News For Friday Aug 8, 2008 News For Friday Aug 8, 2008

U.S. U.S.

Bus crash north of Dallas kills 13 - Added 4 minutes ago

A charter bus carrying a Vietnamese Catholic group to an annual pilgrimage slammed onto its side and then skidded off a freeway early Friday, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 40, authorities said. The...

Ga. woman gets new trial in elderly hubby's death - Added 7 minutes ago

An elderly woman convicted of killing her 85-year-old ex-boyfriend because she thought he was seeing another woman was granted a new trial Friday, more than two years after she was sentenced to life in prison. A jury...

Marine ordered to stand trial in Fallujah killing - Added 22 minutes ago

A Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah, Iraq. Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland ordered...

US man who spied for China gets nearly 16 years - Added 36 minutes ago

A New Orleans furniture salesman who spied for the People's Republic of China and helped the Beijing government obtain secret U.S. military information was sentenced Friday to nearly 16 years in prison. The sentence...

Judge: NJ's ex-governor owes wife no alimony - Added 39 minutes ago

Former Gov. James E. McGreevey will not have to pay alimony to his ex-wife, a judge ruled Friday in granting the couple a divorce after a tumultuous eight-year marriage that crumbled publicly when McGreevey acknowledged...

Gates endorses big expansion of Afghan army - Added 44 minutes ago

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has endorsed a new five-year, $17 billion plan to increase the size of the Afghan army by about 50,000 troops. The move follows a proposal from the Afghanistan government, and the price...

US weighs stepped-up military forays into Pakistan - Added 1 hour ago

Top Bush administration officials are pressing the president to direct U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be more aggressive in pursuing militants into Pakistan on foot as part of a proposed radical shift in regional...

MISSING TITLE - Added 1 hour ago

Judge says NJ's gay ex-governor doesn't have to pay ex-wife alimony; divorce is final. ...

W.Va. offers licenses for those who fear 'beast' - Added 1 hour ago

West Virginia started Friday keeping driver's license photos out of a computer database for members of a small religious group who believe digital storage is a "mark of the beast" that evokes biblical prophecy. State...

US calls for cease-fire in South Ossetia - Added 1 hour ago

The United States on Friday pushed for an immediate cease-fire in a fast-unfolding conflict between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. The White House said President Bush...

Non-senator wields fast gavel in 30-second session - Added 1 hour ago

What happens if the Senate is supposed to meet and there aren't any senators around? The show must go on, as the chamber demonstrated Friday morning, even if a staff aide has to wield the gavel. Nancy Erickson, a...

Detroit mayor charged with 2 felony assault counts - Added 1 hour ago

Moments after a judge ruled that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick could be released from jail if he pays a $50,000 bond, Michigan's attorney general announced he was charging the mayor with two felony assault charges stemming...

Pilots complain airlines restrict fuel to cut cost - Added 2 hours ago

Pilots are complaining that their airline bosses, desperate to cut costs, are forcing them to fly uncomfortably low on fuel. Safety for passengers and crews could be compromised, they say. The situation got bad enough...

Pilots' reports on low fuel - Added 2 hours ago

The Aviation Safety Reporting System _ a database maintained by NASA _ has reports from pilots expressing safety concerns about airline directives pressuring them to fly with uncomfortably low fuel levels. NASA deletes...

Gaps in system kept Ivins at high-security lab - Added 2 hours ago

Army scientist Bruce Ivins didn't keep his problems to himself. Therapists knew he had a history of paranoia, obsession and delusional thinking. Doctors put him on powerful medications. One colleague complained he was...

ABA index will rate justice around the world - Added 3 hours ago

The largest lawyers' group in the United States is developing a nation-by-nation comparison of which citizens can trust their government to act fairly and which governments fall short. The idea, said American Bar...

Ask AP: Drilling for oil, the role of honeybees - Added 3 hours ago

It's one of the central issues in the debate over U.S. energy policy _ and, recently, in the presidential campaign: where oil companies should be allowed to drill. But as oil producers seek the right to expand their...

N.H. girl killed in flash flood as car swept away - Added 4 hours ago

Authorities say flash flooding swept a car 100 yards downstream at a New Hampshire campground, killing a 7-year-old girl trapped inside the vehicle. The girl's father escaped Thursday night after flooding rushed...

Appeal hearing begins in Detroit mayor's jailing - Added 4 hours ago

A hearing is under way in Detroit on Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's request for freedom after he spent the night in one-man jail cell for an alleged bond violation. Kilpatrick's lawyers want Wayne County Circuit Judge Thomas...

German authorities join in 'Rockefeller' probe - Added 5 hours ago

The investigation into the identity of a mysterious man accused of kidnapping his daughter in Boston and wanted for questioning in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple has gone international. Authorities in...

US urges end to Georgia fighting - Added 5 hours ago

The White House on Friday urged Russia and Georgia to peacefully resolve their dispute over South Ossetia. "We urge restraint on all sides _ that violence would be curtailed and that direct dialogue could ensue in...

44-pound cat adopted; gets good vet's report - Added 6 hours ago

Fat, happy and no longer homeless. That describes life for the 44-pound New Jersey cat who became an overnight sensation. A vet has found "Prince Chunk" healthy aside from his weight. The big cat doesn't have a...

Flight attendant: Osteen's wife threw tantrum - Added 7 hours ago

!!-- hobj:426 -->A flight attendant says she witnessed the wife of evangelical pastor Joel Osteen throw a tantrum when she didn't get her way after a small spill on her seat wasn't quickly cleaned. Victoria Osteen's...

Mewing models slink into NYC hotel fashion show - Added 7 hours ago

The catwalk really was a catwalk Thursday. Show cats dressed in everything from an Elvis costume to a sequined satin dress strutted their stuff at New York's Algonquin Hotel. The feline fashion show unfolded in the...

Plane makes emergency landing at Calif. airport - Added 7 hours ago

A Continental Airlines jet made an emergency landing at John Wayne Airport shortly after its departure when a pilot smelled smoke, authorities said. The plane, carrying 113 passengers and five crew members, landed...

Oregon hamlet mourns NoCal chopper crash victims - Added 7 hours ago

A southern Oregon community long involved in battling wildfires was plunged into mourning with word that seven of the nine people killed in a Northern California helicopter crash were employees of a local company that...

Illegal immigrant from Honduras executed in Texas - Added 8 hours ago

Pleas from an illegal immigrant from Honduras who claimed he was unfairly denied legal help from his consulate when he was arrested for a robbery-murder near Dallas weren't enough to spare him from the death chamber. ...

Tropical Storm Hernan expected to strengthen - Added 9 hours ago

Tropical Storm Hernan continues to swirl in the Pacific far off Mexico's coast Friday. But the National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm could strengthen and become a hurricane later in the day. The storm's...

Calif. boy pleads not guilty in gay teen's slaying - Added 10 hours ago

A 14-year-old Southern California boy has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his gay classmate. Brandon McInerney entered the plea in Ventura County Superior Court on Thursday. McInerney is charged as an adult with...

US weighs stepped-up military forays into Pakistan - Added 10 hours ago

Top Bush administration officials are urging the president to direct U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be more aggressive in pursuing militants into Pakistan on foot as part of a proposed radical shift in its regional...

Car collides with trailer rig in Texas, killing 5 - Added 13 hours ago

A car collided with a tractor-trailer rig hauling fuel oil on Interstate 37 in South Texas, killing five members of an extended family, authorities said. San Patricio County Sheriff Leroy Moody said the five victims...

Today in History - Aug. 8 - Added 14 hours ago

Today is Friday, Aug. 8, the 221st day of 2008. There are 145 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 8, 1974, President Nixon announced he would resign following damaging new revelations in the...

Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs - Added 14 hours ago

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to...

Iraq vet questions gun raffle for Pa. kids league - Added 14 hours ago

An Iraq war veteran says a youth football league in central Pennsylvania is using inappropriate prizes in a raffle fundraiser: rifles. David Diaz, who served two years in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, said he...

Chicago cop suspended for demanding free Starbucks - Added 14 hours ago

A Chicago police officer has been suspended for 15 months for demanding free coffee and baked goods from six different Starbucks. Officer Barbara Nevers, a 14-year veteran, has also been ordered to undergo counseling. ...

Gates endorses big expansion of Afghan army - Added 15 hours ago

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has endorsed an Afghanistan government proposal to increase the size of the Afghan army by more than 50,000 troops. The new plan will cost well over $10 billion. Pentagon press secretary...

Katrina survivors' caretaker charged in abduction - Added 15 hours ago

A woman who took in a family recovering from Hurricane Katrina was arrested and charged with kidnapping Thursday after authorities said she refused to return five children to their mother and went on the run with them...

Mewing models slink into NYC hotel fashion show - Added 15 hours ago

The catwalk really was a catwalk Thursday. Show cats dressed in everything from an Elvis costume to a sequined satin dress strutted their stuff at New York's Algonquin Hotel. The feline fashion show unfolded in the...

One-time anthrax subjects glad to move on - Added 15 hours ago

For a few long hours in 2001, things looked impossibly grim for Dr. Irshad Shaikh and his brother, Masood. Not long after dawn on Nov. 13, armed FBI agents hunting for the anthrax killer crashed through the door of his...

Police: Pa. man rams home with semi during fight - Added 15 hours ago

Authorities say a Pennsylvania man rammed his house with a semitrailer during a fight with his roommate and tried to run down police called to the scene. State police say 20-year-old James H. Rosenberg injured no one...

Michigan governor's medical records breached - Added 16 hours ago

The state of Michigan says it is investigating a hospital where employees improperly looked at Gov. Jennifer Granholm's medical records. The state Department of Community Health said Thursday that it will review the...

NYPD arrests club employee in woman's death - Added 16 hours ago

A bar worker at a popular Times Square karaoke club was arrested Thursday after confessing to beating a woman to death with a pipe on the club's roof during an argument, police said. Syed Rahman, 24, admitted he...

Canadian sentenced in Alaska pipeline blast plot - Added 16 hours ago

A Canadian man was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in prison for plotting to blow up the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and get rich off the resulting disruptions to the oil supply. The sentence counts the time Alfred Heinz...

32 research monkeys die in accident at Nevada lab - Added 16 hours ago

Thirty-two research monkeys at a Nevada laboratory died because human errors made the room too hot, officials for the drug company that runs the lab said Thursday. Animal rights activists complain the company took too...

NRA pressed on accusations it hired a mole - Added 16 hours ago

A senator demanded Thursday that the National Rifle Association respond to charges it placed a paid spy in gun-control organizations for more than a decade. The powerful firearms lobby has remained silent since reports...

2 Philly social workers fired in starvation death - Added 16 hours ago

The city of Philadelphia has fired two social workers charged in the starvation death of a disabled teenager. The Human Services Department fired Laura Sommerer and Dana Poindexter on Thursday after disciplinary...

Ariz. officials: Migrant-packed SUV rolls, kills 9 - Added 17 hours ago

!!-- pobj:AZTUS101-0807081746 -->!!-- pobj:AZTUS102-1003070312 -->A sport utility vehicle packed with illegal immigrants rolled over Thursday on a rural highway southeast of Phoenix, killing nine people and injuring the...

'Road rage' was motive in Fla. federal agent's death - Added 17 hours ago

A man charged with killing a federal agent was late for an appointment and driving erratically when the confrontation erupted, police said Thursday. Customs agent Donald Pettit, 52, was shot in the head outside of a...

Urine bottles: Another result of high fuel prices? - Added 17 hours ago

Police say there's been an alarming rise in urine-filled plastic containers found along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon. A litter crew for the Oregon Department of Transportation picked up an...

Angry moviegoer allegedly tosses computer monitor - Added 17 hours ago

Police say a 55-year-old man tossed a computer monitor through a glass door after being refused a cash refund at a Casper movie theater. The man faces charges of felony property damage and disturbing the peace. ...