MyrtleBeachOnline.com: Nation and World

Kentucky executes first inmate in 9 years

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:17 EST

A Kentucky inmate who resisted all appeals to stop his execution was put to death Friday for murdering two young children.

In the state's first execution in nine years, Marco Allen Chapman was given a lethal injection at the Kentucky State Penitentiary. He was pronounced dead at 7:34 p.m. CST.

The 37-year-old pleaded guilty in 2004 to killing 7-year-old Chelbi Sharon and 6-year-old Cody Sharon in their northern Kentucky home in an attack that wounded their mother and another child. Chapman asked to be executed and fought for the right to fire his attorneys to clear the way.

Daughter defends mother in Internet hoax trial

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:27 EST

A Missouri woman's daughter says her mother had wanted an Internet account shut down even before cruel messages were sent from it to a teenage neighbor who later committed suicide.

Sarah Drew says her mother, Lori, initially thought it was a good idea to use the account to create a fictitious boy to lure Megan Meier into an online relationship.

Prosecutors say the goal was to find out whether Megan was spreading rumors about Sarah.

Hawaii dam break leads to 7 manslaughter counts

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:27 EST

A Hawaii homeowner has been indicted on seven counts of manslaughter in connection with a dam failure in 2006.

A grand jury on the island of Kauai (kuh'-WEYE') on Friday indicted 82-year-old James Pflueger (FLOO'-gur) on the manslaughter charges and one count of reckless endangerment.

The dam broke and sent 300 million gallons of water rushing to the sea. The seven victims were swept to their deaths.

Clarification: Road Home story

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:33 EST

In a Nov. 12 story, The Associated Press reported that the NAACP Legal Defense Fund was among the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit claiming racial discrimination by the Louisiana Road Home program, which provides rebuilding grants to Gulf Coast hurricane victims. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is providing legal representation for the plaintiffs in the suit, but is not a plaintiff itself.

Grand jury returns indictment vs. Iowa meatpacker

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:07 EST

A federal grand jury has issued a 12-count indictment alleging that managers were intricately involved in efforts to employ illegal workers at a kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids.

The indictment includes three new defendants - Brent Beebe, Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi - who haven't previously faced federal charges in connection with the Agriprocessors plant in Postville. The indictment was issued Thursday and unsealed Friday.

Former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and human resources worker Karina Freund, who were already facing federal charges, also were named in the indictment.

1 dies of injuries from Texas refinery blast, fire

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:22 EST

A man has died a day after an oil refinery explosion and fire in Texas.

The mother of 49-year-old James Dale Sharman says he died Friday of injuries from an explosion at the Delek Refining plant in Tyler.

A spokeswoman for Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas says another worker remains in critical condition.

Connecticut takes on slippery olive oil standards

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:12 EST

When food importer Luciano Sclafani spied a three-liter tin of extra virgin olive oil a couple of years ago selling for $9.99, he could tell without tasting a drop that it wasn't legitimate.

Lab tests proved him right. The oil, which should have sold for $25 or $30, was a cheap knockoff, 90 percent soybean oil and 10 percent pomace, the oil that's collected from the ground flesh and pits after pressing.

"Olive oil is the closest thing to my heart that I sell," said Sclafani, president of his family's 97-year-old food-importing and distribution business in Norwalk, Conn.

Suspected campus shooter at Savannah State caught

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:12 EST

A 19-year-old man faces aggravated assault and possibly other charges in the shooting of a fellow student Friday on the campus of Savannah State University, police said.

Devon McIntosh surrendered after a police dog sniffed him hiding in the trunk of his car on campus about five hours after the late-morning shooting, police said.

"He actually put his hands up," said campus Police Chief Thomas Trawick. "I'm assuming he was there just to conceal himself until he had the cover of darkness to make his escape."

4 Marines plead not guilty to murdering colleague

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:48 EST

Four Camp Pendleton-based Marines, including one known as "Psycho," have pleaded not guilty in the execution-style slayings of a fellow Marine and his wife.

Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26, were found gagged, tied and shot in the head in the living room of their Winchester home on Oct. 15. Investigators said the house had been ransacked and a fire had been set, an apparent effort to destroy evidence.

The not guilty pleas were entered Thursday at Superior Court by Lance Cpl. Emrys John, 18, of Maryland; Lance Cpl. Tyrone Miller, 20, of North Carolina; Pvt. Kevin Cox, 20, of Tennessee, and Lance Cpl. Kesaun Sykes, 21, of California.

AP Interview: Libya wants to invest in US

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:42 EST

Libya wants to open a new chapter in relations with the United States by tapping into a major government fund to invest in U.S. companies and sending thousands of students to study in America, the son of Libya's leader said Friday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi also outlined plans for Libya to move from the one-man rule of his father, Moammar Gadhafi, to a constitutional democracy as part of the country's modernization process.

The younger Gadhafi said he expects a constitution providing for democratic elections to be adopted by September 2009 - the 40th anniversary of the 1969 revolution that brought his father to power. He said he also expects Libya to modify its central government to a model similiar to the U.S. federal government, with strong regional and local governments.

Palin pardons turkey while others slaughtered

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:28 EST

Gov. Sarah Palin has granted the traditional Thanksgiving pardon to one lucky turkey, but the video that shocked some viewers captured what was happening in the background.

As she answered questions Thursday at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla cameras from the Anchorage Daily News and others showed the bloody work of an employee slaughtering birds behind the former Republican vice presidential candidate.

On the video, Palin didn't comment about the slaughter as she answered questions, saying she's thankful that her son's Stryker brigade is relatively safe in Iraq and the rest of her family is healthy and happy. She said she's glad to be back in Alaska.

Last plea entered in fatal 2002 Nev. biker melee

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:33 EST

The last plea has been entered in a brawl between rival biker gangs that left three people dead and dozens injured at a southern Nevada casino in 2002.

Hells Angels member Frederick Donahue pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to violent crime in aid of racketeering. He is expected to be sentenced to no more than five years in prison.

Donahue acknowledged shooting a Mongols motorcycle club member in the melee at the Harrah's casino in Laughlin. Donahue was a fugitive for six years before surrendering in Las Vegas in July.

Guards: Crowded Calif. prisons neglect ill inmates

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:43 EST

Inmates with open, bleeding wounds routinely use communal showers and suicidal prisoners are sometimes kept for hours inside small cages, witnesses testified in a lawsuit over state prison crowding.

The four guards who testified before a three-judge panel Thursday supported earlier evidence suggesting that substandard medical and mental health care is a result of jam-packed prisons.

The state, which argues that prison conditions are improving, was scheduled to begin its defense Friday.

Utah homes evacuated after propane tanker crash

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:37 EST

Hundreds of homes are being evacuated near Salt Lake City after a propane tanker rolled over on a highway ramp.

Authorities say they are concerned a spark could cause an explosion after the larger of the two tanks ruptured Friday.

The truck driver is critically injured. The crash has closed parts of Interstates 80 and 215, as well as a city street.

FBI says Ohio man threatened to bomb airports

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:42 EST

FBI officials said Friday they arrested a man who threatened to blow up Cincinnati's football stadium, two airports, Ohio River bridges, and other landmarks.

Frederick Purvis, 42, of Hamilton, Ohio, is accused of sending e-mails to two local media outlets and to the FBI threatening Paul Brown Stadium, the four bridges, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and an Indiana casino, FBI spokesman Mike Brooks said.

FBI officials said Purvis was charged with making e-mail threats to blow up the Denver airport. The other threats are cited in the federal complaint filed against him.

New York elementary school is renamed for Obama

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:47 EST

At the behest of its students, an elementary school near New York City has been renamed after President-elect Barack Obama.

The Hempstead Union Free School District board voted unanimously Thursday night to rename Ludlum Elementary School as Barack Obama Elementary School. The change went into effect immediately, school officials said Friday.

Officials for the Long Island district say they think the school is the country's first to be named after the first black president-elect, although similar efforts to rename schools, parks and streets are under way elsewhere.

All-black `Glory' unit from Civil War reactivating

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:13 EST

An all-black Civil War infantry unit honored in the Oscar-winning movie "Glory" with Denzel Washington is making a real-life comeback.

The 54th Massachusetts - praised for a doomed charge in South Carolina in 1863 - will become a ceremonial unit for the state's National Guard. A ceremony is scheduled for later Friday at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

As a ceremonial unit, the 54th will conduct military honors at state functions and funeral services for veterans.

NYC bouncer convicted of a third murder

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:12 EST

A bouncer already sentenced to lengthy prison terms for two New York City murders has been convicted of shooting another man dead and wounding three others outside a Manhattan nightclub.

A jury on Friday found 32-year-old Stephen Sakai (suh-KEYE') guilty of murder, attempted murder and assault. He faces at least 15 years in prison at his Dec. 15 sentencing hearing. He is serving two sentences of 25 years to life in prison for the previous murder convictions.

Sakai testified he feared he would die during a fight outside a Chelsea nightclub in May 2006. Sakai said he took a gun off one of his four victims and started firing.

Rock threat danger closes part of Yosemite lodging

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:27 EST

An unstable cliff prompted officials Friday to permanently close some cabins in a popular Yosemite National Park lodge complex that has a long history of rockslides.

National Park Service officials said 233 cabins in family friendly Curry Village will close permanently. That's about one-third of the units available in the complex that also includes stores and restaurants run by an outside company.

About half of the 618 cabins at the village have been off-limits since a rockfall Oct. 8.

AIDS official: HIV spreading fast in Russia

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:13 EST

A top Russian anti-AIDS coordinator on Friday lambasted the government's approach to fighting HIV, saying the number of registered cases was growing 10 percent a year despite increased federal funding.

A misguided focus on treatment instead of prevention has undermined efforts to combat AIDS, said Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the state-funded Federal AIDS Center, which is charged with coordinating efforts.

"It seems to me that we still have no national policy on fighting AIDS," Pokrovsky said. "We are running in place, and meanwhile HIV is spreading."