News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008 News For Wednesday Oct 8, 2008

U.S. U.S.

Police: 4 were dead before southwest Michigan fire - Added 10 hours ago

Police say a fire at a southwestern Michigan home was intentionally set to cover up the shooting deaths of a mother and her two sons, and the fatal beating of a son's girlfriend. Ottawa County sheriff's Lt. Mark...

Judge orders release of Chinese Muslims into US - Added 10 hours ago

A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Tuesday to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay into the United States, a dramatic ruling that could set the course for releasing dozens of other...

Questioning of jurors begins in Fort Dix case - Added 10 hours ago

Prospective jurors discussed their attitudes toward religion and immigrants Tuesday as a complex process began to seat a jury in the case of five men accused of planning to attack Fort Dix. Lawyers asked questions of...

Museum agrees to ax Lizzie Borden name, ending row - Added 10 hours ago

A museum and a bed and breakfast have settled a trademark dispute over the macabre legacy of Lizzie Borden, a Sunday school teacher accused in the hatchet deaths of her father and stepmother, a museum official said...

Police: Pa. teen plotted to bomb sleeping family - Added 10 hours ago

A suburban Pittsburgh teenager tried to kill his sleeping family by placing homemade chlorine bombs while they slept, police said. Christopher Janney, 16, of South Fayette, was charged with attempted homicide for...

High court dispute over who gets retirement money - Added 11 hours ago

If William Kennedy had updated all his financial paperwork in accordance with his divorce decree, chances are his daughter would not have been at the Supreme Court on Tuesday fighting for the $402,000 she thinks should...

Polygamous sect sues to regain control of trust - Added 11 hours ago

Members of a polygamous church are suing to regain control of a property trust, claiming court reforms since 2005 have stripped it of its constitutional rights. Filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the lawsuit contends...

Simpson's future now hangs on armed robbery appeal - Added 11 hours ago

O.J. Simpson's attorneys in his armed robbery case could be fighting long odds to convince an appeals court that he was a victim of racial prejudice and payback for his murder acquittal, legal experts say, but there may...

Former contractor pleads guilty to Iraq fuel theft - Added 11 hours ago

A former Army contractor pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing nearly $40 million worth of jet and diesel fuel from a U.S. Army base in Iraq and selling it on the black market. Lee W. Dubois, 32, of Lexington, S.C., faces...

Unregulated swaps hastened Wall Street collapse - Added 11 hours ago

It can be a fine line between investing and gambling. But in Las Vegas, you know the odds. On Wall Street, that's not always the case. Especially when it comes to the $62 trillion market in arcane financial contracts...

Alum gives Harvard $125M for bioengineering center - Added 11 hours ago

A Harvard Business School alumnus has given the university its largest individual donation ever _ $125 million to start a bioengineering institute, the school announced Tuesday. Hansjorg Wyss, an engineer and...

Stepbrother charged in upstate NY girl's slaying - Added 11 hours ago

!!-- pobj:NYSYR101-1007081412 -->A man was charged Tuesday in the strangling death of his 11-year-old stepsister who was starved by her parents and slept a locked room inside an upstate NY house filled with garbage and...

NYC mayor's try for 3rd term goes to City Council - Added 12 hours ago

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's bid to change the term-limits law so that he can campaign for another four years rests in the hands of the City Council, where two competing bills were introduced Tuesday. The 51-member...

Beau of woman stuck on toilet wins lottery again - Added 12 hours ago

A Kansas man whose girlfriend was physically stuck to the toilet in their home wins $20,000 in the state Lottery, for the second time this year. Kory McFarren cashed in his winning $2 Bonus Crossword ticket in Great...

Man nabbed for skinny dipping in Japan palace moat - Added 12 hours ago

Police have apprehended a Western man who went skinny dipping in a moat ringing the Imperial Palace in a busy Tokyo business district, attracting a huge crowd, officials said Tuesday. The naked middle-aged man jumped...

Energy Department warns of higher heating costs - Added 12 hours ago

Heating U.S. homes with oil this winter will cost a painful $450 more than a year ago, another slap to families already reeling from high gasoline and food costs and fearful of losing their heat because of unpaid bills....

US defense chief: US forces in Kosovo thru 2009 - Added 12 hours ago

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday said the U.S. is committed to keeping troops in Kosovo through late next year despite strong Russian opposition to creation of the world's newest country this year. Following a...

Ky. killings come 3 years after father's suicide - Added 12 hours ago

!!-- pobj:KYLOC101-0602040235 -->!!-- pobj:KYLOC102-1006082156 -->A mother who police said stabbed her daughters before shooting herself had raised the children as a single mother after her husband hanged himself three...

Prosecutors won't pursue charges in alleged hazing - Added 12 hours ago

Prosecutors said Tuesday they are not pursuing criminal charges against seven Tulane University fraternity members accused of burning pledges with boiling water during an initiation. The announcement by the Orleans...

No injuries reported in W. Ky. plant chemical leak - Added 13 hours ago

Officials say a small leak of hydrochloric acid and a refrigerant from a western Kentucky plant Tuesday kept nearby residents in their homes and closed roads for several hours. State highway spokesman Keith Todd says...

Pa. widow sues US over Iraq vet-husband's suicide - Added 14 hours ago

The widow of a 23-year-old Iraq war veteran from Pennsylvania is suing the U.S. government over her husband's suicide. Tiera Woodward blames the Veterans Administration for failing to provide her husband, Donald, with...

Military improves education on electrocution - Added 15 hours ago

The U.S. military is creating an electrical code for U.S. facilities in Iraq as part of an effort to prevent future electrocutions in Iraq. The deaths of at least 18 U.S. service members and contractors in Iraq are...

Bush talks with European leaders on crisis - Added 15 hours ago

President Bush reached out to European leaders on Tuesday to urge coordination on efforts to solve the financial crisis spreading around the globe. The White House said Bush was open to the idea of a leaders' summit on...

Police: 10-year-old driver flips van in Tenn. - Added 15 hours ago

A 10-year-old was driving up to 90 mph when he crashed a van carrying a man who told police he had drank at least 15 beers and a woman who was trying to swallow as many pills as she could when deputies arrived at the...

Ohio woman gets 10 years for attack on 93-year-old - Added 16 hours ago

A woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for beating her 93-year-old neighbor with a vacuum cleaner during a robbery that netted her $5. Police say 58-year-old Dora Nance was looking for money to buy drugs in May...

Ky. deputy wanted for murder caught in Iowa - Added 16 hours ago

!!-- pobj:KYBOW102-1006082144 -->A Kentucky sheriff's deputy accused of killing his ex-girlfriend was captured in Iowa early Tuesday after an officer spotted his car at a hotel. Randall Creek, 41, of Bowling Green,...

Dangerous spent fuel returned to US - Added 16 hours ago

Germany has returned over 20 pounds of highly enriched uranium fuel to the U.S. for safeguarding from terrorists or potential misuse, the government said Tuesday. The National Nuclear Security Administration said the...

IRS eases tax rules on US firms with foreign units - Added 16 hours ago

The Internal Revenue Service, seeking to make cash more available during the current credit crunch, has issued a rule making it easier for U.S. corporations to bring home money made by their foreign subsidiaries. The...

Man pleads guilty to fraud for phony asylum claims - Added 17 hours ago

A man accused of coaching immigrants on how to make phony asylum claims pleaded guilty to fraud and other charges and agreed to forfeit $1.7 million. The man, David Lynn, led a ring that prepared 380 asylum...

NYC takes calorie-counting campaign to the rails - Added 17 hours ago

Craving a burrito with sour cream and guacamole? What if you knew it had more than half the calories you should eat in a day? The city Health Department is expanding its healthy-eating campaign with subway ads that say...

UN says at least 5,000 flee violence in Congo - Added 18 hours ago

The U.N. refugee agency says at least 5,000 people have fled violence in northeastern Congo and sought shelter in neighboring Sudan over the last two weeks. A spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says...

6 die in family murder-suicide in Los Angeles - Added 18 hours ago

The only hints of trouble in the big beige house on Como Lane were the newspapers in the driveway and the lack of any activity behind the front door. But when police summoned by worried friends of the residents got...

Bacon, not bomb, leads to evacuation of office - Added 18 hours ago

The office of an Ohio congressman who has fought against pork barrel spending was evacuated over a suspicious package that turned out to be full of bacon. Staff members at the office of House Minority Leader John...

Arctic quake sends waves through Nevada - Added 19 hours ago

Scientists say what appeared to be an earthquake in northeastern Nevada was actually a seismograph picking up waves from an earlier quake in the Arctic Ocean. A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey said a...

Fed lays out details for bank loans - Added 19 hours ago

The Federal Reserve is providing more details about when it will make billions of dollars in short-term loans available to squeezed banks. The loans _ part of an effort to ease intensifying credit stresses _ are made...

Mind training helps troops with combat, then PTSD - Added 21 hours ago

The explosion of practice mortars sent Army Spc. Kade Williams into panic attacks, and nightmares plagued his sleep. The ravages of post-traumatic stress had left the veteran of the war in Afghanistan vulnerable, and he...

Gates: US to remain in Kosovo through late 2009 - Added 22 hours ago

The United States will continue its troop presence in Kosovo until at least late next year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said just before he arrived here Tuesday, reaffirming U.S. support for the newly declared nation...

Judge: Calif. must pay for prison health care - Added 22 hours ago

A federal judge has scolded California officials for failing to provide the billions of dollars a court-appointed receiver says is needed to upgrade the state's prison health care system. U.S. District Judge Thelton...

Prosecutors move to delay Rezko sentencing - Added 22 hours ago

Federal prosecutors moved Monday to delay indefinitely the sentencing of convicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, sending their strongest hint yet that he is ready to spill his political secrets. The filing asks for a...

Man nabbed for skinny dipping in Japan palace moat - Added 23 hours ago

Police have apprehended a Western man who went skinny dipping in a moat ringing the Imperial Palace in a busy Tokyo business district, attracting a huge crowd, officials said Tuesday. The naked middle-aged man jumped...

Lax Texas laws allow cozy lobbyist-lawmaker ties - Added 23 hours ago

Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick does business with a lobbyist, but can't say whom. Fellow Rep. Sid Miller finally disclosed his lobbyist dealings, but only after someone complained. And then there are Reps. Kino...

Grieving son welcomes trial in yacht killings - Added 1 day ago

Ryan Hawks held a memorial service after his father and stepmother vanished at sea four years ago. He created a Web site where friends have uploaded photos of the fun-loving Arizona couple along with hundreds of notes...

NJ: We'll become a world leader in wind power - Added 1 day ago

New Jersey is powering up an ambitious plan to become a world leader in the use of wind-generated energy. Gov. Jon Corzine wants the Garden State to triple the amount of wind power it plans to use by 2020 to 3,000...

Tropical Storm Marco closing in on Mexico's coast - Added 1 day ago

Tropical Storm Marco was closing in on Mexico's coast early Tuesday and threatened to hit with near-hurricane strength winds later in the day. Marco was a small tropical storm with winds extending out only up to 15...

Police say Louisville woman kills self, daughters - Added 1 day ago

A woman was shot to death and her two school-age daughters fatally stabbed Monday in an apparent murder-suicide, officials said. A family member stopping by the house found the scene just before 7:30 p.m. EDT and...

Shepard autopsy among missing records in Wyo. - Added 1 day ago

An autopsy report for slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is among numerous autopsy records missing from the Albany County coroner's office, the coroner said. Coroner Tom Furgeson said he received only...

Today in History - Oct. 7 - Added 1 day ago

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 7, the 281st day of 2008. There are 85 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 7, 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. (British forces...

Woman to return to prison in human smuggling case - Added 1 day ago

A woman who spent nearly three years in prison for her role in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt will return to prison for up to an additional four years, a judge ruled. Prosecutors won an appeal to return...

NYC council takes up term limit change this week - Added 1 day ago

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's crusade to change term limits law so he can run again gets its first official test this week with a bill in the City Council, where it will compete with legislation intended to stop him. ...

Philly won't enforce tour guide testing _ for now - Added 1 day ago

Philadelphia's plan to test and license tour guides is on hold. Lawyers for three tour guides who challenged the plan say a federal judge Monday temporarily blocked the city from enforcing the testing law. It was...