NEW YORK - Fighting in vain to keep his job, radio host Don Imus claimed that rappers routinely "defame and demean black women" and call them "worse names than I ever did."

That's an argument many people made as the Imus fallout intensified, culminating with his firing Thursday for labeling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Now that Imus has been silenced (for the moment), some critics are moving down the radio dial to take on hip-hop, boosting the growing movement against harmful themes in rap.

"We all know where the real battleground is," wrote Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock. "We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show."

"We have to begin working on a response to the larger problem," said the Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr., who as pastor of the Rutgers coach helped mediate the Imus imbroglio. Soaries announced Friday that he is organizing a nationwide initiative to address the culture that "has produced language that has denigrated women."

The larger problem was alluded to by CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves when he announced Imus' firing: "The effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society … has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."

Pointing out that the rapper Mims uses "ho" and worse epithets in his chart-topping song "This Is Why I'm Hot," columnist Michelle Malkin asked: "What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage?"

The Rev. Al Sharpton, among the loudest critics calling for Imus' termination, indicated that entertainment is the next battleground. "We will not stop until we make it clear that no one should denigrate women," he said after Imus' firing. "We must deal with the fact that ho and the b-word are words that are wrong from anybody's lips.

"It would be wrong if we stopped here and acted like Imus was the only problem. There are others that need to get this same message."

It is a message that was spreading even before Imus' comments.

After "Seinfeld" actor Michael Richards was castigated for a racist on-stage rant, the New York City Council passed a symbolic resolution banning the n-word, and other cities around the country have passed similar measures.

Cultural critic, author and columnist Stanley Crouch, a longtime foe of rap music, suspected the Imus ordeal would galvanize young black women across the country. He said a key moment was when the Rutgers players appeared at a news conference this week - poised, dignified and defying stereotypes seen in rap videos and "dumb" comedies.

"When the public got to see these women, what they were, it was kind of shocking," Crouch said. "It made accepting the denigration not quite as comfortable as it had been for far too long."

Some defenders of rap music and hip-hop culture, such as the pioneering mogul Russell Simmons, deny any connection between Imus and hip-hop. They describe rap lyrics as reflections of the violent, drug-plagued, hopeless environments that many rappers come from. Instead of criticizing rappers, defenders say, critics should improve their reality.

"Comparing Don Imus' language with hip-hop artists' poetic expression is misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mindset that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship," Simmons said in a statement Friday.

The superstar rapper Snoop Dogg also denied any connection to Imus. "(Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports," he told MTV.com. "We're talking about hos that's in the 'hood that ain't doing - that's trying to get a n- for his money."

Criticism of rap is nothing new - it began soon after the music emerged from New York City's underclass more than 30 years ago.

In 1993, the rapper-turned actor Queen Latifah challenged rap's misogyny in her hit song "U.N.I.T.Y." That same year, C. Delores Tucker, who was chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women Inc., led an organized movement - which included Congressional hearings - condemning sexist and violent rap.

That same year, the Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem drove a steamroller over a pile of tapes and CDs.

In 2004, students at Spelman College, a black women's college in Atlanta, became upset over rapper Nelly's video for his song "Tip Drill," in which he cavorts with strippers and swipes a credit card between one woman's buttocks. The rapper wanted to hold a campus bone marrow drive for his ailing sister, but students demanded he first participate in a discussion about the video's troubling images. Nelly declined.

In 2005, Essence magazine launched its "Take Back the Music" campaign. Writers such as Joan Morgan and Kierna Mayo and filmmaker Byron Hurt also have tackled the issue recently.

T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, author of "Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women" and a professor at Vanderbilt University, said many black women resist rap music and hip-hop culture, but their efforts are largely ignored by mainstream media. As an example, the professor pointed to "Rap Sessions," the 10-city tour in which she's participating. She said the tour and its central question - does hip-hop hate women? - have gotten very little mainstream media coverage.

"It's only when we interface with a powerful white media personality like Imus that the issue is raised and the question turns to 'Why aren't you as vociferous in your critique of hip-hop?' We have been! You've been listening to the music but you haven't been listening to the protests from us."

Crouch said that change in rap music and entertainment likely won't come fast, because corporations are still profiting from the business - but it's coming.

"I've been on (rappers) for 20 years," Crouch said. "I was in the civil rights movement. I know it takes a long time when you're standing up against extraordinary money and great power. But we're beginning to see a shift."

Imus' wife runs radio fundraiser after CBS fires him; Rutgers team accepts apology

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) - Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer said Friday the team had accepted radio host Don Imus' apology. She said he deserves a chance to move on but hopes the furor his racist and sexist insult caused will be a catalyst for change.

"We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept - accept - Mr. Imus' apology, and we are in the process of forgiving," Stringer read from a team statement a day after the women met personally with Imus and his wife.

"We still find his statements to be unacceptable, and this is an experience that we will never forget," she said.

The team had just played for the NCAA national championship last week and lost when Imus, on his nationally syndicated radio show, called the players "nappy-headed hos." The statement outraged listeners and set off a national debate about taste and tolerance. It also led to his firing by CBS on Thursday.

"These comments are indicative of greater ills in our culture," Stringer said. "It is not just Mr. Imus, and we hope that this will be and serve as a catalyst for change. Let us continue to work hard together to make this world a better place."

Imus was in the middle of a two-day radio fundraiser for children's charities when he was dropped by CBS. On Friday, his wife took over the show and also talked about the meeting with the Rutgers players.

"They gave us the opportunity to listen to what they had to say and why they're hurting and how awful this is," author Deirdre Imus said.

"He feels awful," she said of her husband. "He asked them, 'I want to know the pain I caused, and I want to know how to fix this and change this."'

Deirdre Imus also said that the Rutgers players have been receiving hate e-mail, and she demanded that it stop. She told listeners "if you must send e-mail, send it to my husband," not the team.

"I have to say that these women are unbelievably courageous and beautiful women," she said.

Stringer declined to discuss the hate mail Friday. Rutgers team spokeswoman Stacey Brann said the team had received "two or three e-mails" but had also received "over 600 wonderful e-mails."

The team's goal was never to get Imus fired, Stringer said. "It's sad for anyone to lose their job," she said.

The cantankerous Imus, once named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time magazine and a member of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, was one of radio's original shock jocks.

His career took flight in the 1970s and with a cocaine- and vodka-fueled outrageous humor. After sobering up, he settled into a mix of highbrow talk about politics and culture, with locker room humor sprinkled in.

Critics have said his remark about the Rutgers women was just the latest in a line of objectionable statements by the ringmaster of a show that mixed high-minded talk about politics and culture with crude, locker-room humor.

Imus apologized on the air late last week and also tried to explain himself before the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio audience, appearing alternately contrite and combative. But many of his advertisers still bailed in disgust, particularly after the Rutgers women spoke publicly of their hurt.

On Wednesday, a week after the remark, MSNBC said it would no longer televise the show. CBS fired Imus Thursday from the radio show that he has hosted for nearly 30 years.

"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people," CBS Corp. chief executive Leslie Moonves said in a memo to his staff.

Sharpton praised Moonves' decision Friday and said it was time to change the culture of publicly degrading other people."I think we've got to really used this to really stop this across the board," he told CBS's "The Early Show."

Some Imus fans, however, considered the radio host's punishment too harsh.

Mike Francesa, whose WFAN sports show with partner Chris Russo is considered a possible successor to "Imus in the Morning," said he was embarrassed by the company. "I'm embarrassed by their decision. It shows, really, the worst lack of taste I've ever seen," he said.

Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when Howard Stern left for satellite radio. The program earns about $15 million in annual revenue for CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station WFAN-AM and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show nationally WFAN.

The show's charity fundraiser had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned he had lost his job. The total had grown Friday to more than $2.3 million for Tomorrows Children's Fund, CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch, Deirdre Imus said. The annual event has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

Imus' troubles have also affected his wife, the founder of a medical center that studies links between cancers and environmental hazards whose book "Green This!" came out this week. Her promotional tour was called off "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and her family are under," said Simon & Schuster publicist Victoria Meyer.

The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology in Hackensack, N.J., works to identify and control exposures to environmental hazards that may cause adult and childhood cancers. Imus Ranch in New Mexico invites children who have been ill to spend time on a working cattle ranch.

On the Net:

http://wfan.com/pages/332252.php

Deal sought to avoid custody fight over Anna Nicole Smith's baby girl

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - A judge delayed a hearing Friday on custody of Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter to give the late Playboy Playmate's mother and ex-boyfriend more time to negotiate a private visitation arrangement.

Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, and the baby's father, Larry Birkhead, were to meet privately Saturday to discuss access to 7-month-old Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune from her mother's estate.

"No lawyers, no press, nothing," said John O'Quinn, an attorney for Arthur. "They are going to figure out what they believe is in the best interests of the child and try to get it done."

A DNA expert revealed Tuesday that Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer, was Dannielynn's father. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, then said he would not fight to retain custody of the baby.

The judge agreed Friday to postpone the hearing to determine who should get custody until April 20.

Arthur says she'd like access to her granddaughter and believes an agreement with Birkhead is possible.

Smith gave birth to Dannielynn in September in a Bahamas hospital, days before her 20-year-old son, Daniel, died from a lethal combination of drugs at her bedside. Smith died in Florida in February at age 39, also from a lethal combination of drugs.

The baby has been living in an oceanfront home with Stern, who was listed on the birth certificate as her father.

Legal wrangling continues over the estate of Smith's late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died in 1995. It remains unclear how much, if any, of the $500 million Marshall estate Dannielynn might inherit and whether her guardian would have access to the money.

Chicago principal and teacher are allegedly caught on tape having sex

CHICAGO (AP) - A principal and a teacher at a suburban elementary school quit amid allegations they were caught on video having sex in the principal's office, authorities say.

In keeping with Cook County's reputation for bare-knuckle politics, the scandal broke after copies of the sex tape were mailed anonymously to parents this week, just days before a contested school board election.

The case has also created something of a mystery: Who planted the camera that recorded the action?

Leroy Coleman and Janet Lofton submitted their resignations after meeting with the district superintendent Thursday, said John Izzo, board attorney for the Sandridge Elementary School district, about 20 miles south of Chicago.

Izzo said that Coleman, the school's principal since 2005, wrote that he was quitting for health reasons. He said Lofton wrote that she was stepping down immediately "due to the illness of a family member."

A third school employee, teacher's aide Anjayla Reed, resigned Friday after the superintendent contacted her about allegations that she appears on a separate portion of the tape hugging and touching the principal, Izzo said. She gave no reason for her resignation.

Kim Grivakis, the mother of a 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy who attend the school, said she received a copy of the 2.5-hour DVD in the mail Wednesday. She organized a meeting Thursday with other parents to call for action from the school board.

Grivakis said she could identify Coleman and Lofton and Reed on the tape.

"It made me sick," Grivakis said. "It's very graphic. I can't tell you how graphic because I have two children standing right here."

A copy of the DVD viewed by The Associated Press shows a man and a woman hugging, kissing and engaged in various sex acts inside an office. A separate portion of the tape, apparently from a different time, shows another woman hugging and touching the same man.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department is investigating.

"At this point we don't know if a crime has been committed," department spokeswoman Penny Mateck said, adding that investigators had a copy of the video.

Lofton has an unlisted telephone number, and no listing could be found for Coleman or Reed.

Izzo said that that he had been told by a sheriff's official that Coleman and Lofton are on the tape. "They asked to look at pictures of the staff members and they identified them," he said of the investigators.

The school board attorney said Coleman and Lofton apparently did not know about the camera. "Somebody got access and planted a bug in a school office," Izzo said.

He said sheriff's investigators searched the office on Thursday and apparently did not find a camera.

Copies the video, apparently taped in December and January from the date stamps on it, emerged just days before Tuesday's elections. Eight candidates are competing for four board slots.

Bankruptcy filing puts auction of Simpson book rights on hold

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An auction for the rights to the canceled O.J. Simpson book "If I Did It" was put on hold after the company that struck the book deal with HarperCollins filed for bankruptcy Friday. - The filing by Lorraine Brooke Associates in a Florida bankruptcy court means no further action can be taken in regards to the book rights until a federal judge reviews the case.

"As far as we know the auction will not be held on Tuesday," said attorney David Cook, who represents slaying victim Ron Goldman's family, which has tried to collect a $33.5 million civil judgment from Simpson for about a decade.

The book, in which Simpson explains how he might have committed the killings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman, has been the subject of a legal battle between the former NFL star and Goldman's family.

The book and companion TV interview were never released because of public outrage. Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995.

No date has been set for the bankruptcy hearing, but Cook hopes to get an order from the judge that would allow the auction to continue.

Cook said it was a final effort by the Simpson camp to stop the auction.

"It's their only and last option," he said. "The bankruptcy process is a detour on the road to justice."

Simpson's attorney Yale Galanter said last month in court that Lorraine Brooke Associates is owned by the former football player's four children. Goldman's father, Fred, had accused Simpson in a federal lawsuit of creating the company so he could hide money from the book and TV deal so the Goldmans couldn't seize the profits. The suit was dismissed and is under appeal.

News Corp. has said it paid $880,000 for the publishing rights.

The auction was going to be held by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department since HarperCollins' California offices are located there.

Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg had ordered the book rights to be auctioned off with proceeds from the auction and any subsequent book profits turned over to Goldman's family. He also ruled the rights of Lorraine Brooke Associates be included in the auction.

On Friday, Rosenberg denied a request by the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson, created on behalf of the Simpson's two youngest children, to receive any proceeds from the auction. Louis Brown is the executor of his daughter's estate, which also was supposed to collect from the civil judgment.

Man jumps to death from Empire State Building; 911 caller reported finding leg on the street

NEW YORK (AP) - A man jumped to his death Friday out the window of a 69th-floor law office in the Empire State Building.

Police responded to the New York City landmark shortly before 3 p.m. after a 911 caller reported seeing a severed leg - covered in a gray sock - on the street below. The rest of the body was recovered from a setback on the 30th floor.

The tragedy in the 102-story building closed portions of the busy Midtown Manhattan street while the investigation continued.

Police identified the man as Moshe Kanovsky, a lawyer in his 30s.

More than 30 people have committed suicide at the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931, including a 21-year-old man in February 2006. The skyscraper reaches 1,454 feet to the top of its lightning rod.

Minnesota man sentenced to 4 months in jail for plastering stickers of ex-girlfriend all over town

MANTORVILLE, Minn. (AP) - A man accused of printing up stickers with his ex-girlfriend's picture, phone number and the words "call me now for the best," has been sentenced to four months in jail. - Thomas Carl Tiedeman, 62, pleaded guilty in December to a felony harassment charge, authorities said.

The Kasson Police Department received reports in September that someone was placing the stickers on vehicles and buildings. Police searched Tiedeman's home and found the photo used on the stickers. Tiedeman admitted to police that he had printed about 20 stickers and placed them on vehicles, authorities said.

Tiedeman also was ordered to serve five years on probation, perform 32 hours of community service and pay a $100 fine.

Man guilty of kidnapping teen couple in Miami Beach, killing girlfriend and stabbing boyfriend

MIAMI (AP) - A jury Friday convicted one of five men accused of abducting a young couple in a tourist-heavy section of Miami Beach, raping and killing the girlfriend and leaving the boyfriend for dead.

Victor Caraballo was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, armed kidnapping and armed robbery. The jury, which deliberated for about 5.5 hours over two days, next will decide whether Caraballo, 39, should be executed.

Lawyers for both sides declined comment until after the sentencing phase, which begins Monday.

Nelson Portobanco and his girlfriend, Ana Maria Angel, 18-year-old high school sweethearts, were walking back to their car after a date in April 2002 when investigators said the men attacked them and pushed them into a pickup truck.

Portobanco testified during trial that he heard but did not see a group of men raping his crying girlfriend while the truck sped on Interstate 95.

He testified that the men pulled over, forced him out of the vehicle and stabbed him about 11 times until he decided to play dead. The men drove off with Angel inside the truck; her body, with a gunshot to the back of her head, was found later by the side of the highway.

Portobanco said he could not identify any of the men because he had been told to put his head on his knees, but police said DNA tied Caraballo to the crime and he confessed.

Both Angel's family and Portobanco left the courthouse without commenting.

Also charged are Caraballo's brother, Hector M. Caraballo, Joel G. Lebron, Cesar Antonio Mena and Jesus Torres Roman. All have pleaded not guilty.

Mysterious suds fill streets in Boise, Idaho and Wasilla, Alaska

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - City streets got an unscheduled cleaning as a sudsy citrus-scented foam erupted from manhole covers like geysers.

The bubbles spewed from a three-block stretch on the city's east side Thursday after American Linen accidentally released detergent into the municipal sewer lines. The combination of gravity and churning water whipped the soap into a sudsy foam.

"We have never had a situation like this before," said Vince Trimboli, the public works spokesman.

Officials say the company had a malfunction, caused by human error, in its automated detergent loading device, releasing 167 gallons of a harmless but concentrated detergent.

Crews worked during the day to disperse the suds before they reached the treatment facility, then used soft-spray hoses and yard blowers to reduce foam levels closer to the plant.

"It had no effect on the treatment plant at all, and the closer the foam got to the plant, they were able to hose most of it off. None of it has gotten to the (Boise) River," Trimboli said Friday.

Meanwhile, there was a similar problem in Wasilla, Alaska. Clusters of foamy bubbles spewed from the city's sewer lagoon, witnesses said.

"It looked like the texture of something you'd see come out of your washing machine if you overloaded it," said Sue Foster, a student teacher.

Bill Harvey, deputy public works director, said that ice thawing on the city sewer treatment lagoons leaves an accumulation of residue and foam on the surface. He also suspected the treatment plant may have gotten a "good jolt" of soap residue.

Aerators that inject air into the lagoons to churn the water for treatment further stirred up the foam, he said. Then, swirling air currents at the treatment plant created a chimney effect that sucked the foam hundreds of feet into the sky and carried them over the city.

Grandview Inn general manager Sandra Joyner said a maintenance employee scooped up some of the bubbles. They had no smell and were a little bit iridescent.

"It was ridiculous. People were pulling off to the side of the road and running out, trying to catch them," Joyner said.

Hope fades for rescue of 5 missing crew from capsized Norwegian ship off Scotland

LONDON (AP) - Rescuers said Friday they had all but given up hope of finding five crewmen alive after their ship capsized off northern Scotland.

Three other sailors were confirmed dead in the accident. Seven crew members from the Norwegian oil rig support vessel Bourbon Dolphin were rescued and were being treated at a hospital in the Shetland Islands.

A coast guard helicopter and navy divers with heat-seeking cameras scoured the frigid North Sea for signs of the missing crewmen, who included a 15-year-old boy and his father. They found no signs of survivors.

"The status has now changed from a search-and-rescue operation to a salvage-and-recovery operation," said Lt. Lee Madigan of the Clyde naval base in Scotland. A coast guard spokesman said the chances of finding the crew members alive were "extremely slim."

The Bourbon Dolphin capsized Thursday in calm seas west of the islands, off Scotland's northern tip, while performing a routine anchor-handling operation on a rig.

British officials said all the crew members were Norwegian, although media in Denmark reported that one was a Dane.

A 15-year-old boy, who was working aboard the vessel with his father, was among the missing.

British coast guards said the five missing crew members may have been trapped in the hull of the upturned vessel, which was operating at the Transocean Rather rig when it capsized.

Michael Coull, duty watch manager at Aberdeen Coastguard, said there might be an air pocket under the overturned vessel, "and if the remainder of the crew were in a watertight compartment, then there's a possibility that they could still be alive."

"However, the chances are extremely slim and it's highly unlikely that that's the case," he said.

The ship capsized at about 5 p.m. Thursday and remained on the surface of the calm ocean in clear weather about 80 miles west of the Shetland islands, coast guard spokesman Mark Clark said.

Molester, parents plead not guilty in slaying of 6-year-old Georgia boy found in trash bag

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - A convicted child molester and his parents pleaded not guilty Friday to charges they kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered a 6-year-old boy whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag and dumped by the road.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 32-year-old George David Edenfield and his parents, David and Peggy Edenfield, for the March 8 slaying.

Investigators say Christopher Michael Barrios was sexually assaulted and strangled in the Edenfields' trailer across the street from his grandmother's home.

The boy had been missing for a week when police discovered his body March 15 about three miles from his trailer-park home just outside Brunswick, a port city 60 miles south of Savannah.

Attorneys for each of the three suspects entered their pleas in Glynn County Superior Court. Brought into the courtroom one at a time, none of the suspects spoke or showed much emotion.

Authorities say George Edenfield told investigators he choked Christopher with his bare hands. The indictment accuses Edenfield and his 58-year-old father of molesting the boy while Peggy Edenfield, 57, watched.

The boy's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, said she came to court carrying one of Christopher's baby teeth in her pocket.

"It's tough to watch people who're supposed to be a mother and father and know what they've done," she said. "I wanted to go up and whup their behind."

Mike Barrios, the boy's father, said it was difficult the three suspects "because they just sit there like nothing's bothering them."

Online casino selling Pope Benedict's former car

SAN FRANCISCO - Forget biodiesel, this 1999 metallic gray Volkswagen Golf might run on a higher power.

For the second time in two years, eBay is hosting an auction for Pope Benedict XVI's old hatchback. eBay said Friday it had verified that the car was owned by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he ascended to the papacy.

As of Friday afternoon, bids had surpassed $200,000, and the auction's Web page had logged more than 195,000 hits. The auction was scheduled to close Saturday morning.

The car's owner, a Texas-based online casino, GoldenPalace.com, bought the hatchback for $216,0000 in May 2005 from a German man who said that when he bought it he did not know of his car's previous owner.

Benjamin Halbe said he only learned Ratzinger had owned the car when he checked the car's documents.

GoldenPalace.com posted two German automobile registration documents that list "Josef Kardinal Ratzinger" as the vehicle's previous owner.

The company said that 40 percent of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Great Britain. The car is in England; the online casino said it would pay for shipping to the United States.

The casino is known for its outrageous publicity stunts. It once paid for a grilled cheese sandwich that some believed had a likeness of the Virgin Mary on it. It also has paid boxers to tattoo the company's name on their bodies.

Since the car's last sale, its appearance has changed. The Golf now has "Pope Benedict Mobile" and advertising stickers plastered on its body.

On the Net:

eBay: http://www.ebaymotors.com

Molester, parents plead not guilty in slaying of 6-year-old Georgia boy found in trash bag

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - A convicted child molester and his parents pleaded not guilty Friday to charges they kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered a 6-year-old boy whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag and dumped by the road.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 32-year-old George David Edenfield and his parents, David and Peggy Edenfield, for the March 8 slaying.

Investigators say Christopher Michael Barrios was sexually assaulted and strangled in the Edenfields' trailer across the street from his grandmother's home.

The boy had been missing for a week when police discovered his body March 15 about three miles from his trailer-park home just outside Brunswick, a port city 60 miles south of Savannah.

Attorneys for each of the three suspects entered their pleas in Glynn County Superior Court. Brought into the courtroom one at a time, none of the suspects spoke or showed much emotion.

Authorities say George Edenfield told investigators he choked Christopher with his bare hands. The indictment accuses Edenfield and his 58-year-old father of molesting the boy while Peggy Edenfield, 57, watched.

The boy's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, said she came to court carrying one of Christopher's baby teeth in her pocket.

"It's tough to watch people who're supposed to be a mother and father and know what they've done," she said. "I wanted to go up and whup their behind."

Mike Barrios, the boy's father, said it was difficult the three suspects "because they just sit there like nothing's bothering them."

NASA says Mars Global Surveyor was doomed by battery failure, human error

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Human error triggered a cascade of events that caused the battery to fail on the Mars Global Surveyor last year, according to a preliminary report released Friday.

An internal NASA board determined that power loss likely doomed the spacecraft after a decade of meticulously mapping the Red Planet.

But the problems can be traced to September 2005 when a routine update to onboard computers caused inconsistencies in the spacecraft's memory. Engineers trying to fix the problem sent incorrect software commands then didn't catch the mistakes because the existing procedures to do so were inadequate.

"Had these procedures been more rigorous … then perhaps this wouldn't have happened," said board chair Dolly Perkins of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Scientists lost contact last November with the $154 million Global Surveyor. Launched in 1996, it was the oldest of six different active probes on the Martian surface or circling the planet.

Several attempts to locate the spacecraft were unsuccessful, and the mission was declared ended in January.

Global Surveyor was built with redundant control systems to guard against failure. However, the board found inconsistencies in the memories of the spacecraft's two onboard computers because the updates were done at different times.

Six months before Global Surveyor fell silent, engineers tried to fix the problem but mistakenly uploaded faulty software, disabling its solar panels. A final command in November telling the spacecraft to adjust its solar panels caused it to point itself toward the sun. In turn, the battery overheated and the spacecraft was lost within 12 hours.

The team that sent up the commands included engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Corp., said Fuk Li, Mars program manager at JPL.

JPL managed the Global Surveyor mission and Lockheed built the spacecraft.

Lockheed employees noticed the error and contacted their superiors, the report said.

Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said the space agency will double-check the remaining Mars spacecraft to ensure the error won't happen again.

The Global Surveyor beamed back some 240,000 pictures, including the first detailed views of swirling dust devils and gullies.

Shortly before it failed, it also found stunning evidence that liquid water recently coursed through Mars. The discovery, which still needs to be confirmed, raises the possibility that the planet may have an environment conducive to primitive life.

On the Net:

Mars Global Surveyor: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs

Storm drops spring snow on central Plains; East Coast expecting sloppy weekend

A spring storm dropping snow and rain on the central Plains on Friday before speeding toward the East Coast, where it was expected to create a messy weekend.

Up to 8 inches of snow fell over parts of western Kansas by early afternoon, making driving tougher and forcing some schools to close early. Southeastern Colorado was expecting to end up with no more than 7 inches - far less than the 18 inches initially forecast in some places.

As the storm moved east, tornadoes were possible in east Texas, northern Louisiana and southwest Arkansas on Friday and Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

The storm could then bring rain and 25 mph wind to the Carolinas by late Saturday before hitting the Northeast with heavy snow or rain by Sunday, the weather service said. Forecasters also warned of possible flooding.

The storm's combination of snow, rain and high wind was unusual for this time of year, said Brian Korty, a National Weather Service forecaster in Camp Springs, Md.

It follows an earlier system that grounded hundreds of flights in the Midwest on Wednesday before delivering up to a foot fresh snow to northern New England on Friday.

At least seven traffic deaths were blamed on that storm.

At least one Eastern ski resort that had closed for the season changed course and reopened for the weekend - stretching out a season that began late because of a lack of powder.

"Better late than never," said Chris Lenois, spokesman for Mount Snow in West Dover, Vt., which got just under a foot of new snow. "… There's no bare spots on the mountain."

In the West, the new storm packed less punch than had been forecast. Glum predictions had led Colorado legislators to take Friday off, and United Airlines had canceled 120 flights in Denver, but operations had returned to normal by Friday morning.

- Associated Press

On the Net:

Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com

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

Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com

10-hour standoff at Tampa shooting range ends when gunman kills himself; 5 hostages unhurt

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A gunman already facing attempted murder charges barricaded himself inside an indoor shooting range with a group of hostages and held them for 10 hours before killing himself early Friday, authorities said. None of the hostages was hurt.

Jeffrey Lane Dudney, 43, of Tampa, went to the shooting range Thursday afternoon intending to steal a firearm and flee the area, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said.

When someone confronted him, Dudney took five people hostage, including the woman who owned the Shooting Sports Inc. gun store and range, Gee said.

"Every two or three minutes, he was threatening to start shooting people one by one," Gee said. "He was very agitated, very amped up."

During the standoff, Dudney could be seen holding a pistol to the head of hostages. He said he didn't want to go to prison, Gee said. Dudney released two hostages during the negotiations, but because of the number of guns and amount of ammunition inside, police didn't want to storm the building, authorities said.

Around 3 a.m., Dudney killed himself with a gunshot blast to the upper body, authorities said.

"He told us earlier he was contemplating suicide," Gee said.

Dudney had been released from the Hillsborough County jail Saturday on $150,500 bond while facing three counts of attempted murder, according to jail records. He had been accused of firing a gun at witnesses who followed him after he was involved in a crash, Gee said.

During the standoff, police asked media outlets to refrain from reporting any information about the situation for fear of further upsetting the gunman. The Associated Press and some others accommodated the request while the hostages were being held; others reported it on Web sites.

Original wire story (a0509):

Man convicted of strangling 6 Kansas City-area women in 1980s sentenced to life in prison

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A judge sentenced a former trash company supervisor to life in prison without parole Friday for strangling six women in the 1980s.

It was the only sentence possible for Lorenzo Gilyard, 56, who was convicted last month of murder. Prosecutors had agreed in January not to seek the death penalty if Gilyard's attorneys agreed to a trial before a judge without a jury.

"He's forfeited any right to live here among the rest of us," Judge John O'Malley said. "That's the comfort we can derive."

O'Malley said there was a chance the women would have turned their lives around, "except he stole it from them."

Gilyard was linked to the killings in 2004 as police crime lab workers tested evidence from old unsolved cases.

Much of the testimony at his trial dealt with DNA evidence. Prosecutors said Gilyard's semen was found on six of the women. The defense contended the evidence merely proved Gilyard had sex with the women, most of whom were prostitutes - not that he killed them.

Gilyard's attorney, Tom Jacquinot, said he plans to appeal.

"Mr. Gilyard to this day still maintains his innocence, though he certainly does empathize with the family," Jacquinot said.

Relatives of the victims watched smiling as Gilyard was led away.

Tricia Mitchell, whose sister, Catherine Barry, was the only victim not a prostitute, had spoken before the sentencing about how her sister cared for her and her siblings growing up.

"I was afraid of everything and she wasn't afraid of anything," Mitchell said. She said she grieves that her daughters never got to know their aunt. "Gilyard took that away from them and for that, I will never forgive him."

Gilyard had faced 13 counts of murder, but six of those counts, including one stemming from the death of an Austrian national, were dropped. Prosecutors could refile those charges later.

O'Malley acquitted Gilyard of one count of murder. The judge said prosecutors had provided him with only suspicions that Gilyard killed Angela Mayhew, not convincing proof.

Mayhew, 19, was found dead on Sept. 12, 1987. Hers was the only body that didn't contain semen, though one of Gilyard's hairs was found on her sweater.

"I'd like to think that the citizens of Jackson County can sleep a little safer tonight knowing the person who is responsible for these deaths and murders is behind bars, and will be for the rest of his life," prosecutor Jim Kanatzar said.

He said his office was reviewing the six dismissed cases to determine whether to refile them.

Child psychiatrist jailed on higher bail, new charges

REDWOOD CITY (AP) - A prominent child psychiatrist was jailed Friday after a prosecutor said more than three dozen former patients have accused him of molestation.

Dr. William Ayres was sent back to the San Mateo County jail after a judge tripled his bail from $250,000 to $750,000 after new charges were filed Thursday.

Prosecutor Melissa McKowan said investigators have interviewed 37 men who say they were molested by Ayres and she expects to add charges next week alleging Ayres fondled several other boys.

Ayres, 75, is charged in San Mateo County Superior Court with 18 counts of lewd and lascivious behavior alleging he molested five boys. He has not entered a plea.

Accusations against the former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry date back to 1969, but the statute of limitations for such crimes is 10 years or until the victim turns 28 years old. McKowan said she continues receiving phone calls daily from alleged victims.

The deputy district attorney had asked for $1.8 million bail, alleging Ayres has a "30-year history of pedophiliac behavior."

A defense lawyer said Ayres was in ill health, suffering from an aneurysm, back pain and gout, among other ailments.

The San Mateo resident has been barred from practicing medicine or from contacting any of his alleged victims whose names are listed in a sealed court document. He also was prohibited Friday from obtaining a passport, which he told the judge had expired.

While Ayres was honored in 2002 by the San Mateo board of supervisors for "his tireless effort to improve the lives of children and adolescents," he has been dogged with suspicions since 2003 when a former patient sued.

The man identified as "James Doe" accused him of molesting him under the guise of a medical exam on several occasions in the late 1970s when he was 13. That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Ayres sold his Hillsborough home for $2.5 million to pay the costs, then sued his malpractice carrier for failing to cover it. That suit is pending.

Also in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the amount of time during which sex abuse victims could file criminal claims, forcing San Mateo County to refocus its investigation.

In August 2006, police obtained Ayres' list of 800 private clients and began the search for potential victims, prompting the current prosecution, McKowan said.

Priest defrocked amid accusations of sexually assaulting, whipping boys during Passion play

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Vatican has defrocked a former priest accused of sexually assaulting and whipping boys participating in Passion plays, the Philadelphia archdiocese said.

The Rev. Thomas J. Smith was accused of putting pins in his mouth and pricking the boys until they bled, according to a 2005 grand jury report. He also was accused of whipping boys participating in dramatic representations of the trial, suffering and death of Jesus Christ until they had welts.

The grand jury called Smith's behavior "depraved and sadistic."

Smith's alleged actions took place in various parishes from 1973 through December 2004, when the archdiocese removed him from clerical duties after an investigation of sexual misconduct involving one minor was found credible.

The same 2005 grand jury report accused Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the former archbishop, and other church leaders of covering up decades of abuse by at least 63 priests - a charge the archdiocese has denied. The grand jury concluded it was too late to bring criminal charges against anyone.

Smith appeared before the grand jury but did not answer the allegations made against him, the report said.

Smith also served as a Boy Scouts chaplain, as chaplain of Archbishop Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill and as an associate director of youth sports, the archdiocese said Thursday.

Smith last lived at St. Francis of Assisi in Springfield. His current location could not be determined.

Mike Tyson to dance to Bollywood beat in promotional video for new film 'Fool and Final'

MUMBAI, India (AP) - A diamond heist, a Bollywood dance routine and Mike Tyson make an unlikely combination. - But the former heavyweight boxing champion is set to groove to Indian pop music in a promotional video for "Fool and Final," an upcoming Bollywood comedy, the film's media consultant said Friday.

Tyson, 40, will shoot the promo in India, said N. Chattani, who is in charge of publicity for the movie's producer, Firoze Nadiadwala.

"It's finalized," Chattani said. "Tyson will be shooting the music promo with the entire cast."

Why Tyson? Aside from instant publicity, action hero Sunny Deol stars as a boxer in the film, directed by Ahmed Khan.

"The movie is a laugh riot, and the filmmakers thought Tyson would be great in the promo," Chattani said.

In 1986, a 20-year-old Tyson became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history. He was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland in 1999.

Australian leader says HIV-positive immigrants should not be allowed in his country

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Prime Minister John Howard said Friday that Australia should bar immigrants with HIV, and his government was examining ways to make its tough restrictions even stronger.

HIV-AIDS workers accused Howard of xenophobia and promoting the racist belief that immigrants - particularly Africans - were responsible for bringing the disease to Australia. Advocates also said they were puzzled by the idea of tightening laws when the vast majority of HIV-positive prospective migrants and refugees were rejected under the current rules.

Howard was asked in a radio interview in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state, if he thought people with HIV should be allowed into Australia as migrants or refugees.

Howard replied that while he wanted more advice on the issue, "my initial reaction is, no."

"There may be some humanitarian considerations that could temper that in certain cases, but prima facie - no," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting. "I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that."

He said Health Minister Tony Abbott was "examining ways of tightening things up."

Many countries, including the United States, restrict immigration and visa approvals for people with HIV, though there are often exceptions. Australia has long had rules that can be used to block people with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis from entering.

Exceptions can be made in some circumstances, such as when an HIV-positive prospective migrant is related to an Australian citizen. AIDS activists say there are few countries, such as Qatar, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, that impose outright bans on immigration by HIV-positive people.

Don Baxter, of the non-governmental group the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations, said prospective immigrants are given HIV tests and most HIV-positive applicants were rejected on the grounds that they could place an unfair burden on the public health system.

"It's very tight already," Baxter told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Chris Lemoh, an infectious disease specialist who is researching HIV-AIDS among African immigrants in Victoria, said a ban on people with HIV would be a "hysterical overreaction."

"It mixes racism with a phobia about infectious disease," he said. "To not allow people to come on the basis of any health condition is immoral, it's unethical and it's impractical to enforce."

Pamela Curr, an advocate at the Asylum Seeker Resource Center, said Howard's comments promoted an "untruth" that foreigners - particularly Africans - were to blame for the HIV problem in Australia.

"The mud is thrown, so everyone thinks, 'those filthy refugees,' particularly 'those black refugees,"' said Curr.

The Victoria state health minister said this week that 70 of the 334 new HIV infection cases reported in Victoria in 2006 were among immigrants who had arrived in the country with the virus.

The National Center for HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research said in an October 2006 update that since HIV was first detected in Australia in 1982, 25,703 infections had been reported, of which 9,827 had developed into full-blown AIDS and 6,621 people had died.

Investigators locate data recorder on cruise ship that sank off Greek island

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Investigators using a remote-controlled submarine found a sunken Greek cruise ship's data recorder and planned to bring it to the surface Friday, authorities said.

The Merchant Marine Ministry said the recorder could reveal details of the sinking of the Sea Diamond, information they hope to use in the prosecution of crew members.

Two French tourists remain missing from the ship, which struck well-marked rocks April 5 and sank off the main port of the Greek holiday island of Santorini. Nearly 1,600 people were rescued, including hundreds of Americans and groups from Canada, Britain, Australia, France and Spain.

The ministry and the cruise line have blamed the sinking on human error. The ship's captain and five other crew members have been charged with negligence and are expected to testify next week in the ongoing probe.

Costas Thoktaridis, the head diver at the site, told state-run NET television that a location transmitter helped locate the recorder.

Ministry officials said they would try to pluck the recorder from its resting place 280 feet below the surface with one of two remote-controlled submarines.

Most of the sunken hull, which has settled on a slope of a submerged volcanic crater, is more than 325 feet below the surface.

"On the orders of the Coast Guard, only mechanical means will be used to recover the date recorder so that it is delivered to the authorities, and it will not be touched by human hand," a ministry statement said.

NET said divers could be used if that effort fails.

The submersibles, operated by the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, are also being used to try to locate the missing French passengers and to stop a leak that has sent more than 120 tons of fuel - about a quarter of the total amount - into the submerged crater.

Former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio pleads guilty to drug charge, avoids jail time

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) - Trey Anastasio pleaded guilty Friday to a felony drug charge, avoiding jail time in a plea agreement that drops more serious charges and orders him into a drug court program.

Anastasio, 42, pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance. He admitted that he was in possession of Vicodin, Percocet, heroin and Xanax when he was pulled over in a Dec. 15 traffic stop in Whitehall.

Under the drug court program, the former Phish frontman will spend 12 to 15 months making weekly court appearances. He will also be subject to drug testing and will have to perform community service.

"He's accepted responsibility," said Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright. "That's all we can ask for."

Judge Kelly S. McKeighan postponed sentencing until Anastasio completes the program. If he's successful, Anastasio will be on five years' probation; if not, he could get three years in prison.

"He's committed to this," said defense attorney Stephen Coffey. "He was wrong. He's admitted he was wrong."

Anastasio, who has been performing solo since Phish broke up in 2004, didn't talk to reporters as he walked out of the courthouse and got into a black van.

He lives in New York City but plans to move to the Fort Edward area while he is participating in the drug court program, Coffey said

Anastasio was pulled over by police in Whitehall on Dec. 15. He failed a roadside sobriety test and was charged with possession of a prescription painkiller that belonged to another person, driving under the influence of drugs and driving under the influence of alcohol, which are felonies.

He also was charged with possession of heroin, possession of an anti-anxiety drug prescribed to someone else, and possession of a second prescription painkiller belonging to another person, which are misdemeanors.

Whitehall is 65 miles northeast of Albany on the Vermont line.

After the arrest, Anastasio issued a written statement saying he felt "terrible about what happened last night, and I am deeply sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my friends, family and fans."

Barbra Streisand opens Malibu home to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; raises $1.3M for Democrats

MALIBU (AP) - Barbra Streisand welcomed Nancy Pelosi to her bluff-top Malibu estate for a fundraising dinner that took in $1.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"She's a very good friend of Nancy Pelosi and she wanted to celebrate the first female speaker of the House," said Streisand publicist Dick Guttman.

The 120 invited guests paid up to $50,000 a couple to attend Thursday night's dinner party inside a large white tent erected on the Point Dume property. The fundraiser was an effort to increase the Democrats' majority in the House of Representatives in the 2008 elections, Guttman said.

It was the first fundraiser at Streisand's home since a 1986 concert that raised $1.2 million for Democrats, he said.

Pelosi arrived after appearing on NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno," where she apologized for being late. She'd had to cast a critical vote, she explained to the late-night talk-show host.

Leno said he understood democracy takes precedence, but Pelosi said it wasn't that - she had to cast a vote for "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

Among the guests at the Streisand dinner were Eva Longoria, Melissa Etheridge, Tammy Lynn Michaels, David Foster, Kenny G, Josh Groban, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Amy Brenneman, J.J. Abrams, Dick Van Dyke, Nita Whitaker and Norman Lear.

Also on hand were Democratic members of Congress including U.S. Reps. Hilda Solis, Chris Van Hollen, Xavier Becerra, Loretta Sanchez, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Brad Sherman and Henry Waxman.

Mel B. lists Eddie Murphy's name on infant daughter's birth certificate, her publicist says

NEW YORK (AP) - Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown has listed Eddie Murphy's name on the birth certificate of her infant daughter, her publicist said Friday.

The 31-year-old Brown, known as Scary Spice when she was in the megahit group of the '90s, gave birth to the child April 3 in Santa Monica, Calif.

Brown's publicist, Nadine Bibi, didn't immediately respond Friday to an e-mail from The Associated Press asking for details.

Arnold Robinson, a spokesman for Murphy, declined comment.

Brown has said ex-boyfriend Murphy is the father. The 46-year-old "Dreamgirls" star has said he isn't sure, while Brown has said there is "absolutely no question that Eddie is the father."

Brown has an 8-year-old daughter, Phoenix Chi, from her marriage to Jimmy Gulzar.

Murphy has five children from his marriage to Nicole Mitchell Murphy.

Robber lets Florida clerk call 911 after she has heart pain

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - A gunman robbing a convenience store allowed the clerk to call 911 and apologized after the woman said she might be having a heart attack. But he still took $30 and cigarettes, authorities said.

The masked man entered the Kangaroo Express store early Saturday in this Orlando suburb and pointed what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun at 60-year-old clerk Mary Parker, according to surveillance audio/video released Thursday. He demanded access to the safe, but she said she didn't have the keys.

He told her to empty the cash register into a bag. He then pulled up a stool for her to sit down and told her he was doing this because no one would hire him and he had bills to pay.

She started hyperventilating and pleaded with the gunman for help.

"I have heart trouble. Help me," Parker said.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the gunman replied.

"I have heart trouble," Parker told him.

"Ma'am, it's going to be all right," the gunman said.

"I'm probably going to have a heart attack," Parker said.

"Oh my, ma'am, please do not have a heart attack. Please do not have a heart attack. Please don't, ma'am," he said.

The gunman let Parker call 911, and when the store phone didn't work, he let her get her cell phone. She told the operator she was having a heart attack, but didn't mention the robber. She then sat back down on the stool.

A customer came in and, without seeing the gunman, tried to calm Parker. She handed him the phone, and he spoke to the 911 operator.

The gunman then reappeared and told the man to get into the beverage cooler.

He then grabbed his loot and apologized again.

"You have a good day. I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm sorry. God!" he moaned. He then went out the door.

Police said Parker is OK.

Preacher's wife admitted fatal shooting, told investigator that 'my ugly came out'

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - A preacher's wife told authorities she shot her husband after a long buildup of domestic problems, according to an audiotape that prosecutors played Friday at her murder trial.

Mary Winkler, 33, can be heard crying as she is questioned by Alabama officials a day after her husband, Matthew Winkler, was found shot dead in the parsonage of his church in this western Tennessee town.

His wife was arrested a day later on the Alabama coast, about 340 miles away, with their three young daughters.

Investigators have said she admitted shooting her husband on March 22, 2006, and that it had something to do with his constant criticism. On the tape, she says the couple's domestic problems had reached a boiling point after many years of conflict.

"It's just a lot of stupid stuff," she said. "I love him dearly, but gosh, he just nailed me in the ground. … The first of our marriage, I just took it like a mouse, didn't think anything different. My mom just took it from my dad - that stupid scenario."

But Winkler said she got a job at the post office and that experience taught her to stand up for herself. "That's the problem. I have nerve now, and I have self-esteem. My ugly came out."

Winkler told Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Stan Stabler on the tape that her husband had threatened her physically. "He said something that really scared me. I don't know, something life-threatening," she said, without elaborating further.

But she also says she doesn't want her husband's name smeared.

"He was so good, so good, too. It was just a weakness. I think a lot of times he had high blood pressure that he'd never go enough to the doctor to get medicine for it. He was a mighty fine person, and that's the thing," she said.

"Just say, 'The lady was a moron, evil woman,' and let's go on with it. That's fine. … That's my point of view."

Winkler's lawyer has said she intended to hold her husband at gunpoint only to force him to talk about his personal problems after a situation involving their 1-year-old daughter, Breanna, defense attorney Steve Farese said. The defense did not describe the situation.

A prosecutor has described Matthew Winkler as a good father and a man who trusted his wife.

Prosecutor Walt Freeland has said bank managers were closing in on a check-kiting scheme that Mary Winkler wanted to conceal from her husband. He said Mary Winkler had become caught up in a swindle known as the "Nigerian scam," which promises riches to victims who send money to cover the processing expenses.

But Farese said Mary Winkler handled the family finances only because she did everything her husband told her. He said she was abused verbally, emotionally and physically.

Winkler's trial could last up to two weeks. The jury - including a Baptist minister and woman who said she had been a victim of domestic abuse - will spend that time sequestered in a small-town motel without television, radio or cell phones.

Earthquake strongly felt in Acapulco, Mexico City; no damage or deaths reported

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) - A strong earthquake shook southern Mexico early Friday, knocking out power in parts of Mexico City and Acapulco, swaying tall buildings and sending frightened people into the streets in their pajamas.

Civil defense officials in Mexico and the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where the magnitude-6 quake was centered, said there were no reports of any deaths or widespread damage.

Dozens of buildings in Mexico City were evacuated amid reports that they suffered structural damage, and officials were inspecting them to determine if they were still safe.

Among them were a five-story apartment building that was leaning precariously and another graffiti-covered, art-deco apartment complex riddled with fissures. Some two dozen families, residents of both buildings, spent the night in the street or in their cars.

One person was injured falling down stairs trying to get out of a building.

The quake, which hit at 12:42 a.m. (1:42 a.m. EDT), was felt strongly from the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco to the mountain capital of Mexico City because it was centered inland - 40 miles northwest of Acapulco - and just 18 miles below the earth's surface, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Many of Mexico's earthquakes are centered at sea.

Several aftershocks followed, including one pre-dawn magnitude-5.4 that was felt throughout much of southern Mexico.

Mexico City Civil Defense Secretary Miguel Moreno Brizuela said the quake knocked out power to about 20 percent of the homes in the city's downtown district, and there were reports of outages in parts of Acapulco.

About 100 people from one community near Acapulco were evacuated to a park after a nearby water treatment plant reported a chlorine leak, civil protection official Nadia Vela said.

At the high-rise, beach-side Fairmont Acapulco Princess Hotel, hundreds of guests rushed outside, huddling on deck chairs as security officials used megaphones to urge them to remain calm.

"We flew out of bed. The building was shaking," said Marcy Olsen, 41, a manager of gas stations in Grand Marais, Minn. "I said, 'I think this has to be an earthquake.' We looked out the door, and everyone was leaving."

She was on vacation with her husband,

Brian, 46, and their 13-year-old twin daughters.

"Where we are from, there's no such thing," Brian Olsen said. "Blizzards and cold, yes, but no earthquakes."

In Mexico City, ambulances could be heard wailing through the streets amid reports that some people had suffered panic attacks. The capital is built on a sandy lake bed that shifts and shimmies, magnifying earthquakes, and many still remember the magnitude-8.1 quake in 1985 that killed some 10,000 people as it leveled parts of Mexico City.

Alfredo Sanchez, a 37-year-old construction worker renovating a century-old house in downtown Mexico City, was awoken by shouts from his co-workers to get up and take refuge under the concrete beams they had just installed in the old building.

"When I was lying down, I didn't feel it so much, but as soon as I got up, I felt it," said Sanchez, who stood outside on the sidewalk with his workmates after the temblor. "For our own safety, we got out."

Scientists: Indonesia's 2005 earthquake raised island, causing huge coral die-off

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A 2005 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia raised an island nearly four feet out of the water, causing one of the biggest coral die-offs recorded, scientists said Friday.

Researchers who surveyed the island of Simeulue in recent weeks found that the March 2005 quake had exposed most of the coral along its 190-mile-long coast.

"The scale of it was quite extraordinary," said Andrew Baird, who took part in the survey with scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. "Exposed corals were everywhere."

At some points along the coast, coral was visible from a few feet from the shore to a third of a mile out to sea. Coral reefs host many species of marine life.

"Some species suffered up to 100 percent loss at some sites," said Baird, of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef.

More than 900 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless by the 8.7-magnitude earthquake, which also struck two other islands off Sumatra - Nias and Banyak. The quake came three months after the 2004 tsunami that left 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean countries dead or missing.

Australian reef expert Clive Wilkinson, who did not take part in the survey, said the damage to the Simeuleu reefs was to be expected, given the uplift that occurred and the severity of the quake.

"This has been going on for million of years," Wilkinson said. "It's part of natural reef evolution. There are many islands in the Pacific that are actually uplifted coral reefs. It's just what happens to reefs."

Baird and his fellow researchers said the exposed reefs are largely lost and will become coastal forests.

Those just beneath the water's surface, however, are likely to grow back as long as local communities protect the small, fragile marine animals.

"The news from Simeulue is not all bad," Stuart Campbell, coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Indonesia Marine Program, said in a statement.

At many sites, the species most affected by the die-off are beginning to re-colonize reefs in shallow water.

"The reefs appear to be returning to what they looked like before the earthquake, although the process may take many years."

Baird said their findings should give hope to communities in the Solomon Islands, where concerns have been raised that an April 2 earthquake and tsunami might have damaged its reefs and in turn its diving industry.

"They shouldn't be worried about losing their dive industry. The fish they target to eat will still be there," Baird said.

"Everything still in the water will still be fine," he said. "Reefs can respond to these massive mortality events. They can power on through it as long as there is enough good reef out there."

Aide says injured N.J. governor apparently was not wearing his seat belt

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - Gov. Jon S. Corzine was apparently riding without a seat belt, in violation of state law, when he was critically injured in the crash of his official vehicle, a spokesman said Friday.

A state trooper was at the wheel and the governor was sitting as usual in the front passenger seat when the SUV slammed into a guard rail Thursday night, authorities said. Corzine broke a leg, his breastbone, 12 ribs and a vertebra.

Corzine, 60, was sedated and on a breathing tube, and a doctor who helped treat him said the governor was fortunate he was not more seriously hurt.

"There's no way to tell specifically how close he came to more severe injuries, but based on pictures I've seen of the crash, I think he's lucky," said Dr. Steven E. Ross, trauma chief at Cooper University Hospital.

Ross said Corzine was stable and improving, and could be removed from a ventilator within the next few days. But a spokesman said it is unclear how long it will take before the governor is well enough to return to work.

State police were looking for the driver of a pickup truck they believe caused the crash and fled. That driver could be charged with careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. The governor himself could face a citation.

New Jersey law requires all front-seat occupants of a vehicle to wear a seat belt. Violators face a $46 fine.

Corzine chief of staff Tom Shea said he did not believe the governor had been wearing his seat.

"If he was not, he certainly should have been," Shea said, "and we would encourage the state police to issue a citation."

Shea said Corzine usually wears his seat belt. When asked why the trooper who was driving would not have asked Corzine to put on his seat belt, Shea said the governor was "not always amenable to suggestion."

Corzine cannot speak because of the breathing tube down his throat, and state police said they have been unable to interview him about the accident.

Senate President Richard J. Codey, a fellow Democrat, took over as acting governor. It is a familiar role for Codey, who served the last 14 months of Gov. James E. McGreevey's term after he disclosed a gay affair and resigned in 2004.

The accident happened while Corzine was en route from Atlantic City to the governor's mansion in Princeton for a meeting between the Rutgers women's basketball team and radio host Don Imus, who was fired for using a slur to describe the athletes.

State Trooper Robert Rasinski was driving the governor's Chevrolet Suburban when another vehicle, swerving to avoid a pickup truck, hit the sport utility vehicle and sent it off the Garden State Parkway, authorities said. Police following the governor in another vehicle administered first aid to Corzine and called for a helicopter.

Rasinski also was injured. His condition was not disclosed, but Codey said he was expected to be released from the hospital Friday. A governor's aide in the vehicle was not hurt, authorities said.

The speed limit was 65 mph. State police said speed was not believed to be a factor, but they had no immediate word on how fast the SUV was going. Shea said he did not know whether its air bags deployed.

Authorities searched for the driver of the red Ford F-150 pickup truck blamed for the wreck, checking video cameras mounted at toll plazas along the highway. The motorist had been driving erratically just before the crash, state police said.

The accident marks the third straight time a New Jersey governor has broken a leg while in office. McGreevey broke his leg in 2002 during a nighttime walk on the beach, and Christie Whitman broke her leg while skiing in the Swiss Alps in 1999.

Vice president's plane hits bird

WASHINGTON (AP) - Air Force Two carrying Vice President Dick Cheney struck a bird as the plane neared O'Hare International Airport on Friday. The aircraft landed safely.

Mechanics checked the plane while Cheney spoke at the Heritage Foundation's annual leadership conference, but the incident did not delay his departure from the airport to return to Washington.

"A bird hit the right engine of the plane upon landing," said Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for Cheney. "He was told after he delivered his remarks."

At the conference, Cheney issued a scathing report card on Democrats in Congress.

"In Iraq, above all, the Democrats' attempt to micromanage our commanders is an unwise and perilous endeavor," Cheney said. "It is impossible to argue that an unconditional timetable for retreat could serve the security interests of the United States or our friends in the region. Instead, it sends a message to our enemies that the calendar is their friend, that all they have to do is wait us out - wait for the date certain, and then claim victory the day after."

Cheney rebuked lawmakers for trying to tie funding for the war in Iraq to such a timetable, calling such a move unacceptable. He said it's the president's sole duty to direct military operations. He also said the country doesn't need 535 secretaries of state, a jab at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who recently traveled to Syria.

After the speech, Cheney, accompanied by his daughter, Liz Cheney, made an unannounced stop so they could buy a birthday gift for one of his granddaughters. Cheney posed for pictures with little girls while Liz Cheney secured a doll with a Western cowboy hat and get-up.

Hope fades for rescue of 5 missing crew from capsized Norwegian ship off Scotland

LONDON (AP) - Rescuers said Friday they had all but given up hope of finding five crewmen alive after their ship capsized off northern Scotland.

Three other sailors were confirmed dead in the accident. Seven crew members from the Norwegian oil rig support vessel Bourbon Dolphin were rescued and were being treated at a hospital in the Shetland Islands.

A coast guard helicopter and navy divers with heat-seeking cameras scoured the frigid North Sea for signs of the missing crewmen, who included a 15-year-old boy and his father. They found no signs of survivors.

"The status has now changed from a search-and-rescue operation to a salvage-and-recovery operation," said Lt. Lee Madigan of the Clyde naval base in Scotland. A coast guard spokesman said the chances of finding the crew members alive were "extremely slim."

The Bourbon Dolphin capsized Thursday in calm seas west of the islands, off Scotland's northern tip, while performing a routine anchor-handling operation on a rig.

British officials said all the crew members were Norwegian, although media in Denmark reported that one was a Dane.

A 15-year-old boy, who was working aboard the vessel with his father, was among the missing.

British coast guards said the five missing crew members may have been trapped in the hull of the upturned vessel, which was operating at the Transocean Rather rig when it capsized.

Michael Coull, duty watch manager at Aberdeen Coastguard, said there might be an air pocket under the overturned vessel, "and if the remainder of the crew were in a watertight compartment, then there's a possibility that they could still be alive."

"However, the chances are extremely slim and it's highly unlikely that that's the case," he said.

The ship capsized at about 5 p.m. Thursday and remained on the surface of the calm ocean in clear weather about 80 miles west of the Shetland islands, coast guard spokesman Mark Clark said.

'Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America' wins oddest book title

LONDON (AP) - When it comes to wacky titles, a book on rogue shopping carts goes straight to the express lane for winners.

"The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification" was named the winner Friday of the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for oddest book title.

The book, written by Buffalo, N.Y.-based artist Julian Montague and published by Harry N. Abrams, offers a mock-scientific taxonomy of the varieties of lost shopping carts, from the simply discarded to the elaborately vandalized.

"Then there's plow crush - where a cart gets crushed by a snow plow - and train crush," Montague said.

"Stray Shopping Carts" received a third of the more than 5,500 votes cast by members of the public on the Web site of trade magazine The Bookseller.

"It's a sort of strange honor to have," Montague said. "But I welcome the publicity and it's nice that people are finding out my book exists."

Runner-up was "Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan," by Robert Chenciner, Gabib Ismailov, Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov and Alex Binnie (Bennett & Bloom).

Other finalists were "How Green Were the Nazis?" by Franz-Josef Bruggemeier, Mark Cioc and Thomas Zeller (Ohio University Press) a study of the environmental policies of the Third Reich; "Di Mascio's Delicious Ice Cream: Di Mascio of Coventry: an Ice Cream Company of Repute, with an Interesting and Varied Fleet of Ice Cream Vans," by Roger De Boer, Harvey Francis Pitcher, and Alan Wilkinson (Past Masters); "Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Seaweed Symposium" (Kluwer); and "Better Never To Have Been: the Harm of Coming Into Existence," by David Benatar (Clarendon Press).