a telephone conversation, according to the court filings.

Spann told investigators she drowned the girl in the bathtub of their home south of Seattle on Dec. 31, 2004, or Jan. 1, 2005, after seeking advice from someone who was interested in the occult, prosecutors said in court papers.

On Jan. 2, Spann bought a chain, a padlock and an ax at a hardware store, then cut off the girl's head, wrapped the chain about the body, put the girl's remains into a plastic bin and threw it off a bridge somewhere between King County and the Oregon border, prosecutors wrote.

About a month later, Spann, her 14-year-old daughter and an infant son moved to the Sacramento, Calif., area.

Acting on a tip from California Child Protective Services, authorities in Washington began searching for Spann and her daughter in February 2005. She was arrested that June in Sacramento for investigation of child abuse after authorities said she slapped the 14-year-old. Afterward, she talked to authorities about the death of her younger daughter.

Polish teachers promoting 'homosexual culture' to be fired, official says

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Teachers deemed to be promoting "homosexual culture" in Polish schools will be fired, the deputy education minister said Thursday.

But the minister, Miroslaw Orzechowski, also insisted that homosexual teachers would not be targeted.

"There is no place for the promotion of homosexual culture" in Polish schools, Orzechowski, who has a key role in drawing up a new education law aimed at banning what his party called "homosexual propaganda" in schools, told the all-news station TVN24.

He said the ministry still has not defined what it means by homosexual propaganda.

Orzechowski is a member of the ultraconservative League of Polish Families, a junior coalition partner in the government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

"No one is going to ask whether a teacher is homosexual," Orzechowski said. "However, if a person with such leanings would want to promote homosexuality in school, and I'm not talking about inducing a child to such deeds, well then there's no place for such a person in school."

Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia sharply criticized Orzechowski's comments.

"'Homosexual propaganda' is an idea as absurd as 'heterosexual propaganda,"' the organization said. "One cannot fight with homosexuality, but one can fight with homophobia, of which the Education Ministry presents a radical form."

The League of Polish Families is also campaigning for a constitutional amendment that would tighten Poland's already restrictive law to ban abortion in all cases, including rape and incest.

During a recent visit to Germany, League leader and Education Minister Roman Giertych made similar comments on homosexuality, saying "one must limit homosexual propaganda so that children won't have an improper view of family."

Human head found outside state police headquarters in southeastern Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A human head was found Thursday outside the state security office in the Gulf state of Tabasco.

A state police official who wasn't authorized to give his name told The Associated Press by telephone that the head was found in a plastic bag early Thursday by employees of the office in Villahermosa, 655 kilometers (400 miles) east of Mexico City.

Officials are trying to determine the victim's identity, as well as why he was killed and by whom.

In the past year, beheadings have become common among rival drug cartels, and the heads are often left outside security offices, sometimes with messages warning police to leave local drug lords alone.

The killings have become so brazen that President Felipe Calderon recently launched a nearly nationwide crackdown on the growing violence, sending some 20,000 federal police and soldiers to drug strongholds across the country.

Tabasco appears to be a new target of traffickers, who police suspect opened fire on the car of Tabasco state police director Francisco Fernandez, injuring him and killing his chofer last week.

Fernandez worked as a military attache in Mexico embassies in Panama and Washington, and also led the anti-drug units in the northern states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa, a drug stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel.

Number of victims of HIV outbreak among children in Kazakhstan hits 96

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- The number of children who contracted HIV in southern Kazakhstan in an outbreak blamed on doctors' negligence has reached 96, health authorities said Thursday.

The two most recent victims, aged 3 and 4, were diagnosed with HIV in the Sairam district and the city of Turkestan respectively, said regional health department spokeswoman Ayzhan Umarova.

The Central Asian nation has been shocked after scores of children and 13 mothers contracted HIV through injections or blood transfusions at hospitals in the city of Shymkent, some 1,000 miles south of the capital, Astana.

Eight children who contracted AIDS in the case have died.

Authorities have been testing thousands of mothers and children feared to be at risk of contracting HIV.

Nationwide inspections have revealed numerous cases of incompetence and corruption among doctors and nurses.

Twenty-one doctors and health officials accused of causing the outbreak went on trial in Shymkent in January.

Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, HIV/AIDS has swept across the former Communist countries. According to the United Nations, there were 1.6 million people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2005, a more-than twentyfold increase in less than a decade.

Most of the people with HIV in the region are in Russia and Ukraine, but the situation has also worsened in Central Asia.

According to the World Bank, the number of HIV/AIDS patients in Kazakhstan has been doubling annually since 2000, and UNICEF estimates that the true number of people with HIV is three times higher than what it says is the official figure of about 7,000.

Top official in Sadr City seriously wounded by gunmen

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The top official in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City was seriously wounded Thursday when gunmen ambushed his convoy in eastern Baghdad, killing two of his bodyguards, according to police and a local official.

Rahim al-Darraji has been involved in negotiations with U.S. and Iraqi government officials seeking to persuade the Shiite militias that dominate the sprawling slum to pull their fighters off the streets ahead of a security crackdown to stop the sectarian warfare in Baghdad.

His convoy was attacked in a drive-by shooting in the mostly Shiite area of Habibiyah.

The efforts by Shiite political parties to avoid a showdown with U.S. troops have seen some success, with a decline in execution-style killings, random shootings and rocket attacks.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have been carrying raids in the neighborhood against commanders and members of the Mahdi Army militia that is loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but they have met with little resistance.

Sadr City has been targeted by a large number of explosions that killed hundreds of people in the past months, including Nov. 23 bombings in which 215 people died. The Mahdi Army had been almost in full charge of security in the area, checking cars and suspicious people, and some have blamed the drop in their presence for car bombings that have continued despite the crackdown.

Uzbek opposition activist sentenced to 6 years in jail for alleged extortion

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) -- An Uzbek opposition activist has been sentenced to six years in prison on extortion and fraud charges amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic, a rights group said Thursday.

Mukhammadali Karabayev, a longtime activist of the banned Birlik party who was arrested in September, was convicted last week in the eastern city of Namangan, said the Esguliq group's leader, Vasilya Inoyatova.

"This is yet another bogus trial with trumped up charges," Inoyatova said.

President Islam Karimov's government has stepped up persecution of dissidents after facing international condemnation for the violent suppression of a May 2005 uprising in the eastern city of Andijan, where government troops killed hundreds of mostly unarmed protesters, according to rights groups and witnesses. Authorities insisted that fewer than 200 were killed and blamed Islamic militants for the uprising.

Karimov, a former Communist Party boss, has ruled the Central Asian nation since before the 1991 Soviet collapse by eliminating opposition and silencing his critics.

Birlik, or Unity, was set up in 1991, and outlawed several years later along with other opposition groups, which forced its leaders into exile. The party's several attempts to reregister in recent years have failed.