WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four animal deaths in a year at the National Zoo have prompted an independent panel to begin investigating zoo procedures.
Officials from the Smithsonian Institution, which operates the zoo, made presentations Wednesday to a committee assembled by the National Academies, a panel of science advisers to the government.
Zoo officials urged the committee to examine the zoo's overall operations with an eye toward helping plan its modernization and future development.
Members of the panel, though, said their review will be conducted within parameters set by Congress.
"Our task is more restrictive in terms of dealing with animal care and management health," said Thomas M. Yuill, a wildlife ecologist at the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin.
The probe was initiated by the House Committee on Administration, which controls the National Zoo's $23 million annual budget.
A bald eagle died last year after becoming infected with the West Nile virus. Two pandas died in January after eating rat poison. A second bald eagle was killed by a fox that got into an exhibit July 4.
At least a dozen other animals have died at the zoo in recent years, including two zebras that died of malnutrition in 2000. A lion, an orangutan and an elephant have also died.
"We're not really in a position to make medical assessments of cause of death, diagnoses and treatment," said Paul Vinovich, the congressional panel's staff director.
The National Academies panel includes 16 veterinarians, current and former zookeepers, livestock experts and a representative from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Dr. Lucy Spelman, the zoo's director, told the panel that the zoo needs to modernize facilities and systems. "Most of our facilities for our exhibits are over 75 years old," she said. The 163 acres of Rock Creek National Park were initially set aside for zoo use in 1889.
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) -- Bobby Brown will serve nine more days in jail after being arrested for allegedly violating his probation from an earlier drunken driving conviction, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
The jail time will be followed by 60 days of house arrest, DeKalb County State Court Judge Wayne Purdom decided.
During the hearing, the singer told the judge: "I apologize for being back in your court and taking your time. I have no reason, I am a human being."
Brown, 33, was ordered to undergo another drug assessment and sentenced to a total of 14 days in the DeKalb County Jail. But the judge credited Brown for the five days he's already spent behind bars since his arrest Friday.
His wife, Whitney Houston, arrived halfway through the hearing and sat two rows behind Brown, answering a cell phone call during defense attorney Maurice Bennett's presentation. Afterward, the Grammy-winning singer and actress told reporters that she told Brown to "stay strong, baby."
Brown, a former member of New Edition whose solo hits include "My Prerogative," was arrested in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta last week at a seafood restaurant, where he was dining with his wife.
Although authorities said Houston angrily confronted police during her husband's arrest, she appeared calm in court Wednesday, hugging and kissing him to show support.
Authorities say Brown was arrested because he failed to show up for a court appearance.
Brown's lawyers said he failed to check in with a probation officer because he was suffering from an elbow injury in July that kept him bedridden and was mourning the loss of seven family members.
They contended that he had complied with a court order and completed 80 hours of community service in California. But the judge said Brown will get credit for only 40 hours because the order specified the service was to be done in Georgia.
Prosecutors called Brown a repeat offender and recommended more jail time for the Alpharetta resident. In January, Brown, 33, was sentenced to eight days in jail and ordered not to drive for a year after pleading guilty to a 1996 drunken driving charge in DeKalb County.
Last November, Brown was arrested in Atlanta on charges of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, speeding and having no driver's license or proof of insurance. He also did a 26-day stint in a Florida jail in 2000 for a previous probation violation.
After Wednesday's hearing, Houston told reporters that she was pleased with the judge's decision.
LONDON (AP) -- Two thieves posing as visitors overpowered a guide at a Scottish castle Wednesday and stole a painting believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci, police said.
The "Madonna with the Yarnwinder" was taken from the private collection at Drumlanrig Castle in southern Scotland, which is home to one of Scotland's richest landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch.
Police said the thieves stole the work after overpowering the female guide at about 11 a.m. Investigators were looking for four men seen driving near the castle in a white car and have released descriptions of two men.
The work, which shows the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap holding a cross-shaped spindle for yarn, was hanging in a staircase hall open to the public. Its value is estimated to be about $47 million.
"It has been here for more than 250 years," said the duke's son, the Earl of Dalkeith. "It's a remarkable work, a piece of great serenity and beauty upon which a great deal of scholarship has been carried out in recent years."
According to the Drumlanrig Castle Web site, da Vinci completed the painting between 1500 and 1510. It said testing at the National Gallery of Scotland in 1986 showed it was authentic.
Experts at the gallery were not immediately available for comment.
Drumlanrig Castle, which houses one of the finest private art collections in Britain, also contains masterpieces by Rembrandt and Holbein. The castle, completed in 1691, is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Scotland and sits in the 120,000-acre Queensberry estate.
SANTA CLARITA (AP) -- A string of small earthquakes rattled western Los Angeles County, with the largest felt by residents as far east as Pasadena and as far west as Simi Valley.
There were no reports of damage or injuries from the Tuesday night quakes, said Lt. Tom Bryski in Santa Clarita.
A magnitude-3.8 temblor struck at 11:02 p.m. about five miles west of Valencia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude-2.6 quake hit the area a minute earlier, and a magnitude-2.7 temblor occurred at 11:03 p.m.
Another smaller quake hit at 12:43 a.m. Wednesday.
All were part of a series related to a magnitude-3.2 earthquake that hit the unincorporated area of the county early Monday, according to California Institute of Technology seismologist Joe Franck.
In Hawaii, meanwhile, a magnitude-5.0 quake rattled the Big Island, according to the Geological Survey. The earthquake was centered in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. There were no reports of injuries.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A wild auto chase ended Wednesday when sheriff's deputies tackled a man as he hid behind a woman and child in a street after abandoning his vehicle and frantically trying to carjack other cars.
During the chase the woman handed her 10-month-old boy out a passenger window of the Suburban to two people who approached the vehicle, which then sped off with the woman and her 2-year-old daughter still inside.
Authorities identified the man as 27-year-old Carlos Regalado, also known as Faustino Corona, of Los Angeles.
The woman was identified as Regalado's girlfriend, Grisela Prado, 27, also of Los Angeles, said Deputy David Cervantes.
Regalado was booked for investigation of carjacking, felony evading and child endangerment. Prado was arrested for investigation of child endangerment. Both were held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
"Right now it's a boyfriend-girlfriend, thing," Cervantes said. "We know they're her kids, but we don't' know if they're his."
Investigators said they did not know whether the woman went voluntarily with the driver but that she later tried to jump out of the vehicle several times.
The pursuit began just before noon when a caller reported seeing a woman thought to be held against her will in the Suburban. During the hourlong chase the vehicle circled a South Los Angeles neighborhood. Speeds were initially slow but quickened after deputies saw the driver pull the woman back inside when she tried to escape.
The driver abandoned his SUV at a South Los Angeles intersection, then tried to commandeer another by banging on windows and trying to open doors of at least four vehicles stopped at an intersection.
The woman appeared to try to go with him, but he then grabbed her around the neck, her 2-year old daughter between them, and appeared to be using her as a shield. Deputies tackled him and pulled the woman away.
Both children were unharmed and in protective custody, Deputy Ron Bottomly said.
After the woman handed the baby to two people waiting by a sidewalk, the man started driving faster and, at one point, ran a red light and went against traffic to evade deputies following him.
BOSTON (AP) -- The inmate accused of strangling former priest John Geoghan in his prison cell apparently wanted to avenge the nearly 150 children Geoghan allegedly molested, the suspect's lawyer said Wednesday.
Attorney John LaChance said he expects to pursue an insanity defense for Joseph L. Druce in the slaying over the weekend.
Geoghan, 68, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy and was accused of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades. His case triggered the sex scandal that has rocked the nation's Roman Catholic Church.
LaChance, who met with Druce in prison for the first time Wednesday, said Druce "was upset what had happened to all those children."
"The impression that I got from him was that his beef with Geoghan was based on his serial mistreatment of little kids, and that he really wanted Geoghan to leave the kids alone," LaChance told The Associated Press.
Druce, 37, was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a gay man. Authorities have said that he hates homosexuals, Jews, blacks and other minorities.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A man who has been on death row since 1983 for rape and murder was formally granted the right to a new trial, one week after DNA tests on key evidence showed no link to him.
Prosecutors wouldn't say whether Nicholas James Yarris, 42, should be completely exonerated, but acknowledged they might not have enough evidence for a new trial.
If exonerated, Yarris will be the first person on Pennsylvania's death row to be cleared by DNA testing.
Yarris was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig. Last week tests showed that DNA samples taken from Yarris did not match genetic material found under the victim's fingernails, undergarments and on a pair of gloves possibly worn by the killer.
The announcement Tuesday by Yarris' lawyers and the Delaware County District Attorney's Office had been expected. A federal judge directed prosecutors last Tuesday to grant Yarris a new trial within 90 days.
District Attorney Michael G. Green would not rule out a possible link between Yarris and the 1981 crime.
"Our position is pretty simple and straightforward," Green said. "The DNA evidence is, in our view … not exonerating."
Yarris would be likely be freed if prosecutors choose not to retry him.
For two decades, Yarris has maintained that he was wrongfully accused of killing Craig, 32, whose body was found in her parked car not far from her home.
"This is an important day also for Pennsylvania," said Yarris' attorney, Peter Goldberger. "It's the first time a man in Pennsylvania has been exonerated by DNA evidence, and it's in a case in which the D.A. was absolutely certain he was guilty."
TWENTYNINE PALMS (AP) -- Scattered thunderstorms dumped rain on Southern California deserts again Wednesday but there were no reports of the kind of flash flooding that killed three people a day earlier.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for parts of San Bernardino County and flash flood warnings were posted for parts of San Diego County as National Weather Service radar tracked heavy rains through the day.
The deaths occurred Tuesday when a flood in Twentynine Palms swept a car off a road and down a wash surging with runoff. Killed were two sisters and a friend who helped save the daughter of one victim.
The car had become stuck on a street that dipped into a flood channel. It was washed about three blocks before flipping over, San Bernardino County sheriff's Sgt. Rich Bozwell said.
The driver, Laura Lee Ridgeway, 38, of Twentynine Palms, was trapped inside and appeared to have drowned, said Robin Haynal, a sheriff's spokeswoman.
Ridgeway's sister, Leslie Jean Juarez, 36, of Twentynine Palms, and Jason John LaBelle, a 28-year-old family friend, also died, Haynal said.
After Juarez and her 14-year-old daughter were thrown from the car into the water, Juarez and LaBelle managed to get the girl to an embankment, Haynal said. The two went back to rescue Ridgeway from the overturned car but were washed away. Their bodies were found several miles away.
The name of the girl was not released. She was staying with relatives, authorities said.
Three other people were rescued from cars trapped on flooded streets Tuesday, the homes of about 30 people were flooded and an 11-year-old boy died in an auto crash on a wet road in nearby Joshua Tree.
HONOLULU (AP) -- A small earthquake rattled Big Island homes Tuesday evening, but no related damage or injuries were immediately reported, officials said.
The quake registered a preliminary magnitude of about 5.0 and was centered about eight miles southeast of the summit of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It hit at about 8:24 p.m., officials said.
Big Island police and fire officials did not receive any immediate reports of damage or injuries, but the quake was felt throughout the island.
In Kailua-Kona, Mike Stanton said the quake was one of the most significant he had felt in recent memory.
"The house was moving," Stanton said. "It made the lamps vibrate and it made small creaking noises."
The vibrations awakened Stanton's five cats, who remained alert long after the end of the quake, which he said lasted about 12 seconds.
Chip McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Center in Honolulu, said there was no immediate change in sea levels and no apparent risk for a tsunami.
In California, meanwhile, a string of small earthquakes rattled western Los Angeles County. There were no reports of damage or injuries from the Tuesday night quakes, said Lt. Tom Bryski in Santa Clarita.
A magnitude-3.8 temblor struck at 11:02 p.m. about five miles west of Valencia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude-2.6 quake hit the area a minute earlier, and a magnitude-2.7 temblor occurred at 11:03 p.m. Another smaller quake hit at 12:43 a.m. Wednesday.
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he set a fire that killed a family of seven, a blaze investigators said was in retaliation for a woman's calls to police to report drug dealing.
Darrell Brooks, 22, admitted setting the fire that killed Angela and Carnell Dawson and their five children last October.
In return for his guilty plea, Dawson is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without parole, and to be spared a possible death sentence.
The killings had underscored the severity of city's notoriously violent drug crime. Police say 35 calls had been made from the Dawsons' address to emergency dispatchers between June 26 and Oct. 16 of 2002. Carnell Dawson had also chased drug dealers off his front stoop.
U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis, who did not immediately accept the guilty plea, was expected to hear testimony from the victims' friends and relatives before sentencing.
It was not immediately clear which counts were covered by Brooks' plea. He had been charged with seven counts of arson resulting in death, as well as several charges relating to an earlier fire at the Dawson home.
The fire on Oct. 16 killed Angela Dawson, 36, and children Keith and Kevin Dawson, 9; Carnell Dawson Jr., 10; Juan Ortiz, 12; and LaWanda Ortiz, 14.
Carnell Dawson, 43, died a week later of burns over 80 percent of his body. He had jumped out of an upstairs window during the fire.
The house had been firebombed almost two weeks before the fatal fire, but the family escaped injury that time when Carnell Dawson ran downstairs and extinguished a Molotov cocktail thrown through the kitchen window.
Brooks, a neighbor of the Dawsons, had a long record of arrests involving robbery, assault and drug charges. Weeks before the fatal fire, he had been charged with robbing a pizza deliveryman at gunpoint.
OROVILLE (AP) -- Four people were killed when their van struck a pickup on Highway 70 south of Oroville, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The accident happened just before 1 p.m., when a Nissan van heading north attempted to pass a big rig in a passing lane, said CHP public information officer Mike Mitchell.
"The big rig was changing lanes in anticipation of the end of the passing area, and the van overtook the big rig and went into the opposing lane of traffic and struck a Ford pickup head-on," Mitchell said.
Four of the five people in the van were killed, and the fifth was seriously injured, Mitchell said. The two people in the truck were also seriously injured.
Two of the injured were taken to local hospital by helicopter. No names were released.
A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection engine en route to Mendocino County came across the accident just minutes after it happened, said public information officer Janet Marshall.
"As much as we train, as much as we do our jobs, it's disconcerting to come across such a crash unexpectedly," she said.
Highway 70 was closed while CHP continued its investigation. It was expected to reopen after 5 p.m., Mitchell said.
Highway 70 and neighboring Highway 99, two of the main arteries from Sacramento through some of Northern California's fastest-growing counties, are commonly ranked among the most dangerous stretches in California.
There were more than 300 accidents along a 52-mile stretch of Highway 70 between East Nicolaus in Sutter County and Oroville last year, a 47 percent increase over the year before, according to CHP statistics. Nearly 200 people were hurt and at least 15 people died along that stretch in 2002.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The devil is in the details of "Exorcist IV: The Beginning."
Director Paul Schrader says he has been fired from work on the upcoming thriller, which is a prequel to the acclaimed 1973 original about a demon-possessed little girl.
The filmmaker, whose other directing credits include 1997's "Affliction" and last year's "Auto Focus," told The Associated Press on Wednesday he had completed a final edit of the film, which he described as a psychological thriller.
The rift that led to Schrader's recent dismissal reportedly started when executives at Morgan Creek Productions decided to make the tone of "Exorcist IV" more horrific -- with more shocks and gore -- after shooting was complete.
Schrader declined to comment on that or say what changes the producers wanted to make. Schrader's name will likely remain on the film in whatever form the final version takes.
Representatives of Morgan Creek did not immediately return calls for comment, and Warner Bros., the film's distributor, referred calls to the production company.
In the original "The Exorcist," Max von Sydow played an elderly priest named Father Merrin who drew on a previous battle with the demon to force it to leave the possessed little girl, played by Linda Blair.
The next two sequels, one starring Richard Burton and the other with George C. Scott, followed the evil force as it disrupted the lives of other characters.
In "Exorcist IV," the story goes back to Father Merrin's younger days as a missionary. Now played by Stellan Skarsgard, the priest encounters the demon, known as Pazuzu, for the first time while working in Africa. It is set for release in early 2004.
Schrader is perhaps best known for his screenwriting work on such films as "Taxi Driver," "Hardcore," "Raging Bull," and "The Last Temptation of Christ."
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bob Hope was eulogized Wednesday as one of the legendary figures of the last century during a memorial Mass that drew Hollywood stars, politicians and generals.
"He knew how to use laughter to bring us joy," Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told mourners including Hope's widow, Dolores, at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood.
The 900 guests included former President Gerald Ford and his wife, Betty, former first lady Nancy Reagan, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hope, who entertained Americans through vaudeville, radio, movies and television, and boosted the morale of U.S. soldiers over 50 years of wars, died July 27 at age 100 and was entombed at San Fernando Mission Cemetery on July 30.
Mahony said Hope was often at St. Charles to help raise money for a school and other facilities, and the cardinal said he urged the comedian, who was raised Episcopalian, to become a Catholic. He said Hope replied: "I don't need to be a Catholic - Dolores does enough praying for both of us."
The service began with an honor guard bearing the flags of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, representing the service men and women Hope entertained during his many USO tours.
A portrait of Hope in his later years, a sly half-smile on his lips, stood near the altar.
"He was one of the truly legendary figures of the 20th century," Feinstein said in her eulogy.
She reminded the audience of a telegram from Hope which Harry Truman kept under the glass of his Oval Office desk after his surprise victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential race. The telegram contained one word: "Unpack."
"Vietnam was not a popular war with a lot of people," Myers said in his eulogy, "but Bob always stood by the service men and women despite the vituperation he received from anti-war demonstrators."
Humorist Larry Gelbart, a Hope writer for four years, said, "Bob defied you to take your eyes off him - or your ears."
Gelbart recalled asking Hope why he didn't take time off, perhaps to go fishing. Hope replied: "Fish don't applaud."
The service ended with a Marine bugler playing "Taps" and a choir softly humming "Thanks for the Memory," Hope's theme song.
Outside church before the Mass, actress Barbara Eden said her memories of Hope were "happiness and laughter" along with the image of him hitting golf balls off decks of aircraft carriers on USO tours.
"He was very businesslike, but he had a calmness about him that made everyone else's talent come through," she said.
"He was a tremendous force on Earth," actress Connie Stevens said.
"He was so special because he gave so much to everyone besides his humor," said actress Loni Anderson.
Actor Tom Selleck recalled how Hope recruited him to appear on some of his shows.
"Bob always called personally when he wanted you to work with him. It meant a lot and it made it hard to say no," Selleck said.
Other guests included Mickey Rooney, Dixie Carter, Hal Holbrook, Raquel Welch, Julie Newmar, Marie Osmond, Phyllis Diller, Ed McMahon, Gary Owens, Norm Crosby, actor Patrick Wayne, son of the late John Wayne, retired Gen. William Westmoreland, former California Gov. Pete Wilson, and businessman Lee Iacocca.
GLENDORA (AP) -- Meka, an Australian shepherd mix, had a dog of a summer day when she spent four hours in a stolen van with the windows closed as temperatures outside hovered in the 90s, authorities said.
"The dog was very, very lucky" to survive, said Temple City animal control officer Barry Blair.
The 4-year-old pooch was left in a Chevrolet Astro on Monday while her owner went into a hardware store. A thief stole the vehicle and drove about 13 miles to San Gabriel before abandoning the van with Meka still inside, deputies said.
Temperatures reached 92 degrees in San Gabriel that day.
Meka was rescued by deputies after someone spotted her in the van.
"The dog was very dehydrated," sheriff's Lt. Denise Harshman said. "When they took the dog out, it collapsed."
Deputies gave Meka water while trying to reach her owner and animal control officers. A veterinarian later checked Meka's temperature and found it had reached107 degrees, Blair said.
Glendora police were investigating the theft but have not identified any suspects.
NASIK, India (AP) -- Crowds of Hindu pilgrims waiting to bathe in a holy river in western India surged over a flimsy bamboo fence, triggering a stampede that killed at least 39 people and injured 125.
Worshippers spilled to the ground as the fence collapsed and were trampled by the thousands of others pushing toward the Godavari River outside the town of Nasik, about 110 miles northeast of Bombay. Twenty-six of the dead were women, said Nasik Mayor Dashrath Patil.
"Old women were crying, 'Take me out! Help me,"' said Lalji Mistry, a 35-year-old pilgrim who got away in time. "People, even women, were pushing forward. Due to the weight of the crowd, people started falling down."
Wiping his dust-streaked face with a yellow shawl, Mistry shook his head in disbelief at the crowds that continued to worship at the Kumbh Mela festival, which spread across 40 square miles.
"Many don't know what's going on. They are still worshipping," said Mistry, a marble craftsman from the western state of Rajasthan.
Worshippers believe they can bathe away their sins in the Godavari River, which is considered holy to many Hindus. Thousands of pilgrims pack shoulder to shoulder in the muddy brown water.
Stampedes are not uncommon at major Hindu religious festivals, which can attract millions of worshippers. In 1954, about 800 pilgrims died during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.
Most recently, 51 pilgrims died in 1999 after rope meant to channel worshippers snapped in a landslide at a Hindu shrine in southern India. Fifty people died in 1986 in a stampede in the town of Haridwar.
Police in Nasik estimated that nearly 1.6 million people attended the festival Wednesday. About 60 million people are likely to participate at various times during the festival, which started July 30 and ends Monday.
Witnesses said rescue workers pleaded with crowds to make way so ambulances could rush the injured to hospitals. Workers heaved dozens of injured people into cars and police vehicles.
The injured included two police officers trying to control the swelling crowd, said Patil, the mayor.
Chhagan Bhujbal, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, the state in which Nasik is located, said the flimsy barricade, meant to guide people toward the river, simply could not withstand the crush of people.
"There were some 50,000 people behind one barricade and they were pushing. The barricade suddenly broke and they just fell down," Bhujbal said. "It was a tragic accident."
Pawan Modi, a businessman from the eastern state of Bihar, waited among hundreds of people outside Nasik Civil Hospital, desperately seeking information about his sister, whom he feared may have been trampled. Inside, dozens of bodies were lined up in a row, covered by white sheets.
"I don't know if my sister escaped or if she was trapped inside," said Modi, 55, who said he was not allowed in the hospital because authorities worried about controlling the large crowd.
"I have been searching for my sister for hours. I hope she is inside and is well."
The stampede happened as thousands of other devotees lined up at the nearby Kalaram temple, where the Hindu god Rama is the presiding deity. After the holy dip, worshippers pay their respects to the god at the main temple and visit thousands of other smaller temples along Panchwati's narrow roads.
The Kumbh Mela festival is held when the Sun and Jupiter enter the constellation of Leo, once in 12 years. It is based on the Hindu myth about gods and demons who fought over a pot of nectar that would give them immortality.
The main festival is held near the northern Indian city of Allahabad, while the Nasik festival is one of the "mini-Kumbhs" held more often.
It has been a difficult week for the people of Maharashtra state. On Monday, a pair of car bombs exploded in Bombay, the state capital, killing 51 people. Authorities have blamed Muslim militants.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Jessica Lynch, the former prisoner of war who became a national hero when special forces rescued her from an Iraqi hospital, has been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, her lawyer said Wednesday.
"As of now, she is not a member of the military anymore," Stephen Goodwin of Charleston said.
The medical discharge clears the way for Lynch to pursue possible book or movie deals about her ordeal, Goodwin said. Though she has not spoken publicly about her time in Iraq, Lynch has said through a spokesman that she plans to tell her story in a book to be published by the end of the year.
"Like any citizen, she is now free to enter into a contract," Goodwin said.
Lynch, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23.
Her rescue on April 1 made a celebrity out of Lynch, who joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.
She returned home last month to a hero's welcome after a long stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation's capital. She revisited the hospital for the first time last week for a checkup, and was granted the discharge during that trip.
Lynch will continue physical therapy at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg. She can walk with crutches, but is still recovering.
She hopes to improve enough to travel to Colorado in November to celebrate Thanksgiving with her fiance, Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras Jr., and his family.
Goodwin said Lynch had not signed a book deal with anyone as of Wednesday, although Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former New York Times reporter Rick Bragg has been a guest at the Lynch home to do research. The Times has reported Bragg will be paid $1 million to tell Lynch's story.
NBC plans a TV movie starring Laura Regan that has been developed without Lynch's authorization, while CBS abandoned its plans for a Lynch movie.
Goodwin said he wasn't sure if Lynch is receiving medical disability. Calls to the U.S. Army were not immediately returned Wednesday.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Sometimes even an orangutan needs a hug.
Seneca Park Zoo volunteer Paul Lewis was cleaning out a monkey habitat when he heard something move behind him Tuesday. He turned his head and saw Lowell, a 300-pound orangutan who had escaped from an adjoining cage.
Lewis, 56, an animal lover who took the part-time job three months ago because he always wanted to work at a zoo, says he wasn't afraid.
Lewis tried to slip out through a gate but the orangutan followed him and stopped him from closing it. Then Lowell wrapped his arms around Lewis' legs and held on calmly -- for nearly five minutes.
"He wasn't holding me that tight," Lewis said. "I knew I couldn't run away from him -- I mean, I wasn't going to outrun him in a cage -- so I just kind of stood there and waited to see what he would do next. He kind of controlled the situation."
When the orangutan eventually loosened his grip, he took Lewis by the hand and led him back toward his enclosure. At one point, the animal even picked up Lewis and put him down. Moments later, he pushed him out of the cage.
PHOENIX (AP) -- Neil King took a risk when he shelled out $75 at a public storage auction for the contents of a broken-down trailer. And it paid off.
As he sorted through the garbage bags of what appeared to old clothes and just junk, he made an aesthetic discovery.
Amid the mess, the 40-year-old Mesa man found artwork by the Flagg family, a group of well-known and eccentric Scottsdale artists, that could be worth as much as $1 million.
"This is like winning the lottery. This will never happen again," said King, a certified appraiser.
The crafty contents included a wooden American Indian carved by Dee Flagg who drove either a Rolls Royce or a 1914 fire truck around town with the Indian as his passenger. Flagg sported a handlebar mustache and wore Western garb.
Flagg's brother, Monte, often dressed like Buffalo Bill Cody and painted whimsical portraits of American Indian children.
The auction was held two weeks ago after workers at Scottsdale Storage Max failed to contact Flagg's sister, Irene, or other family members, workers said. Irene Flagg had rented space at the storage company since 1993, but stopped making payments earlier this year.
Storage Max manager Iain McLaren said state law prevents buyers from walking inside a locker, or in this case, a trailer, before an auction.
"Sometimes you'll find a box of collector comics," he said. "Mostly, it's a box of dirty underwear."
David Tatum, curator of the Arizona Historical Society in Tempe, declined to estimate the value of the collection, but said that before Dee Flagg's death in 2000, his smaller works fetched $500.
WHEELING, Ill. (AP) -- Call it a case of mom gone wild.
A 52-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to assaulting a male stripper after she refused to pay him for what she says was a paltry performance at her daughter's bachelorette party.
Jacqueline A. McMahon was sentenced to 30 days of court supervision and ordered to pay $2,500 restitution to the stripper in a plea deal reached Monday. Prosecutors also agreed to drop battery charges against McMahon's daughter, Carrie L. McMahon, 22, and a bridesmaid.
"What was most important to (the victim) was the restitution," said Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Vonau.
The 28-year-old man suffered head injuries, bruises and scratches when he was punched, kicked and hit over the head with a bottle after his performance July 13, 2002, at a Holiday Inn hotel in Crystal Lake.
Police say the partygoers became angered when the stripper showed up late and turned out to be a stand-in for the dancer requested by the hosts. Tensions swelled when the man allegedly cut his show short and without doting enough on the bride.
The scuffle broke out when the stripper tried to collect his fee and McMahon refused to pay, police said.
BRADFORD, Pa. (AP) -- Zippo has snuffed a Web site featuring hundreds of tricks that can be performed with its trademark lighters.
Officials with Bradford-based Zippo Manufacturing Co. on Monday shut down the site citing "concerns of some in the fire safety industry."
A message from Web site founder Morton Kjolberg read that "although I personally don't agree with these concerns, we have reached a point where we are left with no other alternative other than to shut zippotricks.com down."
The site detailed 555 tricks submitted by Zippo tricksters along with video demonstrations of fiery feats such as "Dante's Halo," "Devil's Kiss" and "Hogan's Leg Drop."
In June, James Shannon, head of the National Fire Protection Association, wrote to Zippo president and CEO Greg Booth asking him to shut down the site and cancel a 10-city tour of Zippo tricksters.
Shannon called the Web site and tour "dangerous and insensitive to those who have been burned by fire."
Booth and Zippo's general counsel, Jeff Duke, defended the site and tour in a July 17 Washington Post article, saying Zippo lighters were safer than other lighters or matches.
"There is no statistical support that the Zippo lighter is a dangerous tool," Duke told the paper.
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) -- A Utah father who took his son to Idaho to avoid a court order to give the boy chemotherapy for cancer challenged his extradition on a kidnapping charge Wednesday. The boy's grandfather insisted the boy was "perfectly healthy."
Daren Jensen and his wife, Barbara, fled Utah with their 12-year-old son, Parker, after the state ordered chemotherapy for the boy, who had a cancerous tumor removed from his mouth.
Utah doctors have testified Parker has only a 5 percent chance of living without chemotherapy. With chemotherapy, he would have a 72 percent chance of being alive after five years.
The Sandy, Utah, family refused, saying he's in remission and that chemotherapy would only stunt his growth and leave him sterile. Utah lawyers obtained a court order requiring chemotherapy and a warrant to take him into custody, but his parents took him out of state, drawing kidnapping charges against the mother and father.
The mother and son are still missing.
Daren Jensen, 38, was arrested Aug. 16 after a car accident in Bannock County, Idaho, involving another of his four sons. The couple, which also has a daughter, has split up, with Barbara Jensen taking Parker Jensen and eluding capture.
Other family members said they don't know where the two went. At the hearing, a Bannock County judge ordered Daren Jensen to stay in Idaho and submit to supervision by probation officers until Gov. Dirk Kempthorne orders his extradition.
Jensen, who posted a $50,000 bond after his arrest, is staying with his in-laws just outside Pocatello. Jensen appeared with his two youngest sons in court, but said nothing during the brief hearing and afterward directed other family members to speak for him.
"Put yourself in their position," said Tracy Jensen, 40, older brother of Daren Jensen, describing his custody battle with the state as a sudden turn of events.
"The next thing you know they (Utah authorities) want to take away your family. How do you prepare for that? They give you a day to prepare for that, to defend yourself," Tracy Jensen said.
Their father, Robert Jensen, 66, called Parker Jensen "a perfectly healthy boy" who was being "monitored and watched by doctors all the time. I can't tell you who or when because I don't know."
He said Daren Jensen had nothing against conventional medicine, but never got "an honest second opinion" about the boy's fate.
The Jensens had planned to take the boy to Houston for a clinical trial for antineoplaston therapy, an alternative treatment that the American Cancer Society says has not been proven effective. Detectives have looked in the Houston area.
The custody battle could cost Daren Jensen, a software executive, his job, house and life savings, his brother and father said.
24 arrested in crackdown on PCP
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal agents and police announced the arrests of 24 people in Los Angeles and Houston in a crackdown on PCP manufacturers and distributors.
Authorities said Tuesday they seized enough chemicals and laboratory materials in both cities to produce at least $3 million worth of the potent hallucinogen on an ongoing basis. Also confiscated were 10 gallons of finished PCP, half a dozen guns and rifles, vehicles, and $125,000 in cash and other assets.
Authorities didn't say how many arrests were in Houston and how many were in Los Angeles.
Ray Tripicchio, chief of the Southern California Drug Task Force, said another dozen people were still being sought in connection with the PCP manufacturing. He said those arrested helped distribute the drug nationwide.
Steven Woodland of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles said the arrests knocked out a third of the 10 to 15 PCP-producing organizations in the West.
CASCADE, Idaho (AP) -- A couple from California were killed when their light plane crashed about 27 miles east of Cascade.
George Murfey, 55, of La Jolla, and his wife, Barbara Berit Murfey, 54, died Tuesday when their single-engine Piper 32R-300 went down about three miles northwest of the Warm Lake area, the Valley County Sheriff's Office said in a prepared statement. The couple's dog also perished.
Witnesses staying at a Forest Service Fire Camp in the area said they saw the plane fly very low over the Knox Ranch meadow, turn right and lower its landing gear. But then they lost sight and sound of the aircraft.
A Forest Service contract helicopter immediately launched and found the wreck with no survivors.
Officials said it appeared that the plane struck two trees and then hit the ground, nose first. There was no fire.
Investigators said the Murfeys apparently had been visiting the Sun Valley area for the last several days. George Murfey, the pilot, fueled the plane in Hailey and the couple were flying to visit relatives in Coeur d'Alene when the crash occurred.
VANDALIA, Ill. (AP) -- A school bus veered off a winding rural road and overturned in a steep ravine Wednesday, injuring 15 students and the driver, authorities said.
The road was recently repaved and a guardrail had not yet been replaced, said Montgomery County Sheriff Jim Vazzi. He said the ravine is so steep rescue workers had to use ropes to get to the bus, which plunged about 15 feet.
"I saw kids climbing up the bank on their hands and knees," said Fillmore Fire Chief Bill Wood, who was the first on the scene. "They were bleeding and obviously injured."
Two students were flown to a hospital in Springfield. They were in critical condition, said Vandalia School Superintendent Garry Krutsinger.
The other students were taken to nearby hospitals, Vazzi said. Seven were released and the others were listed in good or stable condition, hospital officials said.
The 70-year-old driver underwent surgery for facial trauma, said Kim Shanks, spokesman at Fayette County Hospital in Vandalia.
At the accident scene, the driver was "covered in blood" but helped to remove children, Wood said. "He wasn't leaving until the last kid was out," Wood said.
State Police were investigating, Vazzi said.
Linda Schulte of Krutsinger's office said the students were of all ages from kindergarten through high school and were headed to school when the accident took place.
The Vandalia district has about 1,800 students. The crash site is near Van Burensburg, about 60 miles northeast of St. Louis.
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Tens of thousands of people got pasted in eastern Spain on Wednesday in one of the country's most popular summer traditions -- the annual tomato-throwing festival.
Participants pelted each other with overripe tomatoes, turning the streets of the eastern Spanish town of Bunol into red, juicy pools in an annual festival known as "La Tomatina."
It is said to be the world's largest tomato battle. Last year, the crowd numbered around 38,000 -- more than four times the population of the Bunol.
Within minutes, the streets, the revelers and nearby buildings were splashed with red.
National radio reported that nearby residents protected their facades with plastic sheets. Others from balconies overlooking the fight dumped buckets of water onto the participants, RNE said.
The tomato fight often draws people from as far away as Japan and Australia.
The festival, held on the last Wednesday of every August, started in the 1940s when children began throwing their lunch at each other one day in a downtown square at a time when the region's tomato exports were starting to pick up.
They met again the following year, this time pelting passers-by as well and giving birth to the food fight.
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- A 14-year-old boy pleaded guilty as an adult to a weapons possession charge Wednesday and prosecutors dropped a conspiracy charge alleging he joined two other teenagers in plotting a shooting rampage.
Prosecutors also dropped a carjacking charge against Christopher Olson, who was arrested July 6 with two others after a carjacking attempt. Authorities said the teens had several guns, swords and 2,000 rounds of ammunition and were planning a shooting rampage.
Camden County prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said Olson was "less culpable" than the other defendants.
A police detective testified Tuesday that Olson hung back while the other teens tried to take the car. He also became part of the plot months after it was begun, authorities said, and computer evidence on the plot was seized from the other defendants' homes but not Olson's.
The plea came during court proceedings to determine if Olson and Cody Jackson, 15, should be tried in adult or juvenile court. There was no indication when the judge would rule in Jackson's case.
Authorities allege the ringleader was Matthew Lovett, 18, whose father owned the guns. Each teen was charged with carjacking, conspiracy to murder and weapons offenses, and Lovett was also charged with aggravated assault.
Prosecutors recommended that Olson be sentenced to seven years in a facility for juveniles with no possibility of parole in the first three years. Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 17.
If convicted of all charges as an adult, he could have faced more than 40 years in prison. Pleading guilty as an adult means he will always have a criminal record.
Olson and Jackson are being held in a juvenile facility. Lovett is being held in the county jail on $1 million bail.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) -- A college student and avid rock climber apparently fell to his death while scaling the side of a building Tuesday.
Tyler O. Miller, a 21-year-old Western Washington University student from Seattle, was found dead in a downtown alley.
A restaurant cook, Justin Walter, said that he saw three people walking in an alley earlier and that they told him they were "urban climbers" -- people who scale buildings for fun or to practice rock climbing skills.
Walter said he watched as one of the young men climbed a drain pipe on a two-story building and then moved to the roof of another building.
Miller's body was discovered shortly afterward.
CHICAGO (AP) -- A man who had been fired from an auto parts warehouse six months ago came back with a gun Wednesday and killed six employees in a rampage through a maze of engine blocks and 55-gallon drums before being shot to death by police.
Salvador Tapia died in a gunbattle he waged with police inside and outside of the building, hiding behind a container as he fired off rounds from his semiautomatic pistol, authorities said.
"He got up, he had the gun, they ordered him to drop the gun, he refused to drop the gun. That's when the officer shot him," acting Police Superintendent Phil Cline said.
"We saw a guy shooting at police officers outside the building and saw people running around like crazy," said Al Martinez, who owns a business a half-block away. "We came and saw all the cops running, hiding behind cars."
Tapia, 36, lost his job Windy City Core Supply about six months ago for causing trouble at work and frequently showing up late or not at all, Cline said. He said Tapia had an extensive arrest record.
Cline said when police arrived shortly after 8:30 a.m., they tried to get in the building but were driven back by gunfire. He said when an assault team entered the building they had trouble maneuvering through all the auto parts.
He said four people died at the scene. Tapia and two others were taken to hospitals and died there.
"From the scene it appears that he went throughout the supply warehouse shooting them," said Cline. "They weren't all in one section."
Tapia also tied one man's hands behind his back, but the employee escaped unharmed, Cline said.
Pamela George was cooking at the Dox Grill across the street when a warehouse worker ran in, looking for a phone. "He said someone was in there shooting. He was really scared, like a chicken with its head cut off," she said.
She said police arrived and evacuated the restaurant within five minutes. All buildings within a block of the auto parts and supply store were evacuated.
It was the nation's deadliest workplace shooting since July 8, when Doug Williams shot 14 co-workers, killing six, at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant in Meridian, Miss., before taking his own life.
In the Chicago area, William D. Baker, 66, killed four people and himself at a Navistar International engine plant in suburban Melrose Park in February 2001.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Firefighters on at least three major Montana blazes took advantage of light rain and cool temperatures Wednesday to regain some of the ground lost the night before when strong winds fanned flames and forced some crews off the lines.
The advances allowed authorities to reopen U.S. 191 between Bozeman and West Yellowstone that was closed Tuesday afternoon when the Rathbone fire about 15 miles north of Yellowstone National Park, jumped the highway and grew to about 3,100 acres.
Near Lincoln, firefighters were recovering from a thousand-acre run that the Snow-Talon fire made Tuesday. That fire, one of two burning near the mountain town of 1,100, is now estimated at 33,500 acres.
And near Missoula, firefighters regrouped from a 200-acre run Tuesday night that left the Black Mountain 2 fire at more than 7,000 acres. The blaze is already responsible for destroying three houses.
But fires that flared up again in Glacier National Park forced the closure Wednesday of a 30-mile stretch of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, popular with whitewater rafters, next to the park.
And despite the cool temperatures and light rain that fell on some fires, forecasts still are calling for more hot temperatures, wind and little to no rain through the week.
So far this year, more than $100 million has been spent trying to put out more than 400,000 acres of burning forests. Federal authorities announced Wednesday that parts of Montana will receive federal disaster assistance.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported Wednesday that 43 large fires were burning on some 447,000 acres in the West. Half the fires and most of the acreage were in Montana.
In Wyoming, fire officials said the reopening of Yellowstone's east entrance likely will be put off until Friday - the start of the Labor Day weekend - because of gusty winds fanning two wildfires burning on 23,500 acres.
"We're looking to a quarter to a half mile spotting with these winds," fire spokesman Peter Frenzen said.
Until the entrance is reopened, travelers from Cody, Wyo., must detour 29 miles through Montana to enter the park.
And in Oregon, spot fires burned overnight around the B & B Complex fires near Sisters, but not too close to the resort town of Camp Sherman, where about 1,000 people have been evacuated. If another day goes by without spotting near Camp Sherman, some residents in certain areas of the town may be allowed to return to their homes, said incident commander Bob Anderson.
The two fires in the complex, the Booth and the Bear Butte, grew to near 41,000 acres overnight, according to infrared photographs taken at about midnight. They remain only about 20 percent contained.
RICHMOND (AP) -- A 12-year-old boy has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 46-year-old woman along a hiking trail.
Under a deal that kept the victim from having to testify against her attacker, the boy -- whose name was withheld because of his age -- was convicted of two sodomy counts.
He was sentenced Monday and, depending on his behavior, will serve about four years before being eligible for parole, Contra Costa County prosecutor Steve Moawad said.
The boy was among the youngest defendants ever to be charged with sexually assaulting an adult in the San Francisco Bay area, said Dan Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco.
He attacked the woman in April along a trail located near a Richmond elementary school and was found 90 minutes later hiding in a nearby creek.
Posted in Backpage on Thursday, August 28, 2003 12:00 am Updated: 8:38 pm.
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