Mine search over, Utah towns try to cope By BROCK VERGAKIS, Associated Press Writer

Mine search over, Utah towns try to cope By BROCK VERGAKIS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 9 minutes ago



SALT LAKE CITY - Signs of prayer and support for six trapped miners remained on display Saturday as residents of central Utah's coal belt struggled with the realization that the men would not be found alive.

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"It's a hard thing. Some are coping with it better than others," said Colin King, a spokesman and lawyer for families of the six miners trapped nearly four weeks ago in a collapse. "They're still dealing with the fact they have to accept now that these miners are not going to be recovered any time soon — that they've died, in all likelihood."

Rescue efforts at the Crandall Canyon Mine were suspended indefinitely Friday.

A thunderous mountain shudder early on Aug. 6 caused mine ribs to shatter, trapping Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez. It is not known whether they survived the initial collapse.

Three rescuers working underground were killed in a second collapse Aug. 16, bringing an abrupt halt to tunnel-clearing efforts to reach the miners.

Rescue workers drilled seven holes deep into the mountain in search of the men more than 1,500 feet underground but found no signs of life. After a robotic camera became stuck in mud in one hole Friday, federal officials said they had run out of options and told families the search was ending.

The announcement ended hope that the men would be found alive or that their bodies would be retrieved any time soon, if ever. Federal officials said it's too dangerous to drill a hole large enough to send a rescue worker down into the mine if there's no possibility of finding survivors.

"Sadly, there is no remaining hope of finding these miners alive," MSHA chief Richard Stickler said in a statement Saturday.

It was a difficult blow for people in Utah's coal country, where messages of hope adorned cars, homes and businesses throughout Carbon and Emery counties and where residents have gathered for prayer services and vigils in the weeks since the collapse.

"The signs are still up, and I think they will be for a few more days," said Julie Jones, a Huntington City Council member. "We're not going to forget these families."

President Bush issued a statement Saturday praising central Utah's coal community for inspiring the nation with its "incredible strength and courage in the face of tremendous loss."

A nondenominational memorial service for the six men on the football field at a junior high school was being planned for Sept. 9. A fundraiser is planned for Sept. 15.

"Even when we got the news last night, even though in our hearts we knew this would come, it was still hard. But yet, it is time for healing. It is time for the healing process to start and the community is ready for that," Jones said.

As the community begins to heal its emotional scars, the federal government will begin investigating the circumstances that led to the initial cave-in.

A Mine Safety and Health Administration team will begin arriving in Huntington, about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, on Tuesday to began the investigation, said Rich Kulczewski, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor, which oversees MSHA.

The investigation will involve people who have no ties to MSHA's Western district, which oversees safety at the mine.

They include Timothy Watkins, assistant district manager in Kentucky, who has ventilation and retreat mining experience; Gary Smith, a supervisor in Pennsylvania who has roof-control expertise; and Joseph O'Donnell, based in MSHA's district office in Alabama.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has also ordered an independent team of mine-safety experts to review MSHA's handling of the Crandall Canyon accident. The review will look at MSHA's actions before the collapse and during the subsequent rescue operations.

The newly formed state Mine Safety Commission is also beginning an investigation to determine whether Utah should begin regulating the mines, which it hasn't done since 1977.

Gov. Jon Huntsman appointed the commission after public disputes with mine co-owner Bob Murray, who Huntsman at one point said wasn't doing enough to retrieve the miners' bodies and had been disrespectful to the miners' families.

Some members of Congress also criticized Murray for dominating news conferences at the beginning of the rescue efforts, a role designated for MSHA representatives. Murray later deferred to federal officials and his employees in news conferences.

After the three rescue workers were killed, Murray disappeared from public view for a few days. He later said he was devastated by the experience and had been under care of a doctor.

Murray did not respond Saturday to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

King said a lawsuit will likely be filed on behalf of the families, but he didn't know how soon or who would be named in it.

Late Friday, Huntsman issued a statement saying that the most important thing is for the families to feel at peace with the decision to end rescue efforts.

"These families, and the whole community, have endured so much throughout this devastating tragedy. Each family must determine their own way of gaining closure," he said.

Lottery: 4 win estimated $330M jackpot By KASEY JONES, Associated Press Writer

Lottery: 4 win estimated $330M jackpot By KASEY JONES, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago



BALTIMORE - Four winning tickets were sold for the estimated $330 million Mega Millions jackpot, one each in Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, lottery officials said Saturday.

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No one had come forward Saturday to claim a share of the top prize. In Virginia, at least, that can't happen until Tuesday because the Virginia Lottery offices are closed for the long holiday weekend, spokesman John Hagerty said.

The odds that any ticket would match all five numbers — 8, 18, 22, 40 and 44 — and the Mega Ball number — 11 — drawn Friday night were one in 176 million.

If estimates of the jackpot hold true, it would be the fourth-largest in the lottery's history. It was known as The Big Game when it awarded jackpots of $363 million in 2000 and $331 million in 2002.

According to preliminary calculations, each ticket would be worth about $82 million if the prize were taken in 26 annual payments. If taken in one lump sum payment, the payout would be $48,615,188.

One of the winning Mega Millions tickets was sold at Walther Liquors in Nottingham, Md., state Lottery Director Buddy Roogow said.

The buyer purchased five quick-pick tickets, costing a total of $5, Roogow said.

"You have a better chance of being hit by lightning at the same place and time every day for a week" than winning Mega Millions, Roogow said.

Virginia's winning ticket was sold at Ducks Corner Food and Gas in Buckingham, in the central part of the state, Hagerty said.

"Everyone is excited," Ducks Corner owner Evelyn Trekas said by telephone Saturday morning. "A lot of people up here don't have a whole lot of money, so I hope it's somebody who can use it and enjoy."

Most of her customers live in the small, close-knit town and are regular visitors to her store, she said.

New Jersey's winning ticket was sold at Blitz's Villas Market in the southern town of Villas, said state Lottery spokesman Dominick DeMarco.

"We're just in disbelief right now," said Nick DiRenzo, son of the market's owner, Frank. "I just can't believe it. It's unbelievable to me. We have really good lottery customers."

In addition to the grand prize winners, 36 players matched all five numbers but not the Mega Ball number. They will receive second prizes of $250,000 each.

Mega Millions tickets are also sold in California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Washington.

___

Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.

Heat wave increases Calif. fire threat By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer

Heat wave increases Calif. fire threat By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 36 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Utilities urged customers to ease up on electricity use and officials opened cool shelters as California continued to swelter under a heat wave Friday. Meanwhile, cloudbursts laced with lightning unleashed downpours in the mountains and deserts, leading to flash flood watches and warnings. Firefighters also watched for lightning-sparked wildfires.

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The steamy conditions were expected to continue into midweek.

"When I opened the door, the heat almost knocked me down," Joan Porter told KCAL-TV as she sat in an air-conditioned senior citizens' center in Altadena, a foothill community northeast of Los Angeles that topped 100 degrees.

A Los Angeles utility reported power outages to nearly 4,800 customers with high demand. Meanwhile, a regional utility said it supplied a record amount of electricity to some 13 million people in Southern California and attributed the power demand to increased use of air conditioners.

The hot weather began Wednesday and may have played a role in the death of an 81-year-old hiker who became exhausted and ran out of water in inland Riverside County.

The heat also may have played a role in the crash of two small planes taking off hours apart Thursday at an airfield east of Sacramento, officials said. Two people died and two critically injured in one crash, and two were injured in the other crash.

The thinner warm air may have provided less lift for the planes as they took off, suggested Bob Petersen, air squadron commander for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department.

Meanwhile, the state entered the peak two months of its fire season, when historically the most devastating blazes have occurred, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Aircraft patrolled the Sierra and other wilderness areas to spot remote wildfires. Visitors swarming into the backcountry over the Labor Day weekend increased the risk of fires from improper or illegal campfires, Berlant said.

Officials also announced charges against two men and a cattle ranch suspected of recklessly starting a fire that has burned for nearly two months in central California.

The heat was expected to strain the state's electricity generating capacity, although no shortages were predicted. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power grid, urged customers to continue conserving electricity.

Southern California Edison said its energy load peaked at an all-time high of 23,303 megawatts Friday afternoon, surpassing the previous record of 22,889 megawatts set on July 25, 2006.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said crews were working to restore power to 4,798 customers, said utility spokeswoman Kim Hughes.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, said Friday that the recent heat wave in its seven-state region helped create record electricity demand.

The TVA set 13 peak power demand records — more than one every three days — during the month of August, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said Friday.

The federal utility set an all-time record of 33,499 megawatts on Aug. 16 when the average temperature in the valley hit 103.6 degrees — the highest average for TVA's region in 55 years.

A thousand megawatts powers about 550,000 homes in the utility's coverage area, which includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.

__

Associated Press writer Duncan Mansfield in Knoxville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago



LOS ANGELES - By his own account, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich told his junior Marines to shoot first and ask questions later as they assaulted several houses in Haditha, Iraq, killing the occupants with grenades and gunfire.

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Now, nearly two years later, a hearing officer at Camp Pendleton was to begin taking evidence Thursday to determine whether the squad leader should stand trial on murder charges in the Nov. 19, 2005, attack that left 24 Iraqis dead.

Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Conn., faces unpremeditated murder charges in 18 of the deaths, the biggest case to have emerged against any U.S. troop who served in Iraq.

Among the dead were women and children, who died as they scrambled for cover on and around a bed. It was Wuterich's first combat engagement.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, must decide if Wuterich strayed from military rules of engagement.

"These Marines were doing exactly as they were trained to do," Wuterich's military defense attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said. "They were responding to an attack and a threat."

The killings occurred after a military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that fatally wounded a Marine driver. Wuterich and another Marine shot a group of five men by a car at the scene. The squad leader then directed his men to clear several houses in hopes of killing whomever had set off the bomb.

Wuterich was among four Marines charged with murder, while four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths. Prosecutors have since dropped charges against two of the enlisted Marines and one officer.

Wuterich told investigators in February 2006 that he believed he was taking small-arms fire from a house near the explosion so he told a four-man team to treat the building and its occupants as hostile, meaning they did not need to identify the occupants as insurgents before opening fire.

"I told them to shoot first, ask questions later," he told investigators.

Wuterich is also charged with making a false official statement and telling another Marine to do the same. He faces a possible life sentence and dishonorable discharge if convicted at court-martial.

Ware already has presided over two separate hearings in the case, when he listened to evidence against two of Wuterich's lance corporals — Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt — who were charged with murder. In both cases, Ware found prosecutors could not prove the Marines operated outside combat rules, and he recommended the charges be dismissed.

The general overseeing the case dismissed charges against Sharratt but has yet to rule in Tatum's case.

Tom Umberg, a former Army prosecutor, said Ware's assessment that Tatum and Sharratt did not deliberately violate combat rules could help Wuterich because he was involved in some of the same actions.

But, Umberg said, military officials often look with greater scrutiny at the actions of higher-ranking troops.

"The person in charge always bears the most significant responsibility," Umberg said.

A former squad mate was to testify against Wuterich. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors dropped the charges and gave him immunity to testify against Wuterich.

According to testimony in a previous hearing, Dela Cruz claims Wuterich shot the men by the car while they had their hands in the air.

"They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," Dela Cruz said at a hearing in May. "Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sgt. Wuterich shooting."

Neal Puckett, one of Wuterich's nonmilitary attorneys, said he was not concerned about Dela Cruz's testimony and was confident that forensic evidence would contradict his version of events.

"It's a Dela Cruz/Wuterich credibility contest," said Thad Coakley, a major in the Marine reserves and a former Camp Pendleton prosecutor.

Officer in Bush motorcade dies in crash 26 minutes ago

Officer in Bush motorcade dies in crash 26 minutes ago



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer accompanying President Bush's motorcade was involved in a fatal motorcycle crash less than a year after an accident in Hawaii killed another officer accompanying the president.

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Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead later Monday at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

"Any time there is a presidential motorcade, the officers, that's part of their job, they drive at a high rate of speed," said Hoffman, whose department is investigating the crash.

Rio Rancho police department spokesman Officer John Francis said Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree, but investigators were reconstructing the accident to determine exactly what happened.

Photographers and reporters in the presidential motorcade said the officer's motorcycle appeared to be nearly destroyed, and the officer was on the ground, being helped by an emergency medical technician.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president saw the wreck after it had occurred, and a member of the White House medical staff went to assist.

Bush called Casey's wife, Lisa, from his limousine on the way to the airport in Seattle to offer condolences, Stanzel said.

The president issued a statement saying he was saddened by Casey's death and extraordinarily grateful for his protection.

"It is a high calling to choose to serve and protect your fellow citizens, and I will always be indebted to Officer Casey's service," the president said, adding that the officer's wife and two teenage children were in his thoughts and prayers.

The officer had been with the Rio Rancho Police Department since 2005 and worked with campus police at the University of New Mexico before that, Hoffman said.

Francis said Casey had received special training in riding in motorcades and had previously escorted Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on separate occasions.

A Honolulu police officer, Steve Favela, died in November when he and two other motorcycle officers crashed while part of a presidential motorcade traveling across Hickam Air Force Base.

Greek government criticized as fires rage on By Karolos Grohmann

Greek government criticized as fires rage on By Karolos Grohmann
1 hour, 39 minutes ago



KRESTENA, Greece (Reuters) - Greece's conservative government faced mounting criticism of incompetence on Tuesday as villagers fled fierce forest fires that have killed 63 people.

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The opposition Socialist PASOK party seized on the fires three weeks before a parliamentary election, pouring scorn on the government's efforts and saying accusations of arson were an excuse for its weakness in responding to the crisis.

"The government has proven tragically incapable of dealing with fires," PASOK leader George Papandreou told reporters. "It could not save people's lives, property and homes ... it's time for Greek people to choose a strong government that can guarantee security, confidence and hope."

Athens dailies also criticized the government with headlines such as "Paralyzed state, outrage at government" and "The elections of wrath."

The government has stuck by its plan to hold an early parliamentary election on September 16. An opinion poll said the ruling conservatives' lead over the socialists had slipped due, in part, to their handling of the crisis.

The poll, conducted by ALCO polling agency on behalf of Alter TV, showed the New Democracy party's lead over PASOK had narrowed to 0.8 from 1.3 percentage points in a previous poll.

Exhausted firefighters, now boosted by foreign help, have been trying to douse the fires for more than four days.

"I had to use 300 litres of wine to try to extinguish the fire around my house," said Georgios Dimopoulos from the village of Makistos in the southerly Peloponnese peninsula, hardest hit by the fires.

"For 17 hours I fought with the blaze. We were left at the mercy of the flames. I could not tell if it was day or night."

As the once picture-perfect Peloponnese and the island of Evia north of Athens burned, the government reacted to accusations it had failed to move fast enough by saying the simultaneous fires could not be a coincidence.

CALL FOR UNITY

"All of us Greeks must stay united ... As in our past, we must prove that we are one soul, one fist in a national crisis," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said, announcing emergency relief measures.

The government offered rewards of up to 1 million euros ($1.4 million) for help in tracking down arsonists and asked a public prosecutor to see if they can be prosecuted as terrorists.

Many local mayors have accused rogue land developers of setting fires to make way for new construction. Three elderly people and two boys have been charged with starting fires.

Overstretched fire brigades said they were battling 25 fire fronts on Tuesday. Greece has declared a nationwide state of emergency and appeals for help have brought planes and firefighters from abroad.

A team of Cypriot firefighters was making fire break corridors in mountains north of Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games in the western Peloponnese. The 2,700-year-old archaeological complex narrowly escaped the flames on Sunday.

"The fire has receded, there is no wind in the area and we have the water bombers overhead, but we have to be vigilant," said fire chief Marcos Strangoulas.

"I'm on a high mountain and there are oak trees all around. Let's hope they stay that way," Strangoulas said.

Thousands ordered to flee Idaho wildfire By KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press Writer

Thousands ordered to flee Idaho wildfire By KEITH RIDLER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 26, 5:50 AM ET



BOISE, Idaho - A mandatory evacuation was ordered Saturday for residents of more than 1,000 homes south of Ketchum, where a massive wildfire raged and high winds grounded firefighting air tankers.

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After three days of relative calm, the 39-square-mile fire was 38 percent contained, but embers blew ahead of the blaze and increased the threat of spot fires, fire spokesman Bob Beanblossom said.

"At this point in the mandatory evacuation, we're giving people the opportunity to get out during the daylight and to keep the highways clear for emergency response vehicles," said Kim Rogers, public information officer with the city of Ketchum.

Another 100 homes remained under a mandatory evacuation order from last weekend, including some worth millions of dollars in the resort area of central Idaho. A shelter was set up at a former high school in the town of Hailey, said Dick Rush, CEO of the American Red Cross for Idaho.

No structures had been reported lost to the lightning-sparked blaze, although winds were gusting to 25 mph, Beanblossom said.

In California, a seven-week-old wildfire in the Santa Barbara County wilderness showed bursts of life Saturday despite firefighters' significant progress.

The blaze was 83 percent contained Saturday evening after burning 239,468 acres, or about 374 square miles, of steep backcountry.

A recommended evacuation was in effect for about nine square miles west of Highway 33, according to an update by fire officials issued Saturday.

The fire was about 15 miles away from the community of Ojai and did not threaten any other large communities, officials said. Despite its size, the fire has only destroyed one structure, an outbuilding.

Hole apparently finds no sign of miners By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers

Hole apparently finds no sign of miners By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers
2 hours, 32 minutes ago



HUNTINGTON, Utah - What next? That was the question remaining after a drill punched a sixth hole through a mine shaft and found no sign of six miners last seen before a massive collapse nearly three weeks ago.

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Federal safety officials told families of the missing miners they would conduct testing — air samples, signaling in hopes of a response from the men, and dropping a video camera into the mine shaft — but have been less than hopeful about the results, which were expected to be announced Sunday.

"The only thing they told us is there is no void where the sixth hole is; there is no space," attorney Colin King said after a meeting between the missing miners' families he represents and mine officials.

Crandall Canyon Mine co-owner Bob Murray has said this hole, the sixth to be drilled deep into the mountain, will be the last effort to find a sign of the miners, who may not have survived the massive cave-in Aug. 6.

Families have pleaded with Murray not to halt rescue efforts, and King said officials did not rule out the possibility of a seventh bore hole.

"They left the possibility open that they were possibly considering another hole," King said. "It didn't sound like that was uppermost on their list of to-dos."

Drilling on the sixth narrow inch hole was completed late Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Labor said, reaching a depth of more than 1,700 feet.

Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., co-owner of the Crandall Canyon mine, said he had no comment on the initial findings from the sixth hole.

Previous holes have yielded only grainy video images and poor air samples. Efforts to signal the miners have been met with silence. Tunneling into the mine was abandoned after another collapse killed three rescue workers and injured six others on Aug. 16.

"It is one of my major goals and the families' major goal to get them out. ... We will vigorously resist any attempt to seal this mine so that we can keep those options open," said King, who has been retained by most of the miners' families.

Family and friends of the missing miners have pressed for the efforts to continue, if only to find the bodies of Kerry Allred, Don Erickson, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez.

"At this point, we're very disappointed at the Murray Energy group of companies, which seem to have given up on these people in the mine. They've been unresponsive to our efforts to learn why a large diameter drill hole from above could not have been done and has not been done," King said.

Federal officials and mine company executives have said the mountain's instability makes it too dangerous to drill a hole wide enough for a one-person rescue capsule unless there are signs of life.

"The reality is getting worse and worse," King said. "There is nothing on the drawing board as far as we know that would have any way to get to (the miners) in any short time."

A report from eight national mine safety experts detailing the rationale against a rescue capsule hole or continued horizontal drilling has not been provided to families, King said.

"It puts us in a very difficult position to be able to credibly say, 'You should do this' or 'You should have done that,'" King said.

Seismologists say the mountain is crumbling upon itself, bursting support pillars as it shifts, creating phenomena known as mountain bumps.

The thunderous collapse blew out the walls of the mine shafts, filling them with rubble more than 8 to 10 feet deep in some places. If the men were not crushed by rock, they could have been killed by the immense air pressure generated by the collapse, mining executives and federal regulators have said.

Ex-astronaut apologizes to love rival By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer

Ex-astronaut apologizes to love rival By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer
52 minutes ago



ORLANDO, Fla. - Lisa Nowak wants the woman she allegedly attacked in a romantic astronaut rivalry to know she's sorry. She also wants to be freed of an ankle bracelet that electronically monitors her movement, and for the media to leave her alone.

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Nowak made an emotional statement after court Friday, apologizing to Colleen Shipman, the woman she allegedly attacked after a 1,000-mile drive, and others affected by the case. The two met in court during a tense 6-hour hearing over the bracelet and defense motions to toss her arrest interview with police and the search of her car.

Circuit Judge Marc L. Lubet said he would rule on the anklet within a week, and told both attorneys to make room for another 6-hour hearing.

The whole case involves a strange love triangle between Nowak, fellow former astronaut Bill Oefelein and Shipman. Nowak told police she went to Orlando to confront Shipman and see "where she stands."

"The past six months have been very difficult for me, my family and others close to me," Nowak, a Navy captain and pilot, told reporters. "I know that it must have also been very hard for Colleen Shipman, and I would like her to know how very sorry I am about having frightened her in any way and about the subsequent public harassment that has besieged all of us."

Shipman had her attorney read a statement during the hearing and hadn't planned to speak, but Nowak's lawyers persuaded Lubet to make her testify.

Speaking firmly, the Air Force captain said she still fears Nowak and felt better with her under surveillance.

"When I'm home alone and there's nobody there with me, it is a comfort," Shipman said.

Nowak is specifically barred from Brevard County, where Shipman lives in Florida, and must file notice when visiting the rest of the state.

Under questioning from defense attorney Donald Lykkebak, Shipman acknowledged visiting her boyfriend in Nowak's hometown of Houston several times since Nowak's arrest. She didn't say if that boyfriend was space shuttle pilot Oefelein, who had a romantic relationship with both women.

Nowak, a 44-year-old mother of three who has been dismissed by NASA, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault in the February confrontation in an Orlando International Airport parking lot.

She is free on $25,500 bail, though the tracking anklet is a condition of her release. Nowak told the court Friday it's bulky, uncomfortable and expensive — the weekly rental rate of $105 exceeding $3,000 so far.

She also claimed it prevents her from exercising as she's required as a military officer.

Nowak promised to abide by all court orders if the device is removed, including no contact with Shipman.

Prosecutors said Nowak could still exercise, and that her inconvenience was less important than Shipman's security.

"You're paying a media consultant — fire the consultant," assistant state attorney Pamela Davis told Nowak.

Testimony also addressed whether Nowak wore diapers to avoid stopping on her trip from Houston to Orlando. Astronauts use them on shuttle missions, and that detail has made Nowak a worldwide punchline.

In June, Lykkebak called it "the biggest lie in this preposterous tale," and criticized the media for its circulation.

Lykkebak didn't mention it Friday, but Orlando police detective William Becton reiterated that he found a garbage bag with three dirty diapers in the former astronaut's BMW. He said Nowak told him she urinated in them on the drive to limit stops, though Becton initially feared they were from an unattended child.

Lykkebak has said the diapers were left in the car after a long-ago hurricane evacuation.

9-year-old's killer gets death sentence By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer

9-year-old's killer gets death sentence By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 17 minutes ago



INVERNESS, Fla. - John Evander Couey looked straight ahead as a judge told him he should be executed for crimes that led to new laws in many states cracking down on convicted sex offenders. The 49-year-old convicted sex offender was sentenced to death Friday for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and burying her alive in his yard.

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Sheriff's deputies hustled the handcuffed inmate out of the crowded courtroom.

The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up as he listened to Circuit Judge Ric Howard read a detailed history of the case for nearly an hour. He hugged relatives after the sentence was read.

Outside court, Lunsford had a message for Couey: "Skip all these appeals. Take your punishment. Stand up and be a man."

The jury that convicted Couey in March recommended 10-2 that he die for his crimes, but the decision was left to Howard.

An attorney for Couey, 49, had argued that he couldn't legally be executed because he is mentally retarded, but Howard brushed aside that claim in a strongly worded ruling earlier this month. Mentally retarded people cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The jury convicted Couey of taking the girl in February 2005 from her bedroom to his nearby trailer, sparking a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks after she disappeared in a grave in Couey's yard, about 150 yards from her own home.

Couey, already a convicted sex offender when he committed the crime, was arrested in Georgia and confessed to the killing. That confession was thrown out as evidence because Couey did not have a lawyer present.

Despite the confession being tossed, Couey incriminated himself other times. Jail guards and investigators testified that he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest, insisting that he hadn't meant to kill the third-grader but panicked during an intense, nationally publicized police search.

Prosecutors also had overwhelming physical evidence, including DNA from the girl's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his room as well as her fingerprints in a closet where investigators said she was hidden.

Howard recounted the evidence in detail, including Couey wrapping her in two garbage bags, putting her alive into a hole then piling a foot of dirt on top of her.

"His actions crushed the very breath and life out of Jessica Marie Lunsford," Howard said.

More flooding possible in soaked Midwest By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer

More flooding possible in soaked Midwest By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer
52 minutes ago



CHICAGO - Rowing a boat isn't in Barbara Campagna's job description. Nevertheless, the architecture director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and three colleagues found themselves paddling to the Farnsworth House in Plano, built by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951. There, they piled furniture into their borrowed rowboat as rising floodwaters threatened to invade in the aftermath of torrential storms.

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"We've been calling it 'Lake Farnsworth' all day because (the house) is floating on the water," Campagna said late Friday of the glass-walled house, which rests on four-foot stilts. " ... Every piece is worth tens of thousands of dollars. They're all replaceable, but very expensive."

About 143,000 ComEd customers in northern Illinois remained without power Saturday, said ComEd spokeswoman Anne Prammaggiore. Power to more than half a million customers had been restored since Thursday's storm, but it could take days to restore power to all customers, she said.

Meanwhile, volunteers scrambled to sandbag low-lying areas, clear out uprooted and split trees and drain water from flooded basements.

The storms in Illinois could be responsible for two deaths, officials said. The wind blew over a tree, killing a man in Victoria in Knox County on Thursday, and a relative found a man lying unconscious in more than 2 feet of water in his basement in suburban Inverness, officials said.

The rain had mostly ended by Saturday, but flooding was still a danger for hundreds of thousands of people who live near swollen creeks and rivers.

"The heavier rainfall appears to be pushing further south," said Casey Sullivan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "There's still a chance of rainfall, but we're not expecting as much and the potential for flash flooding is going away."

Rising water prompted authorities to increase the flood alert level for northern Lake County to red, the highest level. The Fox River was approaching 50-year levels, with flooding possible this weekend when water from rain-drenched Wisconsin arrives downstream.

Storms were forecast for Saturday in some parts of the northern Midwest, capping nearly a week of powerful storms that caused heavy flooding in some towns and has been blamed for at least 17 deaths.

Hundreds of Ottawa, Ohio, residents were waiting to return home Friday after water from the swollen Blanchard River surrounded about two-thirds of the town's homes, said Fire Chief Ron Brinkman.

Flooding stretched across an 80-mile path through Ohio this week, leading Gov. Ted Strickland to declare a state of emergency in nine Ohio counties.

Weekend rain could be enough to delay the floodwater's retreat, said Terry Click, a weather data specialist with the National Weather Service.

In Dyer, Ind., southeast of Chicago, authorities began evacuating St. Margaret Mercy Hospital as water from a creek behind the building began seeping in. About 70 patients were being moved to other hospitals, spokeswoman Maria Ramos said.

Authorities cut power to the hospital as a precaution, and police and firefighters went door to door in Dyer telling people to leave.

At least one tornado touched down Friday in Fenton, Mich., and as many as three to five tornadoes may have hit the southeast part of the state, the National Weather Service said.

Homes and businesses suffered major damage in Fenton, and minor injuries were reported, primarily from traffic accidents during the storm. Most of the city's 10,000 residents were without power.

The line of heavy thunderstorms that spawned the tornadoes also flooded several highways and downed power lines and trees in mid- and southeast Michigan.

More than 80,000 homes, mostly in Wayne and Oakland counties, were without power Friday night, according to DTE Energy Co.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator R. David Paulison surveyed damage Friday in Rushford, Minn., especially hard hit by this week's flooding. Mayor Les Ladewig said about half of Rushford's 760 homes were damaged, including 248 that were destroyed and 91 with serious damage.

About 1,500 homes were damaged around the state, and Paulison said FEMA recovery centers should be running early next week in the three counties where President Bush declared disasters Thursday.

Paulison also visited Wisconsin, where flooding destroyed 44 homes and damaged more than 1,400, most of them in the southwestern part of the state. FEMA agreed to begin evaluating the damage Saturday, three days earlier than planned, after an appeal from Gov. Jim Doyle.

"The people are really suffering," said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin Emergency Management. "We have to move this along as fast as possible."

In DeKalb, Ill., 50 miles west of Chicago, the Kishwaukee River reached near-record levels, spilling over its 15-foot levees, flooding neighborhoods and making bridges impassable.

About 600 residents of DeKalb and nearby Sycamore have been displaced, said DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki. Northern Illinois University's flooded DeKalb campus was closed.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared Cook, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties state disaster areas, a move that will help deliver state aid to those areas.

Some flooding occurred in the area around Prospect Heights, six miles north of O'Hare.

"The river is so quiet for so many years," said Mark Bednarowicz, a 57-year-old computer programmer whose home sits at the edge of the flooded area, as he filled sandbags. "For everybody it's a shock it (flooding) happens. ... Everybody's scared."

___

Associated Press writers John Seewar in Ottawa, Ohio; Joshua Freed in Rushford, Minn.; Mike Wilson in Des Moines, Iowa; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis.; and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Troubled ex-astronaut back in court By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer

Troubled ex-astronaut back in court By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago



ORLANDO, Fla. - Former astronaut Lisa Nowak, accused of attacking a romantic rival, arrived in court Friday with a swarm of photographers snapping away as she was escorted to a private room to prepare.

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Nowak didn't speak to reporters, but her attorney said she had written her first public statement and planned to read it after the hearing.

At the hearing, attorney Donald Lykkebak said he would ask Circuit Court Judge Marc L. Lubet to throw out evidence in the case, including an interview Nowak gave to police and items found during a search of her car, and ask that she be allowed to remove a GPS ankle monitoring bracelet.

Nowak, a 44-year-old Navy pilot, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.

In an interview with detectives, she said she and Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman were vying for the affection of a shuttle captain, and she confronted Shipman in an Orlando International Airport parking lot because she wanted to know "where she stands."

She is accused of attacking Shipman with pepper spray and trying to jump into her vehicle. Police say Nowak also had a duffel bag with a steel mallet, 4-inch knife and a BB gun.

Lykkebak contends police searched Nowak's car without her permission or a warrant. He said in additional court filings that she gave the interview under duress — after being held for three hours, deprived of sleep and a phone call and unadvised of her constitutional rights. The interview persisted, Lykkebak said, despite Nowak saying "Should I have a lawyer?" three times.

Nowak wants the monitoring bracelet removed because it is bulky and interferes with her ability to exercise — a requirement for a Navy officer. It also inhibits her ability to drive, fly on a commercial airplane and monitor her children in the pool, according to the defense.

Kepler Funk, an attorney for Shipman, said he planned to fight the motion.

Floodwaters begin receding in Ohio By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer

Floodwaters begin receding in Ohio By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 42 minutes ago



CHICAGO - Strong thunderstorms pounded northern Illinois, damaging buildings, bringing planes and trains to a halt and leaving hundreds of thousands without power early Friday, while floodwaters that swamped other parts of the Midwest began receding.

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A storm packing winds over 70 mph swept through the Chicago area Thursday evening. A roof collapsed at the dock area of an industrial building in the suburbs, injuring 40 people but none seriously, police said.

About 310,000 customers in northern Illinois were without power Thursday night, including 62,000 in Chicago, ComEd spokesman Tom Stevens said. It could take days to restore power for some customers north of the city, he said.

Kimber Hall, 20, was riding her bike along Lake Michigan when winds rolled in and the skies opened up.

"Out of nowhere the sky just went black," said Hall, a student at Columbia College in Chicago. "Sheets of rain. Lightning hit a tree about 25 feet away from me. A branch hit me in the face."

Hall said she found shelter in a nearby underpass, where others had huddled to escape the storm.

Other storms lashed Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana on Thursday, while at least one tornado was reported about 50 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, Mich. About 115,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were blacked out early Friday, utilities reported.

The death toll from storms and flooding across the Upper Midwest and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week rose to at least 26.

Hard-hit Ohio finally got a break from flooding on Thursday, though the tally of damaged homes was put at 700 in one county alone.

Adding to the misery, temperatures hit the upper 90s across the state. Schools in Cincinnati closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.

In Findlay, which saw its worst flooding in nearly a century, some of the more than 1,000 people who had been displaced returned home Thursday to pump water from their basements and start tallying their losses.

"Most of it's ruined," Joe Lamb said as he sorted through a bin of soaked NASCAR memorabilia, hosing off the mini Dale Earnhardt collector cars and tossing the rest. "Our Christmas stuff, everything."

A day earlier, firefighters and volunteers in boats and canoes navigated waist-deep water to rescue people and pets. Some residents were still stuck in a shelter where 200 people slept Wednesday night.

In Chicago, Steve Moore walked Wrigleyville's sidewalks Thursday after a day of dodging rain and lightning.

"It was so dark and so grey, I could hardly see out the window," said Moore, 28, a network consultant. "The first time I tried to go out there, the wind was so strong ... the door blew back in my face."

For some businesses, the storm was a boon as people raced to get out of the rain.

"It was out of control," bartender Nick McCann said. "People would not leave. ... We had $2 margaritas, and people were getting hammered."

About 500 flights at O'Hare International Airport were canceled Thursday evening and others delayed for more than 2 1/2 hours, Chicago Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez said. Delays at Midway Airport averaged 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Strong winds knocked down a hangar under construction at the Gary/Chicago International Airport. The hangar is now "a pile of metal," Gary Jet Center president Will Davis said.

In northern Illinois, the Fox River flooded some homes in Fox Lake while other residents stacked sandbags to protect their houses, said Ami McEwan, assistant administrator for Lake County.

"Most of them are sandbagging and keeping it at bay," she said.

A foot of water stood over roads in the Rochelle area, about 20 miles west of De Kalb, and the Des Plaines River was more than 3 feet above flood stage north of Waukegan, according to the National Weather Service.

In southwestern Wisconsin, the National Guard pumped water to relieve pressure on at least one dam, said Mike Goetzman, a spokesman for Wisconsin Emergency Management. The earthen dam suffered erosion earlier this week when water from weekend thunderstorms overflowed it.

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin, Megan Reichgott and Sophia Tareen in Chicago and John Seewer in Findlay, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Monster.com waited 5 days to disclose data theft 16 minutes ago

Monster.com waited 5 days to disclose data theft 16 minutes ago



BOSTON (Reuters) - Monster.com waited five days to tell users its system had been hacked, in a security breach that resulted in the theft of confidential information for more than a million users, a company executive told Reuters on Thursday.

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By the time the U.S. job-matching Web site shut down the illegal operation, run from two server computers at a Web-hosting company in Ukraine, the names and confidential contact information of some 1.3 million job seekers had been stolen, Patrick Manzo, vice president of compliance and fraud prevention for Monster Worldwide Inc, said in a phone interview.

Monster first learned of the problem on August 17, when investigators with Internet security company Symantec Corp told Monster that it was under attack, Manzo said.

"In terms of figuring out what the issue was, that was a relatively quick process," he said. "The other issue is you want to make sure exactly what you are dealing with."

His security team spent the weekend investigating, located the rogue servers, and got the Web-hosting company to shut them down some time either late in the evening on August 20, or early in the morning of August 21, he said.

Monster first told its customers about the data loss on August 22 in a notice posted on its home page, www.monster.com.

It warned them that their contact data might have been stolen and that the thieves had already sent spam to some Monster users asking for personal financial information and trying to get them to download malicious software.

Monster then announced on Thursday that names and contact information of some 1.3 million job seekers had been stolen.

Midwest, Plains flooding deaths reach 22 By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer

Midwest, Plains flooding deaths reach 22 By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago



CAREY, Ohio - At the end of a long block of flooded homes, Mike Watkins used a generator to try to pump 4 feet of water out of his mother's basement. But he was clearly in a losing battle.

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In front of his house, kids rode bikes through the knee-deep water and residents took pictures of their water-logged neighborhood as more water poured in from the overflowing Spring Run Creek at the center of the village.

"At least the kids are having fun," Watkins said.

The residents of Carey are the latest victims of storms that have buffeted the Midwest and Plains since the weekend, leaving roads flooded, schools canceled and sending rescuers out on boats.

The death toll from two storm systems — one in the Upper Midwest and the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin in Texas and Oklahoma — reached 22 on Tuesday when searchers found the body of a man tangled in a tree near Lewiston, Minn.

In Wisconsin and Minnesota, thousands of homes were damaged. A preliminary survey by the American Red Cross in Minnesota identified about 4,200 affected homes, including 256 complete losses, 338 with major damage and 475 that are still inaccessible, said Kris Eide, the state's director of homeland security and emergency management.

Flooding remained a problem Wednesday in parts of Ohio. While the forecast called for only scattered showers, several rivers were still rising and not expected to crest before Wednesday afternoon.

Record flooding was predicted near Findlay in northwest Ohio, where the Blanchard River was close to 7 feet above flood stage Wednesday morning and likely to rise more, the National Weather Service said.

In northern Iowa, widespread flooding continued as thunderstorms dumped more heavy rain across the already water-logged region Wednesday. Strong wind damaged buildings, and some roads and homes were underwater.

President Bush said the government would move quickly to process requests for help from Minnesota so that residents could count on a "flood of help" to come down. He spoke before heading to a Republican fundraiser in the state.

About 100 flood victims met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in a sometimes contentious meeting Monday during which he cautioned against expecting miracles, especially because many flood victims don't have insurance.

"We need to know what's going to go on so we can start making plans," Jeff Strain, of Stockton, said Tuesday, standing beside muddied boxes of Christmas decorations, a bike and other household goods piled on his driveway. "As far as government, I haven't heard anything."

Preliminary damage reports in Wisconsin topped $38 million Tuesday and were expected to keep rising. Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency in five counties and began the process for requesting federal disaster assistance.

Another 1 to 2 inches of rain fell in isolated areas of Wisconsin Tuesday night and early Wednesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Welvaert. A flash flood watch remained in effect for Wednesday morning.

"With the amount of saturated soils and the rivers as full as they are, that could cause some issues," said weather service meteorologist Mike Fowle.

Wednesday's forecast in Ohio called for only scattered showers with rainfall of less than an inch, but the Blanchard, Auglaize and Ottawa rivers were already well past flood stage Tuesday and were expected to crest by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

At the village of Gays Mills, about 60 miles southeast of La Crosse, Wis., about half of the village was accessible Tuesday, and the growl of sump pumps filled the air as residents made their way back in.

Jennifer Schlegel, 39, stood outside what was left of the home she shared with her husband, daughter, son and mother. Her backyard was still a brown lake. Her deck was gone, ripped away by the current, and every room of the house was coated with mud.

Schlegel said she didn't get flood insurance because she had full home coverage and the mortgage was paid. "You're thinking it's not going to happen," said Schlegel, her jeans and T-shirt streaked with mud.

In Oklahoma, which recorded a gust of 82 mph and rainfall of 11 inches, about 300 homes and businesses were damaged in the Kingfisher area and in Caddo County in southwestern Oklahoma, officials said.

Numerous flood warnings were to remain in effect through Wednesday and Thursday, and Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency in 24 counties.

According to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, 2007 is so far the fourth-wettest on record in the state, with an average rainfall total of 31.96 inches, 8.42 inches above normal.

AP Interview: Mine boss defends efforts By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer

AP Interview: Mine boss defends efforts By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 29 minutes ago



HUNTINGTON, Utah - Coal mine boss Bob Murray said Wednesday he is hurt by critics who say he ran an unsafe mine and wasn't doing enough to find six missing miners trapped deep underground. He also said he emotionally "came apart" after a second cave-in killed three rescuers.

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"I didn't desert anybody," Murray told The Associated Press in the middle-of-the-night phone call. "I've been living on this mountain every day, living in a little trailer."

Murray, 67, described the scene of the second collapse that killed the three rescue workers and injured six others last Thursday.

He said he rushed into the mine in his street clothes and began digging out the men, buried under 5 feet of coal, with his bare hands. "I never hesitated to go in there. I was the first man in and the last man out," he said.

Murray, who has been a target of families' anger over the suspended search for the missing miners, said he later dropped out of a debriefing with federal officials and began wandering around the mine yard in the moonlight, reliving the collapse. He said he broke down.

"I came apart," he said. "I was under a doctor's care for a couple days."

Murray spoke bitterly of the United Mine Workers of America, which has called him greedy and callous for planning to resume mining at other parts of 5,000-acre Crandall Canyon.

"They're twisting it all around to discredit me and my company," he said during the 12-minute phone call.

After the first collapse on Aug. 6, Murray became the public face of the rescue effort, saying repeatedly that the men could have survived and he would bring them home, alive or dead. But he retreated from that view after the deaths of the rescue workers. He re-emerged Monday to announce that the trapped miners would likely remain entombed in the Crandall Canyon mine.

A narrow hole being drilled in the side of the mountain holds perhaps the last, best chance of locating the men. If, as expected, searchers fail to find any sign of life, the rescue effort might be called off.

If so, the miners' family members, who have clung to the hope the men might be found alive, will finally start "to grieve and to heal," said Sonny J. Olsen, an attorney acting as spokesman for the families.

"I've witnessed these families and they're strong people," he said Tuesday. "These are very hardy people, and tragedy is not new to the mining industry. These families know what can happen in these mines. I don't know that it makes it any easier."

A drill crew working on the fifth hole expected to break through early Wednesday. Searchers plan to bang on a drill bit and wait for a response, take air readings, and lower a microphone and camera. Officials said they expect the results to be the same as the four previous tries: no signs of life.

With the trapped miners all but left for dead 1,500 feet deep inside the crumbling mountain, critics are saying the mine was a disaster waiting to happen and pointing fingers at Murray Energy Corp. and the federal government as the agents of the tragedy.

Families and friends vented their frustration at the mine's owner and questioned whether it was too dangerous to be working there.

At a funeral Tuesday for one of the rescue workers who died, a friend of one of the trapped miners confronted Murray and accused him of skimping on the rescue efforts. He then handed Murray a dollar bill.

"This is just to help you out so you don't kill him," the man said.

Murray's head snapped back as if slapped. When the man wouldn't take back the bill, Murray threw the money on the ground. "I'll tell you what, son, you need to find out about the Lord," Murray said.

It was an emotional exchange with an owner who had insisted since the collapse that the rescue of the miners was his top priority. And it revealed more than just the frustration of people in this mining community in central Utah's coal belt, where most still speak in whispers when criticizing the officials whose businesses pay their bills.

Miners' advocates accuse the Mine Safety and Health Administration of being too accommodating to the industry at the expense of safety. They also say MSHA was too quick to approve the mining plan at Crandall Canyon despite concerns that it was too dangerous for mining to continue when Murray bought it a year ago.

"No one took the time to see that it was a recipe for disaster," Phil Smith, a spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America, said Tuesday of the nonunion mine.

In question is the decision to allow Crandall Canyon's operators to mine between two sections that had already been excavated using a mining technique that causes the roof to collapse.

In that middle section, the mine was cut like a city block, leaving pillars of coal holding up the mountain above. MSHA approved a plan allowing the operators to pull out the pillars, a practice called "retreat mining," which causes deliberate, controlled roof cave-ins.

Experts think any investigation will focus on why MSHA agreed to that plan.

Those conditions are so unstable, some companies will leave behind the last of the coal rather than risk lives trying to pull additional pillars, experts have said.

In addition to the questions about structure, experts say that the operators and MSHA should have been aware that deep mines such as Crandall Canyon are prone to "bumps" — an unpredictable and dangerous phenomenon that happens when settling layers of earth bear down on the walls of a coal mine. The force can cause pillars to fail, turning chunks of coal into deadly missiles.

The Aug. 6 cave-in that trapped the men is believed to have been caused by a mountain bump. Since then, there have been several other bumps, including one last week that killed the rescue workers, injured six others and led MSHA to call off efforts to dig underground to the six trapped miners.

In March, a bump on the northern wall of the mine caused so much damage, operators abandoned it in favor of mining on the southern wall. MSHA approved the request to conduct retreat mining there in June.

The United Mine Workers on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into the mine, the collapse and the rescue efforts. Gov. Jon Huntsman wants MSHA to immediately inspect two Murray Energy mines in neighboring Carbon County.

Since his brother Kerry Allred went missing in the Crandall Canyon mine, Steve Allred said he has received a slew of phone calls from people who said mine conditions were unsafe.

"They tell me that they knew people that was very, very concerned about the conditions in that mine, the bounces, everything," he said.

Allred said his brother had expressed some concern, but added: "There is concern no matter which mine you are in."

He said miners have to shut out those thoughts to work underground. "If you don't, you're not going to survive as a miner," Allred said.

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm in Washington, D.C., and Chelsea J. Carter, Jennifer Dobner and Jessica Gresko in Huntington contributed to this report.

Democrat split on Iraq may hurt '08 chances: analysts By David Alexander

Democrat split on Iraq may hurt '08 chances: analysts By David Alexander
14 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Failure to end the Iraq war has so divided Democrats it could jeopardize their chances of consolidating power in U.S. elections in November 2008, analysts said.

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Nearly a year since the party parlayed discontent over the unpopular war into a majority in Congress, liberal Democrats, prodded by influential Internet bloggers, are pressing harder than ever for action to bring U.S. troops home.

Centrists, concerned about alienating conservative voters in swing districts, are wary of moving too precipitously, the analysts say.

The bottom line for Democrats was that they won a majority by picking up seats in marginal or nominally Republican districts, said Ethan Siegal, an analyst for The Washington Exchange, which monitors Congress for institutional investors.

"If the Democrats want to keep control of the House in the 2008 elections, they can't force those members to take certain Iraq votes, he said.

Democratic divisions may grow after Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, reports to Congress in September on the results of President George W. Bush's policy of building up troops as a way to stabilize Iraq.

Even a positive report is unlikely to sway the anti-war liberal Democrats, but it will make it difficult for centrist Democrats from more conservative districts to support pulling out troops, the analysts said.

Democrats who had hesitated to vote for timetables and various withdrawal schemes "are going to be even more hesitant now," Siegal said.

"It will be the Democratic left, which is probably immune to any news of success in Iraq, against the middle-of-the-road America," said Matthew Woessner, a political expert at Pennsylvania State University.

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

"A nightmare scenario for any party is when the pressure, the sum total of the pressures from their constituency groups, are out of step with mainstream America. That's a prescription for electoral disaster," he added.

And liberal Democrats, who felt marginalized by President Bill Clinton and his centrist supporters in the 1990s, don't seem inclined to let up. They have gained substantial influence in the party over the past decade with a well-organized network of bloggers, fund-raisers and activists linked through the Internet.

Successful bloggers, like Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, regularly use the Internet to debate ideas, editorialize and criticize Democrats who compromise liberal principles. Fund-raising sites like ActBlue.com have collected tens of millions of dollars for Democratic candidates.

"The explosion of the success of the left-wing blogosphere has placed the Democrats under even more pressure from their left," Woessner said.

Democrats know they can tap into online activists for resources, money and time.

But the electoral map limits how far the party can move to the left if Democrats hope to retain power in Congress and build their majority, Siegal said.

"The Democrats can't control the House and the Senate unless they elect centrists also," he said. "And they can't elect their centrists by having a totally liberal agenda."

The success of liberal Democrats in prodding the party to the left has begun to draw expressions of concern from centrists.

"Some liberals are so confident about Democratic prospects that they contend the centrism that vaulted Democrats to victory in the 1990s no longer matters," former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, the head of centrist Democratic Leadership Council, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley wrote in The Washington Post.

NYC firefighters doomed by lack of water By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer

NYC firefighters doomed by lack of water By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Firefighters who battled a killer blaze in a condemned ground zero skyscraper lacked a basic tool: the building's water supply system was busted.

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Fire marshals discovered that the network, known as the standpipe, was not operational Saturday when two firefighters died inside the burning former Deutsche Bank tower. Investigators found a chunk of the standpipe unattached and laying on the floor in the basement, the city said Monday.

The troubled building had been plagued with citations before the fire, and received another violation for failure to maintain the standpipe system after investigators made the discovery.

Firefighters Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia got lost on the 14th floor as their air tanks ran out. They inhaled smoke and died of cardiac arrest; their funerals are Thursday and Friday. More than 50 firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The former Deutsche Bank office building has been empty since it was damaged on the morning of the World Trade Center attack six years ago, and was being dismantled floor by floor. It once stood 41 stories, but demolition crews had reduced it to 26 by Saturday.

The city said Monday that fire investigators had determined the blaze began in an area on the 17th floor where workers stopped for decontamination.

Fire marshals spoke to eyewitnesses who said workers would smoke and put out cigarettes in the area, which was near the construction elevator used to access the floor.

The city said there also was some electrical equipment there, including hot water heaters for decontamination showers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement that investigators still did not know how the fire started.

"At this point we do not know the cause of the fire, but full and comprehensive investigations are under way," he said. "We are using every possible resource to find out how this fire started and what went wrong."

The mayor said separate investigations were launched to determine how the fire started and what led to the firefighters' deaths.

Officials also were trying to sort out the confusion about who was responsible for the standpipe and other issues.

Private contractors are working on the state-owned building, while multiple local, state and federal agencies have a hand in the decontamination and deconstruction. The effort was described by the city as "unusually complex."

The skyscraper's owner, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., bought the tower three years ago and took over the removal project. As the demolition proceeded, the city Department of Buildings issued a separate permit for each floor before it could be taken down.

With each floor permit, the Department of Buildings visually inspected the valves and caps for the standpipe in the area, but the inspections did not include testing the water flow. The last permit was as recent as July 31, for the dismantling of the 26th floor.

In working buildings, the fire department is responsible for checking the water flow in standpipes every five years, according to fire department spokesman Jim Long. Building owners typically maintain them in between.

The city could not say on Monday when the water network had last been tested, but the fire department said the building had been issued at least one other violation related to standpipe problems.

Apart from the water problems, the building owner had racked up a number of citations before the fire from city building inspectors, for complaints including debris falling from the building and excessive amounts of combustible debris and plywood stacked around the site.

The deaths also raised questions about why emergency responders would enter an empty building that was long ago condemned.

The president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Jack McDonnell, said there was no other choice than to send firefighters into the building.

"It never could have been contained from the outside," he said. "The building could have collapsed, endangering lives and property."

Official says Utah miners likely buried By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers

Official says Utah miners likely buried By CHELSEA J. CARTER and JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writers
2 hours, 22 minutes ago



CASTLE DALE, Utah - Cody Allred closes his eyes and pictures his father and five other miners sitting in the impenetrable darkness of a collapsed mine waiting for a sign, any sign of rescue.

"I picture my dad wondering `Where the hell are they? Any time now,'" he said.

Federal and mine officials are less hopeful. Knowing there has been no sign of life since the men went missing more than two weeks ago, they say the miners may be forever entombed in the mountain.

"I don't know whether the miners will be found, but I'm not optimistic they will be found alive," Bob Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., co-owner of the mine, said at a news conference Monday night.

Even as the community prepared Tuesday to say goodbye to Dale Black, a rescuer killed while trying to find the men in central Utah's Crandall Canyon mine, the families and officials were at odds over whether enough had been done.

Searchers were expected to finish drilling a fifth hole by Tuesday night, but federal officials didn't anticipate air readings that would indicate enough oxygen to support life.

Richard Stickler, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said safety consultants brought in over the weekend have determined the shaking and shifting of the mountain is too risky to let rescuers resume tunneling to try to reach the men, who have been trapped since the Aug. 6 cave-in.

The tunneling stopped after three rescue workers were killed and six were injured when the shaft they were working in collapsed Thursday night.

Murray, who disappeared from public view after that collapse, met Monday with miners' relatives who have accused him of abandoning them and their loved ones.

He said he told the families their relatives would likely remain buried in the mine. "Their reception to me was probably not good. But at some time, the reality must sink in, and I did it as compassionately as I possibly could," he said.

Family members say they have been frustrated by the pace of the rescue effort and by mine and federal safety officials who have backtracked from early information about the missing miners' location.

"We were asking them questions and not getting straight answers," said Cesar Sanchez, whose brother Manuel Sanchez is among the missing.

Families have pleaded for the use of a rescue capsule that could be lowered through a 30-inch hole that could take weeks to drill.

"We need to get that big hole punched to get them big men out," Cesar Sanchez said.

The capsule had been considered a last, best option since the rescue tunnel collapsed. Such capsules have been used to save miners in other disasters, but the men in the Crandall Canyon mine were thought to be more than 1,000 feet deeper than in previous rescues.

Bob Ferriter, a former MSHA engineer who teaches safety at the Colorado School of Mines, said it wouldn't make sense to spend weeks drilling a large hole for a rescue capsule unless searchers knew where the men were located.

Ferriter said it would be foolish to send a man down a capsule to recover the miners' bodies, given the instability of the mountain and the depth of the hole. There's a chance the capsule could get stuck or that a mountain "bump" could bury the capsule. The air might be inadequate as well, Ferriter said.

"I don't see the advantage of putting a live person down there," Ferriter said. "You could have a bump that closes the hole above him, and then you've lost another guy."

But Steve Allred, the brother of trapped miner Kerry Allred, believes his brother is alive and said the men need to be recovered.

"My brother is trapped underground and I'm hearing that they're basically giving up, and that's unacceptable," he said. "One way or the other we've got to have closure."

For nearly two weeks, mine owners and federal officials had insisted the men might be alive. But repeated efforts to signal the miners have been met with silence, and air readings from a fourth narrow hole drilled more than 1,500 feet into the mountainside showed insufficient oxygen to support life in that part of the mine.

On Monday night, Murray defended MSHA and himself from criticism that they botched the rescue effort and needlessly put rescue workers at risk.

"There was absolutely nothing more that MSHA or Murray Energy or (mine co-owner) Utah American could have done to rescue these trapped miners," he said. "And based on what we knew at the time, we did everything correctly. There were no mistakes."

The missing miners' families called the dead and injured who worked to find their loved ones their "heroes."

"We didn't want to get nobody killed; we still don't want to get nobody hurt," Sanchez said. "I work with those men, and I know they were digging. If they would have had to dig with their hands, they would have done it, because they wanted them other six men out alive."

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Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko in Price and Mike Rubinkam in Huntington contributed to this report.

'Queen of mean' hotelier Helmsley dies By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer

'Queen of mean' hotelier Helmsley dies By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 18 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Leona Helmsley, the cutthroat hotel magnate whose title as the "queen of mean" was sealed during a tax evasion case in which she was quoted as snarling "only little people pay taxes," died Monday at age 87. Helmsley died of heart failure at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn., said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.

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Already experienced in real estate before her marriage, Helmsley helped her husband run a $5 billion empire that included managing the Empire State Building. She became a household name in 1989 when she was tried for tax evasion. The sensational trial included testimony from disgruntled employees who said she terrorized both the menial and the executive help at her homes and hotels.

That image of Helmsley as the "queen of mean" was sealed when a former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

Helmsley denied having said it, but the words followed her for the rest of her life.

She clearly enjoyed the luxury of her private fortune, flying the globe in a 100-seat jet with a bedroom suite. She and her husband's residences included a nine-room penthouse with a swimming pool overlooking Central Park atop their own Park Lane Hotel; an $8 million estate in Connecticut; a condo in Palm Beach; and a mountaintop hideaway near Phoenix.

"Leona Helmsley was definitely one of a kind," said Donald Trump, whose rivalry with the Helmsleys made headlines in the 1990s. "Harry loved being with her and the excitement she brought, and that is all that really matters."

The Helmsleys' financial excesses overshadowed millions in contributions for medical research and other causes. In recent years, she contributed $25 million to New York Presbyterian Hospital, $5 million to Katrina relief and $5 million after Sept. 11 to help the families of firefighters.

Yet Helmsley nickel-and-dimed merchants on her personal purchases, stiffed contractors who worked on her Connecticut home and terrorized both menial and executive help at her homes and hotels, detractors say.

When her husband died in 1997 at age 87, Helmsley said in a statement: "My fairy tale is over. I lived a magical life with Harry."

Earlier this year, Forbes magazine ranked her as the 369th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

She was 51, with the good looks of a former model and already a successful seller of residential real estate in a hot New York market, when she married Harry Helmsley in 1972.

He was 63 and one of the richest men in America.

In 1980 he made her president of Helmsley Hotels, a subsidiary which at the time operated more than two dozen hotels in 10 states, including the Park Lane, St. Moritz and Palace in New York and the Harley Hotels. Harley was a contraction of Harry and Leona.

For the better part of a decade, a glamorous Leona Helmsley smiled out of magazine ads dressed in luxurious gowns and tiara, advertising that the Palace was the only hotel in the world "where the Queen stands guard."

The press portrayed them as an adoring couple, with Leona calling Harry "gorgeous one" and "pussycat." Friends and acquaintances described her as generous, charming, playful and having a good sense of humor.

She threw parties on his birthdays at which guests wore buttons that said "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and he wore a button that said "I'm Harry." The couple would dance until dawn.

On July 4, 1976, Harry Helmsley lit the Empire State Building in red, white and blue — a tribute not to the Bicentennial, but to his wife's birthday. It cost $100,000 — "less than a necklace," he said.

But the Helmsleys' charmed life ended in 1988 when they were hit with tax-evasion charges.

Harry's health and memory were so poor that he was judged incompetent to stand trial. His wife, after an eight-week trial, was convicted of evading $1.2 million in federal taxes by billing Helmsley businesses for personal expenses ranging from her underwear to $3 million worth of renovations to the Dunellen Hall estate in Connecticut.

Sentenced to four years in prison, she tried to avoid jail by pleading that Harry might die without her at his side. Her doctor said that prison might kill her because of high blood pressure and other problems. (At a March 1992 hearing, the judge rejected that argument and even ordered her to surrender on April 15 — tax day.)

Helmsley served a total of 21 months and was released in January 1994. She had 150 hours added to her 750 hours of community service because employees had done some of the chores for her.

Several top executives at Helmsley companies said their firings coincided with her release. She maintained she couldn't have fired them because she had given up her management post — as a convicted felon she was barred from running enterprises with liquor licenses, such as hotels. The State Liquor Authority said it had no evidence that she was still in charge.

In 1996, two of Harry Helmsley's longtime partners accused his wife of scheming to loot the main corporation, Helmsley-Spear Inc. They said she was stripping away company assets to avoid paying $11.4 million owed them and to make the company worthless, because Harry Helmsley had given them an option to buy Helmsley-Spear at a bargain price upon his death.

After he died a few months later, the dispute with the partners was eventually settled and control of Helmsley-Spear was turned over to them. The settlement freed Leona Helmsley to sell off other assets.

The Helmsleys' charitable gifts may have run to the tens of millions, but people who dealt with them spoke bitterly of being stiffed.

One of them, a painting contractor, said Leona Helmsley wouldn't pay an $88,000 bill for work on Dunellen Hall because she was entitled to a "commission" for the $800,000 worth of other jobs he got in Helmsley buildings.

After making a sales clerk rewrite a bill for earrings to save $4 in sales tax, she reportedly said: "That's how the rich get richer." Her lawyers suggested that the government came after her to make an example of someone with high visibility.

Helmsley was born Leona Mindy Rosenthal on July 4, 1920, the daughter of a Manhattan hat maker. She left college after two years to become a model.

She married a lawyer, Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1959. Their only child, Jay Panzirer, later ran a Florida-based building supplies company that did extensive business with Helmsley properties. She later was briefly married to a garment industry executive, Joe Lubin.

Before her son's death of a heart attack in 1982, she told interviewers she would not talk about him "because terrible things can happen to people these days."

She evidently was referring to being knifed by robbers at her Palm Beach home in 1973. She was stabbed in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, and Harry was wounded in the arm.

After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son's widow, Mimi.

Mimi Panzirer said afterward that the legal costs wiped her out and "to this day I don't know why they did it."

Helmsley is survived by her brother and his wife, four grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.