News For Thursday Jul 24, 2008 News For Thursday Jul 24, 2008

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Today in History - July 24 - Added 9 minutes ago

Today is Thursday, July 24, the 206th day of 2008. There are 160 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 24, 1858, Republican senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln formally challenged Democrat...

US wants to shift $226 million on Pakistan money - Added 9 minutes ago

The State Department wants to use about two-thirds of its proposed military equipment aid for Pakistan's anti-terrorism programs to help the key U.S. ally upgrade its aging fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter planes. The...

Dolly downgraded to tropical storm in south Texas - Added 15 minutes ago

Hurricane Dolly barreled into South Texas on Wednesday, lashing the coast with winds up to 100 mph and dumping heavy rain that flooded some low-lying areas but spared levees along the heavily populated Rio Grande...

House OKs rescue for homeowners, Freddie, Fannie - Added 26 minutes ago

!!-- AUDIO:310,311,309,307,271 -->Rescue legislation sailed through the House on Wednesday aimed at helping 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure and preventing the collapse of troubled mortgage companies...

McKusick, pioneer in medical genetics, dies at 86 - Added 32 minutes ago

Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a key architect of the Human Genome Project and a winner of the National Medal of Science, has died. He was 86. Officials at Johns Hopkins University, where McKusick was a professor of genetics,...

Bubble burst? Off-Broadway show's suds stolen - Added 41 minutes ago

The bubble might have burst for off-Broadway's "Gazillion Bubbles Show." Someone has stolen the show's specialized soapy bubble solution, which takes two months to make. A show spokesman says 3.4 tons of bubble...

Farm labor contractor fined in worker's death - Added 51 minutes ago

The employer of a pregnant teenager who died of heat stroke after pruning grapevines for nine hours in hot weather was hit Wednesday with the highest fine ever issued to a California farming operation. The California...

Feds charge shipping company in SF Bay oil spill - Added 1 hour ago

The Hong Kong-based operator of a container ship that struck a bridge support in the San Francisco Bay last year has been indicted for allegedly doctoring paperwork in an attempt to thwart the investigation. A federal...

Church surrenders lot near ground zero for $20M - Added 1 hour ago

The World Trade Center site's owner has offered $20 million to acquire the 1,200-square-foot lot of a church destroyed on Sept. 11, freeing one more piece of land needed to rebuild every inch of ground zero. The Port...

Air Force says no survivors of B-52 crash off Guam - Added 1 hour ago

All six crew members aboard a B-52 bomber that crashed off Guam were killed, the Air Force said Wednesday as the search effort shifted focus from rescue to recovery of the crew and pieces of the wreckage. Two bodies...

Detective who helped arrest Oswald dead at 87 - Added 1 hour ago

Dallas police Detective Paul Bentley, who helped arrest presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theater, had a ready retort for those who didn't accept the official story that Oswald acted alone. "What...

Rice pushes top North Korean diplomat on nukes - Added 1 hour ago

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pushing North Korea hard to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program after breaking a four-year hiatus in Cabinet-level talks with the communist state....

Judge: EPA must regulate ship water discharge - Added 1 hour ago

An appeals court Wednesday upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court...

Prosecutor: More people say LA doctor abused them - Added 1 hour ago

A doctor charged with molesting eight patients was ordered held on $4 million bail Wednesday as a prosecutor said accusations from seven more patients had surfaced. Police have interviewed three of the new accusers and...

Huge brush fire subsides in central Washington - Added 1 hour ago

An evacuation order for up to 300 people was lifted Wednesday as more firefighters were put to work on a wind-driven wildfire fueled by sagebrush in central Washington, officials said. A survey Wednesday morning showed...

Lawmakers chide Mukasey on press freedom - Added 2 hours ago

!!-- AUDIO:08237231,08237230,08237229,08237228 -->Lawmakers chided Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Wednesday for claiming national security concerns in opposing legislation that would allow reporters to protect the...

Calif. woman mauled by bear recovers after surgery - Added 2 hours ago

A woman mauled by a bear in a rural area of Southern California was recovering Wednesday as game wardens sought to trap and kill the animal. Allena Hansen, 56, was resting comfortably after undergoing extensive surgery...

Ship-barge crash closes Mississippi at New Orleans - Added 2 hours ago

A stretch of the Mississippi River at New Orleans could be closed for days as crews clean a 12-mile oil slick caused Wednesday when a tanker and barge collided, officials said. Heavy, almost tar-like fuel oil spilled...

Vigorous debate held on 'don't ask, don't tell' - Added 2 hours ago

!!-- AUDIO:275,274,273,064,063 -->Opponents of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military denounced it as cruel and unpatriotic Wednesday. Supporters insisted it was needed to maintain military morale,...

Convicted killers in Texas, Miss., put to death - Added 2 hours ago

Texas executed a man Wednesday who was convicted of killing a woman and her child, while Mississippi put to death a man who took part in the fatal beating of another man. Derrick Sonnier shook his head "no" when asked...

Only 2 Texas high schoolers positive for steroids - Added 2 hours ago

The nation's largest steroids testing program caught only two Texas high school athletes taking unauthorized substances out of more than 10,000 students who were tested, according to results issued Wednesday. The...

Ambassador: Al-Qaida leaving Iraq for Afghanistan - Added 3 hours ago

Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday. "We have heard reports recently that many...

Obituaries in the news - Added 3 hours ago

Paul Bentley DALLAS (AP) _ Paul Bentley, a Dallas police veteran who helped arrest presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theater, had died. He was 87. Bentley died Monday of natural causes in his Dallas...

Kansas man pleads guilty in teen's kidnap-slaying - Added 3 hours ago

!!-- pobj:MOKAS101-0723081819 -->!!-- pobj:MOKAS102-0723081830 -->A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to snatching an 18-year-old from a store parking lot, raping her and strangling her with her own belt before dumping her...

Pet rabbit credited with saving couple from fire - Added 3 hours ago

A pet rabbit is credited with saving a couple from a fire that swept through their home in the southern city of Melbourne. Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Mick Swift said the husband returned home from a night...

Mass. woman kills self before home foreclosure - Added 3 hours ago

A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead. Police said that Carlene...

Lawmakers press Labor Dept on worker exposure rule - Added 3 hours ago

Leading lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Bush administration of acting in secret to make it harder to limit worker exposure to carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals in the workplace. The Labor Department is...

Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker caught with gun at Capitol - Added 3 hours ago

A state lawmaker who gained national notoriety with an anti-homosexual rant was stopped from entering the state Capitol Wednesday when she was found to have a loaded handgun in her purse, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol...

Ohio woman gets 5 years in $8M armored-car heist - Added 4 hours ago

A woman who helped her boyfriend steal about $8 million from an armored car company was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. Wiping away tears several times, Nicole Boyd told the judge in a quiet voice that she...

US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 488 - Added 4 hours ago

As of Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at least 488 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense...

Pennsylvania infant cut from womb leaves hospital - Added 4 hours ago

The baby cut from a slain woman's womb last week was released from the hospital Wednesday as a defense attorney said the woman accused of the crime intends to plead not guilty. Stephanie Waite, a spokeswoman for West...

Pentagon to recommend more troops for Afghanistan - Added 4 hours ago

Top Pentagon leaders are expected to recommend soon that Defense Secretary Robert Gates order hundreds of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan over the next month or so, according to a senior military official. The...

'Pantyhose Bandit' causes sheer annoyance in Mass. - Added 4 hours ago

Dozens of pairs of pantyhose have been left near a Milford school bus stop _ causing sheer annoyance in the neighborhood. The pantyhose _ sometimes new, sometimes used _ has been left on Camp Street for more than two...

Couple claim mysterious noise plagues their house - Added 4 hours ago

Bob and Leona Ehrfurth say the noise that's been plaguing them for two years sounds something like a rumbling motor, with a subtle vibration that won't quit. Then it stops _ especially when they try to show city...

NC police warned about woman with 5 dead spouses - Added 4 hours ago

A former police officer and a neighbor said Wednesday that a Georgia grandmother who now has five dead spouses tried to hire them to kill her fourth husband more than two decades ago. Former police officer Allen...

117 cats, raccoon, and rabbit found at Omaha home - Added 4 hours ago

Humane society workers have found 117 cats, a raccoon and a rabbit in a north Omaha house. The discovery came Wednesday after Council Bluffs, Iowa, police caught the 54-year-old woman who lives at the house reportedly...

Ohio governor declares emergency from wind damage - Added 4 hours ago

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has declared a state of emergency in the county hit by a storm with winds of up to 110 mph. The storm in Perry County in east-central Ohio damaged buildings and uprooted trees and power lines...

FCC nearing approval of satellite radio deal - Added 4 hours ago

The proposed merger of the Sirius and XM satellite radio companies appeared close to final approval Wednesday, with the sole undecided member of the Federal Communications Commission poised to support the deal if the...

MISSING TITLE - Added 4 hours ago

Nokia and chip maker Qualcomm agree to settle all outstanding legal disputes ...

Chicago cop accused of shaking down tow operators - Added 5 hours ago

A police officer was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of shaking down tow truck operators for payoffs of up to $400 per vehicle in exchange for steering towing business to them. Michael Ciancio, 56, was arrested...

NTSB investigates near collision at O'Hare - Added 5 hours ago

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it is investigating a near collision of airborne planes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport _ the third such incident at a major airport this month. The...

Suspect in girlfriend's killing found dead in cell - Added 5 hours ago

A man charged with murdering his pregnant girlfriend in front of their two children killed himself in his jail cell, a state prison official said Wednesday. Alfredo Ferrer, 43, apparently hanged himself with a...

Alleged SF computer saboteur's bail request denied - Added 5 hours ago

A judge on Wednesday refused to reduce the $5 million bail of a San Francisco technology expert accused of rigging the city's computer system to malfunction during routine maintenance. Terry Childs has been jailed...

How they voted: House roll call on housing bill - Added 6 hours ago

The 272-152 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a bill that aims to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to prevent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass...

Dozens of cities to get fewer anti-terror dollars - Added 6 hours ago

Dozens of cities will receive less federal money this year than last for anti-terror programs, The Associated Press has learned. The grant list to be released Friday by the Homeland Security Department shows that 43...

Pa. judge won't reduce sentence for triple killer - Added 6 hours ago

A Pennsylvania judge says a teenager who killed three members of a family must serve three consecutive life terms. Judge David Ashworth denied a motion on behalf of 17-year-old Alec Kreider to make the sentences...

Unknown disease killing off Florida's state tree - Added 6 hours ago

The sabal palm, Florida's state tree, is under attack by a microscopic killer that has scientists stumped. An unknown but growing number of sabal palms in the Tampa Bay area have died from a mysterious disease that...

New policy lowers flags only for Ky. soldiers - Added 6 hours ago

!!-- pobj:KYER101-0723081409 -->Kentucky has started lowering flags to half-staff only for fallen soldiers from the Bluegrass State, upsetting veterans and lawmakers who say the policy dishonors tens of thousands of...

Gates, Bloomberg pool riches to fight smoking - Added 6 hours ago

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are pooling their piles of money to pour $375 million into a global effort to cut smoking. The billionaire philanthropists, who have a combined worth of...

Stolen motorcycle found after 34 years in N.J. - Added 6 hours ago

Prosecutors say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was stolen nearly 34 years ago in Rhode Island has surfaced in central New Jersey. The 1971 Sportster was purchased on eBay for $2,400 by Michael Meistrell of Cranford. ...