July 14, 2008

ACROSS THE TARHEEL STATE.

LIBERTY -- Authorities are searching for two Randolph County women who have been charged with murder in Saturday’s stabbing death of a 65-year-old man northwest of Liberty.

ASHEVILLE -- A trial that could have broad implications for the quality of the air breathed by Western North Carolina residents is slated to get under way today in Asheville. The hearing comes two years after N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper sued the Tennessee Valley Authority, claiming the country’s largest public utility hasn’t done enough to cut down pollution that blows across the mountains from 11 coal-fired power plants in three neighboring states.

BOONE -- In April, the Appalachian State University approved a new wine production bachelor’s degree, which if approved by the university system will be the first of its kind in the state.

GOLDSBORO -- Hundreds of people met under the shelter at Fairview Park Saturday morning to walk and pray for peace in the community -- and an end to gang and drug violence.

RIDGECREST -- Exodus International's Freedom Conference coming to Ridgecrest this week is causing a stir in the gay community. Freedom Conferences provide help for those who personally struggle with homosexuality, and ministry support for those who have a loved one who struggles with or embraces homosexuality. Local gay-rights activists plan to provide their own alternative option. Members of the Asheville chapter of Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays are part of the Equality Asheville coalition formed to oppose Exodus.

CHARLOTTE -- Charlotte Mecklenburg Police arrested three 19 year olds for breaking into cars at Carmel Presbyterian Church on Sunday while parishoners were inside.

RANDLEMAN -- One of Randolph County’s top tourism attractions — the Richard Petty Museum — will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, July 19. The anniversary celebration, open to the public, is planned from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the museum, located at 142 W. Academy St. in downtown Randleman. “The King” Richard Petty will be on hand, during part of the celebration, to sign autographs.

ASHEVILLE -- An Asheville man was charged Sunday with possession of five rocks of crack cocaine, according to warrants filed in the Buncombe County Magistrate’s Court.

CHARLOTTE -- A flock of geese caused three cars and a motorcycle to crash together in a serious accident on the Interstate 485 inner loop near South Boulevard just before 10 a.m. Sunday morning. Twp people riding the motorcycle were seriously hurt and taken to Carolinas Medical Center. Two other people were taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

ELIZABETH CITY -- Thanks to a grant from the Governor's Crime Commission, the Elizabeth City Police Department will have money to retain a full-time gang investigator.

SNEADS FERRY -- Investigators suspect they have found the charred remains of Army 2nd Lt. Holley Lynn Wimunc, a Fort Bragg nurse who has been missing since Thursday, Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said Sunday night.

DUNN -- The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office has identified the teenager killed by a train in Friday as 18 year old Christopher A. Rebarker. The death is believed to be accidental.

RALEIGH -- State experts have confirmed 14 cases of salmonella in North Carolina, and are working to discover the source of the disease. State Epidemiologist Dr. Jeff Engel says salmonella cases have turned up in Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth, Sampson, Rutherford and Bladen counties. And while the state records hundreds of cases each year, this type is the same strain that has sickened more than 1,000 people since April.

YOUNGSVILLE -- An electrical equipment manufacturer announced plans for a new facility in Franklin County. Eaton Corporation will take over a 125,000 square foot building idled earlier this year by Flextronics



ACROSS THE PALMETTO STATE

GREENVILLE -- The body of a 23-year old Greenville man was found outside of a Greenville church early Sunday morning

PORT ROYAL -- Port Royal town officials gave town staff the OK to secure permitting for a mooring field that boaters would rent off the 11th Street shrimp dock.

LAKE MURRAY -- The Department of Natural Resources says they've found a body near where a missing couple's boat was found two weeks ago. Lexington County Coroner Harry Harman identified Randy Adkins as the deceased. An autopsy performed on Sunday confirmed he died from accidental drowning

CONWAY -- South Carolina pastor preached his first sermon since being released earlier this month from a Russian prison. Pastor Phillip Miles didn't give a traditional sermon Sunday at Christ Community Church, but talked about his experience in prison and hope and love.

COLUMBIA -- A fishing tackle company that includes 12 national brands says it will move its headquarters and about 150 jobs from Iowa to South Carolina.

DILON -- In Dillon County investigators are looking into a weekend shooting that left one man dead. The Dillon County Sheriff's Office says 29-year-old Edward Davis of Latta was shot Friday morning outside the Ponderosa nightclub, in the Riverdale community on Highway Nine.

MYRTLE BEACH -- An Horry County teenager is in a Georgia burn center recovering from third degree burns, after police say someone tossed lit fireworks into his car.

HEATH SPRINGS -- A man suspected of killing a bait and tackle store owner in Lancaster County was supposed to either pay a fine or report to jail the day of the shooting. The Herald of Rock Hill reports court records show 46-year-old Darren Winchester had been convicted of driving under suspension, second offense, and having and open container of alcohol in May.

CHARLESTON -- The latest Census Bureau figures show that the coast remains one of the fastest-growing areas of South Carolina.

DUE WEST -- A fire has caused extensive damage to the dining hall at Erskine College in Due West.

MYRTLE BEACH -- Myrtle Beach Pride day was held Saturday at the Train Depot. It's an event with a controversial past. In fact, there hasn't been a Pride event in Myrtle Beach since 1998.

COLUMBIA -- Officials at a Westinghouse plant in Columbia say a worker accidentally threw away 16 small containers of low-grade uranium.

BOILING SPRINGS -- Authorities say they had to remove a woman from the home after a couch on the front porch caught fire. They say William “Billy” Harris told them several different stories about how the fire started, including rats scratching on matches. In the end, authorities did not believe Harris. He faces a charge of second-degree arson. He is being held in the Spartanburg County Detention Center.

COLUMBIA -- The Fugitive Safe Surrender program was astonishing as 382 fugitives turned themselves in during the four day program at a Columbia area church.

Across The Nation
AL -- Alabama Power Co. says it is taking extra steps to conserve water because of the drought's effect on its lakes. In a news release Saturday, the company said it has reduced water releases from its hydroelectric dams to the minimum amounts required to protect fisheries, endangered species, water quality and municipal and industrial uses.

AK -- Oil industry officials in Alaska said they need to fill hundreds of jobs in preparation for more development on the North Slope and the Arctic Ocean and because of the aging of the current workforce. A proposed natural gas pipeline, which could be the largest-ever construction project in North America, would place heavy demands on the oil industry's work force

AZ -- The United States asked Mexico to arrest a Mexican suspect to be extradited in the death of a Border Patrol agent, but after the man had been freed, a Mexican government spokesman said Thursday.

AR -- Capitol City police police arrested 31-year-old Donald Hair Saturday night. He's been charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. He's accused of killing his roommate and co-worker, Jeff Southard.
CA -- Violent thunderstorms in San Francisco brought rain bursts that modestly helped firefighting efforts Sunday, but the downpours also triggered mudslides that complicated California's unfolding wildfire disaster.

CO -- Despite a good runoff season in the rockies, farmers in extreme southeast Colorado are struggling through a severe drought with precipitation 5 inches below average.

CT -- Anthony Golino, a New Haven man who was wrongly charged in the high-profile 1973 killing of Penney Serra, then 21, in a parking garage has died of cancer. He was 57. In 1984, Golino, a former classmate of Serra's, was charged with her murder. On the eve of his trial, Golino was released after tests showed his blood type did not match the killer's.

DE -- A native of the Dominican Republic is in the Young Prison on charges including criminal impersonation. Police say Jorge Mejia is a felon who has already been deported three times. He allegedly gave officers a phony driver's license when they stopped him two weeks ago during a drug investigation near Hares Corner. There were no drugs, but police seizd Mejias' car and cash - - several hundred dollars. Officers later learned his true idientify and arrested Mejias after calling him to come to police headquarters to pick up his car. He faces additonal charges that could bring him 15 years in a federal prison.

FL -- Faced with growing demand for electricity and worries about climate change, state leaders have moved forward with a strategy during the past two years: Build nuclear-power plants and look for alternative sources of clean energy.Customers of Progress Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light in 2009 likely will start paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to help finance new energy projects -- much of it for nuclear plants. The extra charges are expected at the same time customers will get hit with higher bills because of the soaring costs of coal, natural gas and oil, which fuel existing power plants.

GA -- Officials said storms caused airline delays and interrupted power and water service across metro Atlanta. There were rain-related delays of up to two hours as of 4 p.m. Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In good weather, the airport sees 120 flights per hour. Sunday the rate was down to 78 per hour. About 3,000 metro Atlantans lost power as heavy showers and thunderstorms moved through the area.

HI -- After surviving a political roadblock that threatened to delay its construction, the planned West Hawaii Civic Center project is forging ahead

ID -- Today's highly paid leaders of Boise's two big nonprofit hospitals bear little resemblance to the humble nuns and clerics who established the hospitals more than a century ago. The latest federal disclosure reports for St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus regional medical centers show the chief executive officers and other top employees draw paychecks in most cases topping $400,000 a year, plus benefits that often go far beyond standard workers' health insurance and vacation pay.

IL -- State Rep. Jay Hoffman vows to keep fighting for a capital bill to pass the Illinois General Assembly.
Hoffman spoke after Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $34 billion statewide construction program stalled again when the House rejected the proposed gambling expansion that would have provided the major source of money to pay for it.

IN -- There is such a demand for tickets to Notre Dame football games that about two out of five are distributed through a lottery that favors those who donate to the school. That process, held last week for the coming season, can push ticket prices into thousands of dollars for a pair of fans.

IA -- Residents of Des Moines’ flood-damaged Birdland neighborhood will be able to get help with prescription drugs Monday. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance will park its bus at the Highland Lutheran Church from 9-11 a.m. to meet with flood victims.

KS --Wichita State University is asking the state this week for a $31 million, five-year grant to invent and build new medical industries.

KY -- Several new laws take effect statewide Tuesday, including one that will allow charges against individuals in a position of trust or authority who have sex with teenagers between 16 and 18.

LA -- Residents living in FEMA trailers across the city of New Orleans could be cited within the next few weeks for not vacating the temporary structures.

ME -- The recent child rape conviction of a former counselor at an Androscoggin County camp has shocked members of Maine's summer camp industry, and prompted a midseason review of the systems used to screen and monitor employees.

MD -- An Annapolis teenager was arrested and charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder early yesterday in the stabbing of six people in a fight off Forest Drive in Annapolis.

MA -- Top House and Senate lawmakers are backing a bill to encourage the early identification of mental illness in children.

MI -- Stars and Stripes, the America's Cup catamaran, lost its mast less than 50 miles and 2 hours from Mackinac Island at 1 a.m. today.

MN -- For binge drinkers, the consequences have proven deathly for at least six Minnesotans, which tied the state with North Carolina for the third-most drinking deaths between 1999 and 2004, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. An analysis by the Associated Press found that 157 college-age people ages 18-23 drank themselves to death between 1995 and 2005. Eighty-three of them were younger than 21.

MS -- Cotton-related businesses across the Delta are suffering as farmers trade the former king crop for corn and soybeans. And shrinking cotton acreage may hurt not just Deltans involved in agriculture. Recent shifts in planting patterns could jeopardize the region's entire economy. Mississippi's cotton acreage has dropped by 70 percent since 2006 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the result of skyrocketing grain prices and stagnant demand for cotton.

MO -- St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. agreed Sunday to be acquired by InBev NV for $49.91 billion, creating the world's largest beer maker and placing an iconic American company in the hands of a Belgian-Brazilian giant.

MT -- The Kalispell City Council wants to talk skateboarding with anyone and everyone — especially skateboarders and people using Woodland Park — at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The workshop is to discuss skateboard-related issues at the park and in downtown Kalispell. The Woodland Park issues include numerous complaints about vandalism, underage drinking, drug use and harassment.

NE -- Future leaders were being groomed during Tomorrow’s Leaders Today. The two-day event, concluding Friday, was for high school juniors and seniors who were nominated to participate by their classmates.

NV -- Wild horse groups are outraged over plans by the BLM to euthanize thousands of wild horses that have been captured, most of them from ranges here in Nevada. BLM says it has no choice but to put horses to death because it can no longer afford to feed the ones it already has. BLM says it has no choice but to pull the trigger on thousands of captured horses. Others say BLM created this crisis by clearing 75,000 horses off the range in the last seven years, for reasons that appear specious at best.

NH -- A Brentwood couple dedicated a bench in memory of their young daughter and son who died six months ago in the care of a mentally ill aunt. Kaleigh Lambert, 5, and Shane Lambert, 4, died Jan. 11 when their aunt, Marci Thibault, intentionally carried them into traffic on Interstate 495 in Lowell, Mass. Their parents said Thibault was suffering from a sudden psychotic or delusional episode.

NJ -- The attorney for Harry Conover Jr., Monmouth County's suspended emergency management coordinator, has indicated that Conover will not accept a pretrial intervention program offer and instead will go to trial on charges of stealing 7.8 gallons of gasoline from the county motor pool, according to state Deputy Attorney General Matthew Murphy.

NM -- The Santa Fe Sheriff's Department said a man was fatally stabbed over a repair bill. Sheriff Greg Solano said Joshua Saint Martin was stabbed by Patrick Martinez after a dispute over payment for an ATV repair.

NY -- A Fredonia teenager is in critical condition after authorities say he fell off a ledge on Saturday morning.
State Police say the 17-year-old is a member of the Fredonia High Cross Country Team and that he and three other teens were jogging along Arkwright Falls in Chautauqua County. Police say the group stopped to cool off near the top of the Falls when the teen lost his footing and fell 25 feet below.

ND -- Williams County has their first human case of West Nile for the season according to the North Dakota Department of Health.

OH -- Millions of dollars designated to provide meals for needy Ohio children are going unused. About 600,000 Ohio children take part in a federal program that provides meals during the school year. But less than a tenth of them stay in the program during the summer months.

OR -- Oregon State Police troopers report that seven Roosevelt elk have been shot near the Southern Oregon town Glendale in the past eight months. Three bulls were found in a field Thursday. Local land owners and hunters have set up a $6,000 reward for information.

PA -- Next year, Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts and six other museums across the state might not receive the thousands of dollars in funding they are used to getting. The seven museums have a status none of the other 1,300 museums and historical societies in the state enjoy: They are individually listed and appropriated money in the budget.

RI -- An advisory panel monitoring Gov. Don Carcieri's executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants meets for the first time Tuesday, more than two months after it was created to appease clergy who criticized Carcieri's order.

SD -- For the fourth straight year, the Storm captured a United Indoor Football title in heart-stopping, down-to-the wire fashion - this time rallying for a 40-35 win over the Bloomington (Ill.) Extreme on Saturday before a festive Arena crowd of 4,881.

TN -- A group of local leaders has been appointed to investigate and research the feasibility of a civic or conference center located in Cleveland and Bradley County.

TX -- Three trucks found Friday at a Southeast Austin home could have been used in a human smuggling operation, Austin police said.

UT -- The members of the Central Utah Harley Owners group were delivering Christmas in July to three Utah Valley hospitals on Saturday -- 100 blankets made by volunteers with supplies paid for by the club. They parked their hogs in a neat semi-circle in front of the hospital's main doors and got a lot of stares as they trooped, riding leather and all, into pediatrics to hand over the blankets.

VT -- A leak in one of Vermont Yankee's cooling towers has state officials and legislators concerned that the owner of the nuclear power plant in Vernon is not doing all that it promised to insure the plant operates safely.

VA -- Roanoke authorities say the driver of a fuel tanker truck has died after his rig flipped over an embankment on U.S. 220 and caught fire.

WA -- Two hundred Spokane Valley residents who were forced to evacuate by Friday's destructive fire that burned 13 homes were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday.

WI -- More than 100 people rallied outside Lambeau Field Sunday to pressure the Packers into reinstating Brett Favre as starting quarterback.

WV -- Persistent overcrowding at West Virginia's two state-run psychiatric facilities has prompted the state to divert patients to community hospitals and private facilities, a practice that significantly drives up the cost of care.

WY -- Long Horn Steers meander through city streets in the annual kick-off to the Daddy of em All. The Cattle Drive began early Sunday morning from a pasture north of Cheyenne. The 550 steers along with about a dozen horses continued along I-25 and arrived at Frontier Park.


And In The Tech World
Yahoo Inc. said Saturday it rejected the latest attempt by Microsoft Corp. to buy its online search operations.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) said the "take or leave it" offer by Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) would have dismantled its Internet franchise.