News For Wednesday Nov 19, 2008 News For Wednesday Nov 19, 2008

U.S. U.S.

NYC mom of dead girl sentenced to up to 43 years - Added 6 days ago

The mother of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison Wednesday for doing nothing as her battered and malnourished daughter lay dying. Nixzaliz Santiago received more than a decade longer...

Editorial Roundup - Added 6 days ago

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: Nov. 7 The Dallas Morning News, on President-elect Barack Obama's next moves: In hiring Rahm Emanuel and John Podesta to his staff last...

Newspapers seek gov't documents in anthrax inquiry - Added 6 days ago

Two newspapers asked a federal judge Wednesday to make public several documents relating to a former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks and later exonerated. The New York...

Student dies after shooting at Fla. high school - Added 6 days ago

A 15-year-old student died after a shooting at a Fort Lauderdale high school Wednesday, and police were questioning another student believed to be responsible. Sophomore Amanda Collette was confirmed dead after being...

Experts fear economy may spur sales of unsafe toys - Added 6 days ago

Federal safety officials worry that the economic downturn will drive discount-seeking parents to buy used toys tainted by lead or with dangerous designs. Government safety officials are particularly concerned that...

NAACP: Expel NC students for racist Obama graffiti - Added 6 days ago

The North Carolina NAACP wants North Carolina State University to expel four students accused of painting racist messages about President-elect Obama on campus. School Chancellor James Oblinger held a closed-door...

Jury considers death penalty for courthouse gunman - Added 6 days ago

Prosecutors are urging jurors to recommend the death sentence for the gunman convicted of killing a judge and three others in an Atlanta courthouse shooting spree. Brian Nichols in March 2005 was being taken to a...

White House reluctant to promise automaker help - Added 6 days ago

The White House says it is open to any suggestions from Congress on how to help the auto industry. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday that the administration is not responsible for the automakers'...

Gates: Baltics' western ties no threat to Moscow - Added 6 days ago

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Russia should not feel threatened when Eastern European countries strengthen their ties to the West. Speaking briefly to reporters after meeting with Estonia Prime...

Obama taps bipartisan team for economic summit - Added 6 days ago

Barack Obama has authorized former Republican Rep. Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, to represent him among world leaders attending the global economic summit in Washington this...

US shipping fuel oil to North Korea in nuke deal - Added 6 days ago

The United States says it has shipped 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea as part of a nuclear disarmament deal. The fuel is scheduled to arrive in the North in late November and early December. The...

Correction: Obama-National Security story - Added 6 days ago

In a Nov. 11 story about President-elect Obama's transition operation, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Obama has hired veteran Democrats Sam Nunn and Warren Christopher to head his transition teams at the...

Analysis: For Obama, what to do about Iran nukes? - Added 6 days ago

After years of suspense and suspicion, Iran still denies it is trying to make a nuclear bomb. Analysts foresee the Iranians' success in a few years at most, but they disagree widely over a likely timetable. ...

Victims of Flight 587 remembered at NYC ceremony - Added 6 days ago

Victims of the deadly Flight 587 crash are being remembered at a New York City ceremony on the seventh anniversary of the tragedy. The American Airlines flight crashed in a quiet Queens neighborhood on Nov. 12, 2001,...

Car pulled from Wash. river; body of boy, 2, found - Added 6 days ago

The body of a 2-year-old boy was recovered from a car that plunged into a rain-swollen river south of Seattle, but a 13-year-old boy remained missing. Divers and workers on shore were able to recover the silver...

Mass. man charged with lying during terror probe - Added 6 days ago

A Massachusetts man is being held without bail for allegedly lying to federal authorities during a terror investigation. Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury was arrested last weekend as he was about to board a flight from Boston...

Experts: Abuse often behind kids killing parents - Added 6 days ago

As an 8-year-old Arizona boy sits in a juvenile jail, charged with murdering his father and another man, the biggest unanswered question is "Why?" Police say the boy planned and meticulously carried out the shootings,...

W.Va. man beats health insurer in court over $40 - Added 6 days ago

A $40 medical bill might seem small but a West Virginia man says his five-year battle over paying it was a matter of principle. Sam Juniper says his health benefits weren't supposed to change after he retired in 2000...

US troops leave more security in hands of Iraqis - Added 6 days ago

The U.S. military in Iraq is abandoning _ deliberately and with little public notice _ a centerpiece of the widely acclaimed strategy it adopted nearly two years ago to turn the tide against the insurgency. It is moving...

Gen. Tommy Franks: Obama will 'do the right thing' - Added 6 days ago

!!-- pobj:OKOKL101-1111081914 -->Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, said President-elect Obama will "do the right thing" when it comes to the war. Franks, who spoke...

Missing cat back in California home after 13 years - Added 6 days ago

A California couple recently had an unexpected reunion with an old housemate: their pet cat who went missing more than 13 years ago. The cat, named George, was last seen by Melinda Merman and Frank Walburg in 1995. He...

Denver construction unearths frontier cemeteries - Added 6 days ago

!!-- pobj:CODEN101-1107082350 -->Couples chatted, children played and joggers hustled past gardens on an unseasonably warm November day at Cheesman Park. Few knew that the grounds in the center of Denver were once the...

Feds try to hear what wayward NJ dolphins hear - Added 6 days ago

Federal scientists are eavesdropping on two pods of wayward dolphins to find out what they're hearing. The researchers placed underwater microphones in a river near the Jersey shore to record sounds that might be...

Oklahoma to debut new ambulance siren you can feel - Added 6 days ago

!!-- pobj:OKTUL101-1111081204 -->You're in the car and you've got the radio cranked up insanely loud. Chances are, you're not going to hear that ambulance siren wailing behind you. Soon, even if you can't hear it,...

Shrinking Great Salt Lake finally easing up - Added 1 week ago

Hey, Great Salt Lake: Your shoreline is showing. All summer and into the fall, warm temperatures kept evaporation humming, drawing down the lake to near-record low levels and exposing more shore than normal. But the...

Advocates say rhetoric fuels anti-Hispanic crime - Added 1 week ago

!!-- pobj:NYANE101-1110081938 -->It was meant to be a short jaunt to a friend's home to watch a movie. Marcello Lucero never made it. His walk, and his life, came to a brutal end when the Ecuadorean native was...

AP Interview: Foley breaks silence on sex scandal - Added 1 week ago

Even today, two years after Mark Foley's very public fall from grace, the former congressman can't explain why he sent lurid, sexually explicit computer messages to male teens who had worked as Capitol Hill pages. ...

Joy to the world: holiday cards for 'any soldier' - Added 1 week ago

This holiday season, Americans can send soldiers and wounded troops greeting cards _ even if they don't know their names. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the anthrax attacks, the Pentagon required that mail...

Edwards speaks about Obama, Clinton but not affair - Added 1 week ago

John Edwards didn't have to dodge tough questions from an Indiana University audience Tuesday, when the former presidential candidate returned to the stage three months after admitting to an extramarital affair. The...

Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortion - Added 1 week ago

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights, saying the church and religious freedom could be under attack in the new...

Bush wistfully salutes veterans on Intrepid in NYC - Added 1 week ago

President Bush wistfully saluted the nation's veterans Tuesday as he prepares to hand two ongoing wars over to his successor, saying he'll "miss being the commander in chief of such a fabulous group." Bush marked his...

Companies push Congress for pension relief - Added 1 week ago

With pension funds facing billions of dollars in shortfalls as markets plunge, a range of companies from Ford to Verizon are pushing Congress to suspend portions of a two-year old law they say could force them to make...

Today in History - Nov. 12 - Added 1 week ago

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 12, the 317th day of 2008. There are 49 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 12, 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning...

Arab, Israeli leaders to attend rare dinner - Added 1 week ago

Arab leaders, including the Saudi king, and Israel's president attended the same dinner Tuesday night, a rare encounter that the head of the United Nations hopes will promote understanding and talks. U.N....

Closing arguments end in Hamas financing retrial - Added 1 week ago

A Muslim charity did not break the law by casting politics aside and aiding Palestinians under brutal Israeli occupation, defense attorneys said in closing arguments Tuesday at the Holy Land Foundation's second trial...

Ind. airport names terminal after WWI flying ace - Added 1 week ago

!!-- pobj:INTS105-1111081405 -->Descendants of World War I flying ace Harvey Weir Cook celebrated the Veterans Day dedication of a new passenger terminal bearing his name, a belated consolation for the removal of his...

Catholic bishops cut off ACORN funding - Added 1 week ago

A community grantmaking arm of the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops has cut off all funding for a group embroiled in controversy over claims of voter registration fraud and embezzlement, church leaders said Tuesday. The...

Man allegedly steals communion wafers from priest - Added 1 week ago

Police in said they arrested a Connecticut man after he tried to steal communion wafers during a church service. The Martin County Sheriff's Office said 33-year-old John Samuel Ricci, of Canton, was cornered by fellow...

Bush: Obama scoped daughters' bedrooms after visit - Added 1 week ago

After a confab about the state of the world, President-elect Obama wanted to scope out his young daughters' future bedrooms in the White House, President Bush said Tuesday, recounting the tour he gave his successor this...

Administration finalizing Internet gambling regs - Added 1 week ago

The Bush administration is moving in its last weeks to finalize regulations to enforce a controversial law that seeks to block Internet gambling. The move is drawing hot protests from Democratic lawmakers and supporters...

Cat missing for over 13 years back with owners - Added 1 week ago

A couple recently had an unexpected reunion with an old housemate: their pet cat who went missing more than 13 years ago. George, who was last seen by Melinda Merman and Frank Walburg in 1995, was turned into an animal...

Police say man sped away after handing over ID - Added 1 week ago

Police said it wasn't the most well-thoughtout escape. They say a man handed over his license and registration at a sobriety checkpoint during the weekend, then peeled out and sped away, almost hitting an officer. ...

Obama wants Lieberman to stay with Senate Dems - Added 1 week ago

!!-- AUDIO:0811B180,0811B179,0811B178 -->President-elect Obama has told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he's not interested in seeing Democrats oust Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman from their ranks over his...

Woman finds frozen pig head on pole in her yard - Added 1 week ago

Police are investigating after a woman leaving for work with her 9-year-old daughter on Sunday morning found a frozen pig head stuck on top of a pole next to a tree her yard. Jennifer Keller said the sight terrified...

Man calls cops but leaves pot pipe in plain sight - Added 1 week ago

A 28-year-old man reporting a burglary faces drug charges after responding officers say they found a marijuana pipe in his bedroom. A criminal complaint filed Tuesday said officers saw the pipe in plain view in Justin...

Criticism mounts among gays over Calif. ban - Added 1 week ago

California's gay-rights movement has been beset by infighting and finger-pointing since the defeat of gay marriage at the ballot box, with some activists questioning the campaign's mild tactics, including the decision...

Grandmother wakes up to find 3 dead in Dallas home - Added 1 week ago

An elderly grandmother woke up in her Dallas home Tuesday to find her daughter and granddaughter shot to death, along with the granddaughter's estranged husband, police said. Police say Keith Hill, 26, killed the two...

Bankrupt Montana resort for ultra-rich owes $343M - Added 1 week ago

Court documents show the exclusive Yellowstone Club resort in Montana owes an estimated $343 million to creditors such as banks and local contractors. The residential club for the ultra-rich on Monday filed for Chapter...

Ohio grandma gives birth to daughter's triplets - Added 1 week ago

A 56-year-old woman who gave birth to her triplet granddaughters a month ago is recovering from a Caesarean section and hopeful that one of the girls will be home from the hospital by Saturday. Jaci Dalenberg, 56, of...

Ark. police: Burglars sold silver ingot for $30 - Added 1 week ago

The proprietor of a metal recycling business was suspicious of the group of young people who wanted to sell him a 62.5-pound chunk of metal, so he convinced them it was only lead and gave them $30 for it. It was really...