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Former Conn. lawmaker probed for mob ties
Jan 12 2006 11:40PM (CT)
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - A former state senator worked with a reputed mobster and his associate to try to stop police raids on businesses and advance their business interests, federal prosecutors alleged in court documents filed Thursday.
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Cops say Fla. robbers had done it before
Jan 12 2006 11:37PM (CT)
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) - Two bank robbers whose botched heist near Walt Disney World turned into a hostage standoff had robbed the same bank in November, the surviving suspect told investigators, Osceola County sheriff's officials said Thursday.
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L.A. mayor calls city 'homeless capital'
Jan 12 2006 11:29PM (CT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A report released Thursday that provided new details on the region's homeless population prompted Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to call the nation's second-largest city the nation's "capital of homelessness."
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Second sewage plant worker dies in Fla.
Jan 12 2006 11:28PM (CT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A second victim of a wastewater treatment plant explosion died Thursday, while another man remained in critical condition.
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Suspect in reporter's death turns self in
Jan 12 2006 11:18PM (CT)
WASHINGTON (AP) - A suspect in the beating death of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum turned himself in to police Thursday night after TV stations broadcast surveillance images showing his face.
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San Diego pension board asked to resign
Jan 12 2006 11:17PM (CT)
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Calling for drastic reforms to the city's troubled pension system, Mayor Jerry Sanders used his first State of the City address Thursday night to ask the appointed board members of the retirement system to resign.
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Al Sharpton swings through New Hampshire
Jan 12 2006 11:12PM (CT)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton was in New Hampshire Thursday on his first visit since losing in the 2004 primary, but he was coy about whether he'll seek a spot in the 2008 race.
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Coeds at Tulane have 'Orientation Deja Vu'
Jan 12 2006 11:07PM (CT)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Lee Marinelli opened her dorm room to find everything just as she left it last August _ the books and school supplies on the shelves, half-unpacked clothes in the closet, her giant stuffed bear Cinnamon lying on the bed.
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Device left in Starbucks was not explosive
Jan 12 2006 10:50PM (CT)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - What authorities thought was a bomb in a Starbucks coffee shop turned out to be a flashlight casing, police said Thursday.
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Skakel conviction upheld in Connecticut
Jan 12 2006 10:48PM (CT)
NORWALK, Conn. (AP) - The state's highest court has upheld Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's murder conviction, according to the victim's mother, who said she was notified of the decision by prosecutors.
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DNA tests confirm executed Va. man guilty
Jan 12 2006 10:48PM (CT)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A new round of DNA tests that death penalty opponents believed might finally prove that an innocent man was executed in the United States confirmed instead that Roger Keith Coleman was guilty when he went to the electric chair in 1992.
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DeLay faces viable Republican challenger
Jan 12 2006 10:02PM (CT)
HOUSTON (AP) - U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, who lost his leadership post because of his ties to a disgraced lobbyist and faces felony charges in his home state, now has another worry: an unprecedented four-way primary for the seat he's held comfortably for 22 years.
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Three homeless men in Fla. beaten, 1 dies
Jan 12 2006 9:50PM (CT)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Assailants armed with baseball bats or sticks beat three homeless men in separate attacks Thursday, killing one of the victims, police said. One of the attacks was caught on a university surveillance video.
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Video shown at trial in Geoghan slaying
Jan 12 2006 9:47PM (CT)
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Jurors saw dramatic video Thursday of prison guards frantically trying to open the cell door of John Geoghan, then dragging another inmate out after he strangled the child-molesting former priest.
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Calls arise for Vermont judge to resign
Jan 12 2006 9:45PM (CT)
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Judge Edward Cashman should be the darling of conservatives: a churchgoer, a former prosecutor, a Vietnam vet and a member of the bench known for his hard-line stands: A decade ago he jailed for 41 days the parents of a suspect in a rape case because they refused to cooperate with prosecutors.
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Probers reach Ga. site of Navy jet crash
Jan 12 2006 9:23PM (CT)
LaFAYETTE, Ga. (AP) - A Navy investigative team arrived Thursday at the crash site of a military jet that went down during a low-level bomb training mission, killing the four aviators aboard.
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NYC dismissed as defendant in collapse
Jan 12 2006 9:06PM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - The city on Thursday was dismissed from a federal lawsuit alleging that it was negligent in the collapse of a building at the World Trade Center that crumbled hours after the twin towers fell.
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Houston teachers' pay now tied to scores
Jan 12 2006 8:43PM (CT)
HOUSTON (AP) - Houston became the largest school district in the country on Thursday to adopt a merit pay plan for teachers that focuses on students' tests scores.
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Former 'enemy combatant' pleads not guilty
Jan 12 2006 8:26PM (CT)
MIAMI (AP) - Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was held for more than three years as an "enemy combatant," pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges alleging he was part of a secret network that supported Muslim terrorists.
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Richmond U. president to step down
Jan 12 2006 8:07PM (CT)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A college president who offended students and alumni by comparing them to "mush" announced Thursday that he will step down next year.
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Md. Senate overrides veto of Wal-Mart bill
Jan 12 2006 7:35PM (CT)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's Senate voted Thursday to enact a first-in-the-nation requirement that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spend more on employee health care despite the governor's veto of the legislation. The measure, touted as a money-saver for Medicaid, now goes to the House for a vote.
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In Iraq general's murder, 1 charge dropped
Jan 12 2006 7:16PM (CT)
DENVER (AP) - The Army said Thursday it would drop a murder charge against a soldier accused in the death of an Iraqi general in exchange for his testimony in the court-martial of another soldier charged in the case.
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Chemical traces found in bottled water
Jan 12 2006 6:56PM (CT)
MARIETTA, Ohio (AP) - Bottled water provided to residents whose tap water was tainted with a chemical used to make Teflon has tested positive for trace amounts of the same substance, a lawyer and the bottling company owner said.
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Six killed on rural Miss. highway
Jan 12 2006 6:48PM (CT)
WIGGINS, Miss. (AP) - A tractor-trailer rig slammed into a pickup truck that was stopped in the middle of a fog-shrouded rural highway early Thursday, killing six people, all students or recent alumni of a nearby community college, authorities said.
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Ga. House OKs new voter ID requirements
Jan 12 2006 6:15PM (CT)
ATLANTA (AP) - After four hours of racially charged debate, Georgia lawmakers Thursday approved changes aimed at making it easier for poor people to obtain the photo ID cards needed to vote.
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Georgia man killed in Iraq copter crash
Jan 12 2006 5:39PM (CT)
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Georgia man who worked for the Defense Department was one of the 12 people killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last weekend, becoming the sixth civilian military worked to die in the Iraq war since hostilities began.
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Al Sharpton swings through N.H.
Jan 12 2006 4:54PM (CT)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - On his first trip back to New Hampshire since losing in the 2004 primary, former presidential candidate Al Sharpton packed his schedule Thursday with school speeches, college visits, political meetings and a fundraiser for local Democrats.
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Schoolgirls protest New Orleans' proneness
Jan 12 2006 4:37PM (CT)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - As President Bush returned to the city for the first time in three months, teenage protesters donned life jackets, goggles and inner tubes Thursday to symbolize their flooded homes and protest New Orleans' lack of defense against future storms.
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Rikers put in lockdown, but inmate found
Jan 12 2006 4:06PM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rikers Island city jail was put in lockdown briefly Thursday as officials scrambled to find a rape-and-kidnapping suspect who had vanished, authorities said.
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Challenge to N.Y. contraception law nixed
Jan 12 2006 4:02PM (CT)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - An appeals court on Thursday rejected a challenge by Roman Catholic groups to a state law that requires employers to offer prescription contraceptives.
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New N.J. slogan: 'Come see for yourself'
Jan 12 2006 3:58PM (CT)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - If you were pulling for "New Jersey: You Got a Problem With That?" as the new state slogan, forget about it, buddy. The winning entry in the slogan contest was: "New Jersey: "Come See For Yourself."
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Lawyers take Cubans' case to federal court
Jan 12 2006 3:29PM (CT)
MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge suggested Thursday that the U.S. government acted illogically this week when it sent back 15 Cubans who had landed on an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys.
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U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner dies at 86
Jan 12 2006 3:23PM (CT)
SEATTLE (AP) - Jack Tanner, the first black federal judge in the Northwest and known for his sometimes controversial civil rights rulings, has died of cancer. He was 86.
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Family says shrimp caused N.Y. man's death
Jan 12 2006 3:18PM (CT)
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A shrimp a hibachi chef tossed at a man eating at a Japanese steakhouse ultimately led to the diner's death, his family claims in a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the restaurant chain Benihana.
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Judge rules against Ind. Dillinger tourism
Jan 12 2006 3:03PM (CT)
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - The great-nephew of John Dillinger can seek damages from a tourism organization that opened a museum about the gangster more than six years ago without permission from the family, a judge ruled.
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DNA tests confirm executed Va. man guilty
Jan 12 2006 3:01PM (CT)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - New DNA tests in a quarter-century-old murder case confirm the guilt of a man who pleaded his innocence until the final moments before he was electrocuted in 1992, a spokeswoman for the governor said Thursday.
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Court dismisses Yahoo free speech suit
Jan 12 2006 3:00PM (CT)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Thursday skirted answering whether Yahoo Inc. was liable to pay a fine of about $15 million to a Paris court for displaying Nazi memorabilia for sale in violation of French law.
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Clinton strikes deal for AIDS drugs
Jan 12 2006 2:55PM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton announced Thursday that his foundation has negotiated agreements to lower the price of rapid HIV tests and anti-AIDS drugs in the developing world.
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Body of missing Oregon river pilot found
Jan 12 2006 2:00PM (CT)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - When he disappeared, Kevin Murray was performing a maneuver a fellow river pilot describes as "swinging like Tarzan" _ climbing down a rope ladder on the oceangoing freighter he'd guided over the Columbia River bar.
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Best man torched groom's home
Jan 12 2006 1:39PM (CT)
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - A newlywed couple's best man was sentenced to nine years in prison for torching the groom's house during the honeymoon.
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Series of crashes in La. fog kill one
Jan 12 2006 1:02PM (CT)
CARENCRO, La. (AP) - A series of crashes on a fog-shrouded interstate Thursday killed one person and shut down a major artery north of Lafayette during the morning rush hour.
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Missouri house explodes, killing two
Jan 12 2006 12:24PM (CT)
MARYVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A powerful explosion leveled a home near a university campus, killing an elderly woman and one of her sons, and injuring another son.
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Religion news in brief
Jan 12 2006 12:01PM (CT)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Roman Catholic Archbishop John Vlazny says the church will follow its own internal law on property ownership, defying a federal bankruptcy judge's ruling on how to satisfy claims by victims of alleged priestly sex abuse.
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Religion today
Jan 12 2006 12:01PM (CT)
BOSTON (AP) - Archbishop Sean O'Malley has been here before, caught between the financial needs of the Roman Catholic Church and the fury of alleged sex abuse victims and other parishioners. This time, a satisfying resolution may be tougher to find.
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Wis. truck driver charged in deadly crash
Jan 12 2006 11:53AM (CT)
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) - A truck driver was charged Thursday with homicide in a crash that killed five people and injured 29 others on a bus carrying high school band students home from a weekend competition.
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Rebuilding plan angers some New Orleanians
Jan 12 2006 10:49AM (CT)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Angry residents expressed frustration Wednesday at the debut of rebuilding proposals for this devastated city, taking aim at a suggested four-month moratorium on new building permits in areas heavily flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
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Judge is asked to let 9-year-old testify
Jan 12 2006 10:06AM (CT)
COEUR d'Alene, Idaho (AP) - Prosecutors want the courts to allow 9-year-old Shasta Groene, the only survivor of a family kidnap-murder, to testify against her alleged abductor outside his immediate presence.
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Miami jail escapee recaptured, police say
Jan 12 2006 9:43AM (CT)
MIAMI, Fla. (AP) - An inmate who escaped from the same jail complex where a serial rape suspect fled last month was recaptured Thursday, police said.
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Students use Web to unmask sex offender
Jan 12 2006 8:05AM (CT)
OAK PARK HEIGHTS, Minnesota (AP) - He posed as a prospective student and tried to pass himself off as a member of a royal family from Europe _ until some student journalists uncovered his past.
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Fla. man gets death for killing ex-officer
Jan 12 2006 8:01AM (CT)
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - A man who claimed he killed a retired police officer because he thought the "A" on the victim's University of Alabama baseball cap meant he was the Antichrist has been sentenced to death.
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Fire kills 3 at Coney Island apartment
Jan 12 2006 5:26AM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - A fire tore through a Coney Island apartment Wednesday night, killing two young sisters and their teenage uncle, authorities said. At least seven firefighters were injured.
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Honors at military funerals imperiled
Jan 12 2006 5:08AM (CT)
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Already stressed by the pace of funerals for aging veterans, the leader of an honor guard is incensed by the Army's refusal to allow him to replenish his ranks with the adult children of vets.
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NYC school chancellor will answer e-mails
Jan 12 2006 5:05AM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - If you have a question for the head of the nation's largest school system, you might consider sending him an e-mail. The address isn't hard to find.
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CEO defends Sago mine as 'safe operation'
Jan 12 2006 4:41AM (CT)
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (AP) - The mine where a dozen men died should be sufficiently vented of toxic gases in four to seven days, allowing investigators to enter for the first time since the disaster, company officials said.
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Better U.S. system to ID remains sought
Jan 12 2006 4:36AM (CT)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - After Laura Hood's 16-year-old brother disappeared in 1978, she once stopped her car along a dark road after spotting a man whose gait looked familiar.
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Bishop reveals he was abused by priest
Jan 12 2006 4:26AM (CT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The first U.S. Catholic bishop to say that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy put his support behind legislation that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church.
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GOP group to donate Abramoff-related funds
Jan 12 2006 3:21AM (CT)
BOSTON (AP) - Days after calling on his party to exhibit higher ethical standards, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association said his group will donate to charity $500,000 in campaign contributions linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
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Parents charged in death of girl
Jan 12 2006 12:47AM (CT)
NEW YORK (AP) - A 7-year-old girl found dead in an apartment she shared with five siblings was apparently bound and held captive before her stepfather killed her with a vicious blow to the head, authorities said Wednesday.
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Lewdness charge filed against ex-pastor
Jan 12 2006 12:05AM (CT)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A Baptist minister who has spoken out against homosexuality was charged Wednesday with propositioning an undercover male police officer.
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