http://www.kentucky.com/216/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Nation 60 Fri, 16 May 2008 14:15:08 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406658.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406658.html Fri, 16 May 2008 12:09 EDT
That's one of the mysteries solved in this edition of "Ask AP," a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers' questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you'd like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with "Ask AP" in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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What oil companies, if any, do not import oil? I would buy from them alone if I knew who they were.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406674.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406674.html Fri, 16 May 2008 11:29 EDT
A conservative group said it would ask California's Supreme Court to postpone putting its decision legalizing gay marriage into effect until after the fall election. That's when voters will likely have a chance to weigh in on a proposed amendment to California's constitution that would bar same-sex couples from getting married.

If the court does not grant the request, gay marriages could begin in California in as little as 30 days, the time it typically takes for the justices' opinions to become final.

"We're obviously very disappointed in the decision," said Glen Lavy, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is pushing for the stay. "The remedy is a constitutional amendment."

With a stroke of a pen Thursday, the Republican-dominated court swept away decades of tradition and said there was no legally justifiable reason why the state should withhold the institution of marriage because of a couple's sexual orientation.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406807.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406807.html Fri, 16 May 2008 13:19 EDT
The mayor, who once opposed wastewater recycling as unsafe, unveiled a sweeping water plan Thursday that could cost up to $2 billion over 20 years. It comes as Los Angeles tries to meet a projected 15 percent increase in water demand by 2030.

"For over 250 years, through dry and wet seasons, we've grown from 44 settlers to 4 million people and every time we needed water, our approach was the same - we pitched another straw in the ground, we marched up to the mountains, to the aqueducts in distant areas and opened up our wallets," Villaraigosa said.

The plan includes adding treated wastewater to drinking supplies. The city constructed a system to do that in the 1990s, but abandoned it amid criticism.

"This is a new day," said David Nahai, the city's director of water and power. "We have new technology."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405919.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405919.html Fri, 16 May 2008 07:30 EDT
Lori Drew, 49, of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer.

Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending.

"The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl's weaknesses," Hernandez said. "Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she's responsible for her actions."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406919.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406919.html Fri, 16 May 2008 14:14 EDT
The former track star, 33, hung his head as Judge Kenneth Karas imposed the sentence.

Montgomery pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy in the bank fraud and money laundering plot. Prosecutors said he had a hand in depositing bogus checks worth $1.7 million.

Montgomery retired in 2005 after he was banned from track and field for doping. He has a child with Marion Jones, the track superstar who is now in prison for lying about the check scam and about her use of performance-enhancing drugs.

"I've had everything I ever wanted in life. I've stood on the top of the mountain," Montgomery told the court. But now, "the gold medal, all those people cheering, that was part of another world. ... In jail, my status is gone."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406073.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406073.html Fri, 16 May 2008 13:09 EDT
The story also incorrectly reported that Kathryn Johnston was shot 39 times by narcotics officers. Officers fired 39 times. An autopsy report revealed Johnston was shot five or six times.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406199.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406199.html Fri, 16 May 2008 04:11 EDT
Durwanda Elizabeth Morgan Heinrich, a dirt, sand and gravel subcontractor, was accused of conspiring with two former corps workers to get confidential bid information for a $16.8 million levee project southwest of New Orleans in September 2006.

In exchange, the indictment said, Heinrich promised to give the workers, Kern Carver Bernard Wilson and Raul Miranda, 25 cents for every cubic yard of material used to build levees near Lake Cataouatche.

The arrangement would have funneled $299,375 each to Wilson and Miranda, the Justice Department said.

Heinrich was charged by a federal grand jury in New Orleans with one count of conspiring to commit bribery and two counts of offering a bribe to a public official.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406355.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406355.html Fri, 16 May 2008 03:29 EDT
That's down from a global growth rate of 3.8 percent in 2007, and the downturn is expected to continue with only a slightly higher growth of 2.1 percent in 2009, the U.N. report said.

The mid-year update of the U.N. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008 blamed the downturn on further deterioration in the U.S. housing and financial sectors in the first quarter, which is expected to "continue to be a major drag for the world economy extending into 2009."

But the U.N. said developing countries will suffer as badly: They should grow by 5 percent this year and 4.8 percent next year, compared to a robust 7.3 percent in 2007, the report said.

The U.N. economists said the deepening credit crisis in major market economies triggered by the U.S.-led slump in housing prices, the declining value of the U.S. dollar, persistent global imbalances and soaring oil and commodity prices pose considerable risks to economic growth in both developed and developing countries.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406437.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406437.html Fri, 16 May 2008 13:19 EDT
Each of the fires that Brian Crowder, 31, is accused of setting Wednesday was quickly extinguished, Police Chief Bill Berger said, and investigators have not connected Crowder to larger fires that destroyed about 30 homes and 140 structures.

But Berger called Crowder "a prime suspect" in a string of fires intentionally set around the city Sunday.

Firefighters continued to make gains against the flames Thursday, allowing some schools to reopen and some area residents to return.

Investigators recommended Crowder be charged with three counts of intentionally setting fire to public land - each count carrying up to three years in prison.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406561.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406561.html Fri, 16 May 2008 03:29 EDT
That's because of the dairy farmer's philosophy that a happy cow is a productive cow. More milk means more money, so Christie doesn't mind providing the frills.

"Them cows are my girls," said Christie, who runs a farm near Slater, about 25 miles north of Des Moines. "You ask anybody, I probably think more highly of those cows than I do myself."

Christie's 23 cows spend about 18 hours a day on waterbeds he installed in November. He said the beds, durable rubber mats that lay flat on the ground and are filled with water, were popular with the animals from the beginning. They provide heat for the cows in the winter and coolness in the summer, depending on the water Christie pipes in.

The beds are covered with woods chips for extra padding to prevent friction.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406706.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406706.html Fri, 16 May 2008 08:44 EDT
The world's first full-scale nuclear reactor is just one stop on a tour of the Hanford nuclear reservation. The federal government created the site in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Today, more than two decades after it stopped producing plutonium, Hanford is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, and cleanup is expected to continue for years.

Still, the sprawling land of dust and sagebrush - about half the size of Rhode Island - will draw some 2,000 tourists this year.

Some seek out the history of America's radiation age. Others come to reminisce about the days they or their loved ones spent working in the desert city that sprang up overnight. And then there are those who are concerned about the government's environmental stewardship.

Tourists aren't allowed close enough to the cleanup operations to be in danger from Hanford's contaminants, largely found in the soil and water. From a distance, visitors watch workers in white protective suits bury mercury-contaminated soil in a landfill. They gawk at massive cranes brought in to build a plant that will encase radioactive waste in glass.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406839.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406839.html Fri, 16 May 2008 11:49 EDT
Vyacheslav Manokhin, a Russian national who had been living in Greenwich, Conn., pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to obtain visas by means of false statements.

The visas were supposed to be for foreigners attending U.N. conferences in the U.S., but either the gatherings never took place or the visa holders didn't attend them, prosecutors said. Manokhin forged invitations to the conferences from a nonexistent U.N. official.

He apologized at his sentencing Thursday, though he said he didn't initially think what he did was illegal.

"I learned my lesson. I paid a huge price for this," he said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405965.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405965.html Fri, 16 May 2008 13:45 EDT
But for those who believe they were targets of Pellicano's ruthless tactics, reality could be terrifying. Their cars were vandalized, their homes broken into and, worst of all, they say, their private conversations were wiretapped.

On Thursday, they welcomed the 64-year-old private investigator's conviction on racketeering and wiretapping charges.

"We are certainly relieved," said actor Keith Carradine, whose phones prosecutors say were wiretapped by Pellicano in May 2001. "We're grateful the jury came to the right conclusion."

Carradine and others who spoke to The Associated Press recounted how they were harassed and intimidated by Pellicano and his cohorts to help his clients gain a tactical advantage in legal and other disputes.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406929.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406929.html Fri, 16 May 2008 14:14 EDT
More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries. But exactly how much is something of a mystery because state auditors do not have access to sheriffs' private accounts.

How could anyone turn a profit feeding men and women for an entire day on less than the price of a Coke and a bag of Fritos? Sheriffs practice Depression-style frugality and rely on such things as day-old bread, cut-rate vegetables and cheap inmate labor.

Critics charge that Alabama is, in effect, paying law enforcement to skimp on food and may be rewarding sheriffs for mistreating prisoners.

"It's a bad system, and it ought not be that way," said Buddy Sharpless, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406157.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406157.html Fri, 16 May 2008 00:19 EDT
The Compass Airlines flight carrying 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely in Fargo on May 7 after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported. The plane was flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, authorities said.

Eder Rojas, 19, appeared in court Thursday, following his arrest a day earlier in Minneapolis, and ordered held without bail, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

His public defender did not return a phone call seeking comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Jordheim, who is prosecuting the case in Fargo, would not comment.

Court documents said Rojas, of the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, told authorities he was upset at the airline for making him work the route.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406501.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406501.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
In a rapid series of votes on the war funding bill and accompanying components, Republicans withheld their votes in protest, leading to the defeat of the Iraq funding legislation by a 149-141 tally. Nearly two-thirds of the House's Democrats voted against continuing to fund the war.

Democrats then forced through a non-binding plan seeking an exit from Iraq by December of next year by a 224-196 vote that broke along party lines.

Thirty-two Republicans joined with Democrats on a 256-166 vote to sharply boost education benefits for Iraq-Afghanistan veterans under the GI Bill -- despite an accompanying tax surcharge on the wealthy and small businesses -- and voted to provide a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits.

The GOP protest kills the war funding component of the bill for now, but it is expected to be revived next week in the Senate.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406491.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406491.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
The 4-3 decision, drawing on a ruling 60 years ago that struck down a state ban on interracial marriage, would make California the second state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriages.

The decision, which becomes effective in 30 days unless the court grants a stay, was greeted with celebrations at San Francisco City Hall, where thousands of same-sex marriages were thrown out by the courts four years ago.

The court decision was denounced by religious and conservative groups, which promised to support an initiative proposed for the November ballot that would amend the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages and overturn the decision.

Same-sex marriage has been a highly contentious issue in presidential and congressional elections, but it was not immediately clear what role the ruling would have this year. The Democratic and Republican candidates for president have all said they believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. But Republicans could use a surge in same-sex marriages in the most populous state to invigorate conservative voters.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406476.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406476.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
The report said firefighters did not follow standard safety practices and had obsolete equipment when battling the Sofa Super Store blaze. Earlier reports also have characterized the department as undertrained and overmatched the evening of June 18 as a small blaze in the store's loading dock spread through the building and eventually overwhelmed firefighters.

The June 18 fire at the Sofa Super Store killed more firefighters than any emergency since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. A panel of experts commissioned by the city composed the report, and The Associated Press obtained a copy ahead of the scheduled release Thursday.

The report also said that if a sprinkler system had been installed in the building, a former grocery store, the fire probably would have been confined to the loading dock where it started. The blaze was probably caused by discarded cigarettes, though no official cause has been released.

The report comes the day after longtime Chief Rusty Thomas announced his plans to retire, and one week after a similar analysis of the fire from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406466.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406466.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
The delay on the action until next week clouded the prospects of an emerging compromise between Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman, and Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican. It also highlighted the tricky political calculations involved in reaching a bipartisan housing deal in an election year when the two parties are competing intensely to appeal to voters who cite the economy as their top concern.

Dodd and Shelby said Thursday that they were near agreement. But after hours of stop-and-start haggling, particularly over how to pay for the plan, Dodd canceled a committee session to vote on the measure. Also at issue was how tightly to regulate government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"It is my desire that we fashion legislation that will enjoy broad-based support. It may not be possible in the end," Dodd said. "If it doesn't happen, so be it, but we're not going to have it not happen because we didn't try."

In a statement issued late Thursday, he said he was "very close" to an agreement with Shelby and was optimistic the two could bring a bipartisan bill to the Senate floor.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406524.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406524.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
BUSH URGES 'HARD CHOICES' IN MIDEAST

BRIEFS

NATION

350,000 NOT GETTING REBATE ON SCHEDULE ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405378.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405378.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Brushing off Bush's opposition, many Republicans joined a majority of Democrats in approving the farm bill 318-106. This is well over the two-thirds vote needed to override Bush's promised veto.

"We've solved a lot of problems in this bill," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. "We have a bill that covers all of the interests in the country."

The Senate is expected to approve the legislation by a similarly commanding margin as early as Thursday morning. If the farm bill support holds, as lawmakers expect, Congress is on track to hand Bush the second veto override of his presidency. In an election year, even GOP lawmakers stressed Wednesday that they cared more about their rural voters than about Bush's declining clout.

"I agree that this farm bill is very far from perfect," said Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington, a senior Republican member of the powerful House Rules Committee, "but like many of my colleagues in the House, I must weigh the bill by its impact on my constituents."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405373.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405373.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
The surprise endorsement came a day after Clinton defeated Obama by more than 2-to-1 in the West Virginia primary. Edwards made the carefully timed announcement at an Obama rally here, as the Illinois senator campaigned in a critical general election battleground state.

Edwards, who received a thunderous ovation when Obama introduced him to the crowd of several thousand, said, "brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats" to defeat McCain. "We are here tonight because the Democratic voters have made their choice, and so have I."

He said Obama "stands with me" in a fight to cut poverty in half within 10 years, a claim Obama confirmed moments later.

Edwards also praised Clinton, saying "we are a stronger party" because of her involvement, and "we're going to have a stronger nominee in the fall because of her work."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405405.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405405.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
Hours after Bush met with Israeli leaders to discuss shaky peace talks with the Palestinians, militants from the Gaza Strip scored their most destructive hit on Ashkelon, southern Israel's largest coastal city, 10 miles north of the Gaza border.

The Katyusha-style rocket heavily damaged a medical center on the top floor of a mall, seriously injuring three people, including a girl, 8, and her mother. At least 11 other people were injured in the first such rocket attack on Ashkelon since early March.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the attack "entirely intolerable and unacceptable."

The attack served to highlight one of the daunting complexities facing the Bush administration in its final months as the president tries to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405408.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405408.html Thu, 15 May 2008 08:43 EDT
SENATE LEADERS REJECT PLAN TO PAY FOR WARS

Senate leaders are rejecting a plan by House Democrats to add a surcharge on upper-income taxpayers to a bill providing $163 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year. The half-percentage point surcharge on income exceeding $500,000 for individuals and income above $1 million for couples was added to the House war funding bill on Tuesday. The tax increase would be used to finance a $52 billion increase in college aid for post-Sept. 11, 2001, veterans that has been added to the war funding measure.

MAN ACCUSED OF FIRE-STARTING

- Authorities arrested a man they say was seen throwing a Molotov cocktail into the woods Wednesday in this Atlantic coast town, where several homes have been gutted by wildfires this week. Authorities said Brian Crowder set a small blaze that was quickly extinguished. They planned to question the 31-year-old about larger wildfires in the region.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405412.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405412.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
But the designation will come with a qualifier: an administrative letter that will have conditions to "keep from harming the economy."

Kempthorne said that the Endangered Species Act shouldn't be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and that the listing will not "set backdoor climate policy."

"That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA," Kempthorne said.

"This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent sea ice from melting."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405435.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405435.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
"The political atmosphere ... is the worst since Watergate and far more toxic than the fall of 2006 when we lost 30 seats," Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia wrote the leadership in a bluntly worded memo.

"Clearly, I think we've got to do a better job" going into the November elections, said the Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner, one day after Democrat Travis Childers won a Mississippi congressional victory. That seat had been in Republican hands since the 1994 landslide that swept the GOP into power.

Several lawmakers and aides said a change was possible but far from certain at the National Republican Congressional Committee, where Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole is chairman. Party leaders also said they were on the verge of distributing a campaign season manifesto to their rank and file setting out conservative positions on taxes and other issues.

Davis, a former chairman of the campaign committee who is retiring at the end of this year, noted that polls show Americans overwhelmingly think the country is headed down the wrong track and President Bush is unpopular.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405444.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/405444.html Thu, 15 May 2008 02:04 EDT
That was enough to doom the re-election bid of West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard, whose once-promising bid for a new term ended in defeat in Tuesday's primary. Photos emerged in January of the two men vacationing together in 2006 on the French Riviera and Monaco, at a time when Blankenship's coal company had cases pending before the court.

"There is a very wide perception that Justice Maynard simply acted unethically," said Marybeth Beller, a political science professor at Marshall University.

Blankenship is chief executive of Massey Energy Co., the nation's fourth-largest coal producer by revenue and a leading employer in West Virginia's coal fields. His executive compensation for 2007 was calculated by The Associated Press at $23.7 million.

Blankenship did not raise funds or stump for Maynard, yet the vacation photos plunged Maynard into a conflict-of-interest scandal that ended with him placing third in his party's primary for two seats on the five-member Supreme Court. Maynard and Blankenship each declined to comment Wednesday.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404234.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404234.html Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT
Lawmakers disagreed on what -- if any -- effect the suspension might have on gasoline prices and acknowledged it was but "a modest step" in addressing public anger over soaring energy costs.

Bush has steadfastly refused to halt shipments of about 70,000 barrels of oil a day into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a system of salt caverns on the Gulf Coast. The reserve, created to respond to major oil supply disruptions, holds 701 million barrels and is at 97 percent of capacity.

"There is no evidence that (suspending shipments) will affect the price of oil or gasoline in a meaningful way," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. He said the president opposes any congressional mandate to stop deliveries and thinks Congress should focus on broader energy issues.

The Senate voted 97-1 to suspend the shipments for the rest of the year. Hours later, the House followed suit, voting 385-25 to halt the deliveries. The votes don't compel Bush to act because the measures differ somewhat and would need to be reconciled before final congressional approval.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404235.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404235.html Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT
Packed with subsidies, watered-down revisions and special goodies, some popped in at the last minute, the massive farm bill faces a promised presidential veto. The big political unknown is whether enough Republicans will abandon Bush to render him powerless.

"I am deeply disappointed in the (bill) as it falls far short of the proposal my administration put forward," Bush declared in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "If this bill makes it to my desk, I will veto it."

A two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate is needed to overcome a veto. That margin is all but guaranteed in the Senate, but the House will be a closer call.

Officially called the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, the farm bill devotes nearly three-quarters of its funding to food stamps and other nutrition programs. It offers record spending for fruits and vegetables while largely sustaining traditional crop subsidies.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404250.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/404250.html Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT
The letter came after weeks of efforts by influential Catholic Republicans to encourage him to draft an apology that would repair any damage to McCain's campaign.

McCain's pursuit of an endorsement by the pastor came under intense scrutiny at the same time that the Democratic front-runner, Sen. Barack Obama, was embroiled in controversy over incendiary remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Critics have denounced McCain for failing to distance himself sufficiently from Hagee. McCain said on a Sunday talk show two weeks ago that he is "glad to have his endorsement," although he condemns remarks which are "anti-anything."

Hagee has vilified the Roman Catholic church for years in books and speeches, calling it "the great whore" prophesied in the Book of Revelation. In his book, Jerusalem Countdown , he accused the Vatican of collaborating with Adolf Hitler in the Holocaust.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406663.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/406663.html Fri, 16 May 2008 13:19 EDT
Trent Christopher Benson made an initial court appearance Thursday and was ordered held without bond. The public defender's office was appointed to represent him, but a lawyer has not been named.

Police in suburban Mesa said Benson has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of violent sexual assault, three counts of kidnapping and one count of sexual assault.

Investigators watched Benson for a day before arresting him Wednesday and questioning him about four attacks that date back to 2004.

Police said Benson, 36, had a criminal record that includes arrests for soliciting prostitutes, which shocked his co-workers. Authorities initially gave his age as 38 before revising it.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405894.html http://www.kentucky.com/513/story/405894.html Fri, 16 May 2008 03:34 EDT
Assessed value of the property now: $20.5 million.

How did members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do it?

Sweat equity was clearly one factor. The men quarried limestone themselves from the hard ground and built the enormous homes with their own hands, using skills learned at construction companies close to the sect's main base of operations, on the Arizona-Utah line.

But as for where they got the money for building materials, dump trucks, rock-cutting equipment and other supplies, that is still something of a mystery.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406474.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406474.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04 EDT
"We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," Bush said in his 23-minute speech to Israel's parliament.

The president's pointed criticism appeared to be a veiled jab at Obama, who has suggested that the United States should talk with its adversaries, as well as at former President Jimmy Carter, who last month met in Syria with senior officials of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.

Although the White House denied that Bush was criticizing Obama, the senator's campaign fired back immediately, calling the president's remarks an "extraordinary politicization" of U.S. foreign policy.

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," the Illinois senator said in a statement.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406521.html http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/406521.html Fri, 16 May 2008 02:05 EDT
Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis allegedly helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Josh didn't exist.

Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending.

"The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl's weaknesses," Hernandez said. "Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she's responsible for her actions."]]>