Students hospitalized after Sumner Co school bus wreck

Students hospitalized after Sumner Co school bus wreckBy CHRISTIAN BOTTORFFStaff Writer
Three Sumner County students have been hospitalized this morning after their school bus was involved in a wreck with another car, said Sumner County schools spokesman Steve Doremus.
The students were being taken to Knox Doss Middle School and Station Camp High School when the crash happened at about 8 a.m. at the intersection of Big Station Camp Boulevard and Long Hollow Pike, Doremus said.
The students were not critically injured, Doremus said. One of the students has been released from the hospital, he said.The bus driver and six other students who were on the school bus were not hospitalized, Doremus said.A motorist inside the other vehicle was transported to the hospital, but that person's condition was not immediately known, Doremus said.

Search continues for missing woman in Cannon Co

WOODBURY, Tenn. (AP) -- Searchers continued looking Friday for an 86-year-old woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease whose car was found unoccupied on a mountain road.
Viella Estes has been missing since Tuesday on Short Mountain, a steep and heavily wooded area near Woodbury, about 18 miles east of Murfreesboro.Search and rescue teams were joined by volunteers searching several trails on the mountain where her car was found with her purse inside."She was raised on this mountain. She lived on various parts of this mountain and she knows this mountain," said Estes' daughter Betty Tanner."We're at a critical time," neighbor and family friend Linda Parton said Thursday afternoon -- more than two days since Estes was last known to have eaten and taken her medication.

Maury County raid chills immigrant community

By CLAY CAREY,BRAD SCHRADEand JANELL ROSSStaff Writers
COLUMBIA, Tenn. — Two dozen illegal immigrants were arrested and processed for deportation this week after happening upon a mobile home where police and federal agents were investigating a case, residents of a local trailer park said Thursday.
The arrests and apparently imminent deportation of 23 males and one female in Maury County sent shockwaves through the Midstate's Hispanic community, where some feared the raid could create a rift between Hispanics and law enforcement that would be very difficult to repair.

"These types of actions send ripples of fear throughout a community," said Jessica Baba, public awareness coordinator with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
"Fear causes people to stop reporting crimes and talking to police. That is a threat to public safety," Baba said. "Going after one person is one thing. We're not going to dispute that. Going after an entire community is entirely different."
Others, like Theresa Harmon, co-founder of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies, think the arrests are a step in the right direction.
"If (police) have a reasonable suspicion that I'm driving drunk, they're going to pull me over to find out. The same thing usually applies across the board to everything except illegal aliens," Harmon said.
"That's got to stop. … As long as our law enforcement agencies look the other way, that makes us a sanctuary" for illegal immigrants, Harmon said.
Many law enforcement agencies, like the Metro Police Department, have said their officers will not take part in immigration enforcement, fearing that such actions could lead immigrants to be uncooperative with police. Several attempts to call Maury County Sheriff's Department officials and federal authorities on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Details of arrests hazy
Two days after the raid, details of the arrests are hazy.
Sheriff's deputies and federal immigration agents have said they went to the Countryside Mobile Village Tuesday morning in search of a teenage boy and his mother. Police learned the two were in the United States illegally after the boy brought a gun to school.
While they were there, they took 22 more illegal Mexican immigrants into custody.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They (immigration agents and officers) were everywhere," said Antonio Gonzalez, 20, a neighbor and acquaintance of several of the people arrested.
Angela Leyva, sister-in-law and aunt of two of the arrestees and a legal U.S. citizen, said the family's trailer had been surrounded by patrol cars.
Two immigration officials entered the house. People who lived nearby gathered to watch, Leyva said. Then, immigration officials began asking people in the crowd about their immigration status. Some people were followed back to their trailers, asked to produce documents, and then arrested when they could not, Leyva said.
Barbara Haskins said her fiancé, Luis Enrique Sanchez Castro, told her a similar story Tuesday night when she found him locked in the Maury County Jail. Sanchez Castro pulled up in front of a trailer a few doors down from the Leyvas' Tuesday morning. He was there to pick up a co-worker.
Something about the blue Ford must have caught law enforcement's attention. Officers headed toward the car. One occupant hopped out and ran. But Sanchez and three co-workers were arrested.
Sheriff Enoch George and his staff were unavailable to discuss the raid Thursday, but on Wednesday Capt. Nathan Johns said carloads of illegal immigrants approached them.
Angela Leyva said she heard from her nephew — the boy who brought the gun to school — on Wednesday. He said he was in a holding facility, he thought in New Jersey. Last the family heard from her sister-in-law, she was in a holding facility in Franklin, expecting to go to Texas for a hearing before being deported to Mexico.
"For (authorities) to say they can't tell us anything — that's not right," Leyva said. "(Where) they're going or how we can find out what's happening to them; they're not letting us know anything."
'Right to remain silent'
People crossing border checkpoints can be searched, questioned or detained even if there's no obvious proof that they're entering illegally, said Jerry Gonzalez, a Nashville civil rights attorney.
Once they're here, a law enforcement officer has the authority to walk up and ask them if they're here illegally — but that doesn't always mean they'll be arrested.
If an immigrant doesn't make that admission, but an officer has an "objectively reasonable suspicion" that the immigrant is a criminal, the officer can detain him for questioning, Gonzalez said.
That detention is only supposed to last as long as it takes to figure out if the crime was committed. "We're talking 20 minutes," he said.
But most immigrants who are deported convict themselves under police questioning, Gonzalez said.
"Most illegal aliens are determined to be illegal because an (immigration) agent asks them 'are you illegal' and they say 'oh, you got me. I'm illegal.' And then they take them. Generally, everybody has the right to remain silent. … Nobody can compel them to speak."
Though some police officers will take it upon themselves to question Hispanics about their immigration status, "most enlightened law enforcement agencies" frown on the practice, said Elliott Ozment, a Nashville attorney who specializes in immigration issues.
"It could expose that law enforcement agency to very serious charges of discrimination," he said.
None of that mattered much to those left behind at the Countryside Mobile Village. Leyva said she had to explain to her daughters where their cousin and their aunt had gone.
"I told them they came and got them and took them back to Mexico," Leyva said, explaining that her 6-year-old was particularly confused. "She wanted to know why. How do you explain that to a kid?"

Save the Planet: Stop Having Babies

London (CNSNews.com) - Reducing the number of children couples have is the best way to fight climate change, according to a British environmental group.The UK's Optimum Population Trust (OPT) says in a report that population growth is one of the main causes of "global warming" but adds that both politicians and other green groups are loathe to talk about it.Using fewer resources and "greener" technologies helps combat climate change, it said, but the most effective strategy would be to limit the number of humans on the planet.The OPT said that during an 80-year lifespan, a Briton born today will produce 744 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas many scientists blame for changes in global temperatures.If birth control prevented this hypothetical baby from being born, the group said, then society would be saved from having to deal with his or her environmental cost.Trust co-chairwoman Valerie Stevens said that advocating population control was not going to make her group popular, but that it needed to be done."These are hugely important issues and the unfortunate fact is that both politicians and the environmental movement are in denial about them," she said in a statement. "It's high time we started discussing them like adults and confronting the real challenges of climate change."To achieve the required population reduction, the trust says people should be encouraged to have only one or two children -- not through any form of coercion but by making them aware of the effects of having larger families.The group also wants to limit immigration into the United Kingdom, to keep the population stable, and to provide all British citizens with access to reproductive services including birth control and abortion.Though the trust has been linked to the "voluntary human extinction movement" -- an even more radical philosophy that says all humans should stop reproducing to save the Earth - spokesman David Nicholson said Wednesday that it opposed that concept. He confirmed that some OPT members consider themselves members of the loosely organized extinction movement.Greenpeace spokesman James Holland Thursday declined to comment on the OPT stance and its implied criticism of other environmental groups, while Friends of the Earth spokeswoman Nicola Jackson said that her group had no policy on population growth.In a brief statement, the Green Party of Great Britain said an increased population was not much of a problem as long as it was accompanied by sustainable growth policies.James Casford, an expert in climate change at Durham University, said Thursday that while reducing population growth seemed to be an attractive option, it wasn't the panacea that the trust hoped it would be.So much damage has already been done to the Earth, he said, that the world population would have to be cut by half before anyone could see long-term results."Unless you're going to go out and shoot those people today, it's not going to have much of an effect," he said.However, Casford said the world would have to consider seriously the moral and practical consequences of having large families.How?In the past few decades, Casford said, many environmental groups have looked at the issue of population reduction but now most of them shy away from the sensitive subject.Population reduction was official policy of the British Green Party in the late 1980s, but the Greens eventually dropped it after a barrage of bad publicity, Casford recalled.He also noted that environmental groups were never clear about exactly how the size of families would be kept small."There's an ethical issue about how you reduce people's effort to have children," he said. "That's a question that's never been tackled by the Green movement."One government that has instituted a coercive policy aimed at cutting the population is that of communist China.Introduced in 1979, Beijing's "one-child policy" restricts urban couples to one child, and rural dwellers to two children if their first is a girl. Members of ethnic minorities may have two or three children, and various provinces also allow other exceptions - for example, allowing an additional child if the firstborn is disabled.In China, sons are expected to look after parents in old age, and the policy has led some couples to abort baby girls, even though the government officially has outlawed sex-selective abortions.The restrictions, coercive practices, and abortion of unwanted baby girls have been blamed for a growing gender imbalance in Chinese society.The Chinese government denies that it enforces the one-child policy through any means other than financial incentives and punitive fines, but officials in provinces around the country are accused of violations as they aim to meet birth control quotas set by Beijing.

Why gasoline prices are rising while oil isn't

May 17 2007: 4:32 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Last summer when oil traded at a record high near $79 a barrel, gas at the pump went for about $3.03 a gallon. Today, crude's about $65 a barrel and a gallon of regular unleaded costs $3.10
Doesn't seem right, does it? The price of a barrel of crude ought to be a better benchmark for what you pay at the gas pump.
In today's economy, though, that type of formula is out the window, a relic from the days when refineries kept crude stocks high during winter months and Americans didn't drive longer and longer distances to get to home, work and play.
Nowadays, pump prices are determined far more by supply and demand for gasoline than by how much traders buy and sell crude for on the open market.
The bad boys of oil
"Forget everything you ever learned or ever read about the connection of crude oil prices to gasoline, because there is a disconnect today," said petroleum industry consultant Tim Hamilton. "All the price of oil does is establish a floor of what the price is going to be in the country."
Hamilton, who works with Oilwatch.org, a consumer group based in Santa Monica, Calif., advised that instead we should pay attention to the supply of gasoline for delivery to the marketplace, as well as the consumer habits that determine price.
"What's going to tell you the maximum price is going to be the supply of refined product," he said. "Supply of the finished product is short and the price is going up accordingly, and it's all profit for the refineries."
Over the last three months, gasoline stockpiles got drained more quickly than at any time in the history of record-keeping by the Energy Information Administration, the government's top energy forecaster. Couple that with continued high demand, which the EIA said rose about 1.0 percent from last year over that period, and that weighs heavily on the price of gas.
Other factors are at work. Geopolitical tensions, like the war in Iraq, political unrest in Nigeria and last year's nuclear tension in North Korea, also factor in. And this year's cold April caused a spike in demand, particularly in the Northeast, while seasonal changeover at refineries to meet reformulation requirements play a role as well.
The industry also has been hampered somewhat by a spate of outages at refineries, which are running at just 89.5 percent of capacity, rather than the 90-plus typical for this time of year. Finally, the main grade of U.S. crude, West Texas Intermediate, is trading below most other grades of oil worldwide, meaning U.S. refiners are effectively paying more on average for crude oil.
Behind high gas prices: The refinery crunch
In fact, some analysts see nothing particularly unusual about this year's spike in gasoline prices, at least in terms of recent trends, and expect prices to ease somewhat.
"Indeed, if you check a chart of past oil prices you'll see that last year the peak was around this time and prices fell later in the year," said Peter Grossman, an analyst at Butler University. "We should expect to see prices fall toward the end of summer. The futures market certainly expects it. Gasoline futures prices are falling even as pump prices rise."
Don't expect a steep fall, though. The EIA, whose previous per-gallon estimates have been shattered by continuously increasing prices, said in its latest report Wednesday afternoon that demand should keep prices around $3 through the summer.
In any event, if gas prices tumbled suddenly, that could spark a rush of buying that would force prices back up again - or at least put a floor under them.
Besides, judging by current demand levels, the driving public doesn't seem bothered enough to cut back much or even park their vehicles altogether. And it's that demand, after all, that goes a long way in determining which way prices will go.
"Once we got through a threshold high like last year and broke that $3-a-gallon barrier, the public gets accustomed to it and they go back to buying as normal," Hamilton said. "If it goes to $3.50 will they slow down? We don't know."

Pistons Bounce Bulls In Six Games

(Undated) -- For the fifth straight year, the Detroit Pistons are headed to the NBA's Eastern Conference finals. Detroit moved on last night beating the Chicago Bulls 95-85 in game six of their playoff series. Detroit will play either Cleveland or New Jersey in the East finals. Tonight, the Cavaliers and Nets resume their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup. Out West, it's Game Six of the Western Conference semifinal series between Phoenix and San Antonio. The Spurs hold a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Spain Prosecutor Wants Charges Against Troops Dropped

(Madrid) -- The decision by Spain's high court to charge three U.S. soldiers with murder is being appealed by a prosecutor. The public prosecutor says the soldiers in the U.S. tank that opened fire on a Baghdad hotel were acting in "the context of war" and should not be charged with the murder of a television cameraman. An investigation conducted by the U.S. military found that the tank crew acted within the rules of engagement

Big Payout To California Police Officers Over Harassment

(South Gate, CA) -- Four minority police officers have won a big settlement for harassment on the job. The California quartet were awarded ten-point-four-million-dollars yesterday because of their ties to a pair of controversial Latino city officials. According to the "Los Angeles Times," the illegal harassment was linked to the cops association with former South Gate police chief Rick Lopez and Treasurer Albert Robles. Lopez was recently ousted as police chief in a recall election, while Robles was sentenced to ten years in prison for embezzlement.

"Barbie Bandit" Says Robberies Started As A Joke

(Atlanta, GA) -- One of the so-called "Barbie Bandits" says the robberies started out as a joke. Heather Johnston giggled her way through an interview this morning on ABC's "Good Morning America." She said the idea of robbing a bank began as a joke between her and co-defendant Ashley Miller. The pair allegedly stole almost eleven-thousand-dollars from a Georgia bank in a scheme that involved a bank teller at the Bank of America branch. Johnston told GMA that she and Miller "went straight to the mall" after the robbery. All three suspects are out on bond pending their trial.

Arrest Made In Orange County Church Sex Attack

(Middletown, NY) -- There's been an arrest in the attack on a woman at church. It happened at a Catholic church in Middletown, New York and was captured on video. The 59-year-old woman managed to stab her attacker with a pen after he lunged at her. She was praying and writing in her journal at the time of the incident. In light of the attack, other parishioners are now offering to pray at the church during the same hours as the incident. Middletown Police say the woman pressed a panic button in the chapel during the attack, but it didn't work.

Rain Helped Douse New Jersey Wildfire, Still Needed In Florida

(Barnegat, NJ) -- Rain has helped put out one wildfire, while it's desperately needed at the scene of another. Wednesday's rainstorm along the East coast was largely responsible for putting out the fire that's been raging in southern New Jersey since late Tuesday. Meanwhile, rain is not in the forecast in Florida, where a giant wildfire is now 65-percent contained. The fire has been burning for eleven days and has scorched 120-thousand acres. Crews have been setting back fires in hopes of robbing the flames of more fuel.

Bush Praises Senate Immigration Deal

(Washington, DC) -- President Bush is hailing the Senate's bipartisan deal on immigration reform. Saying the compromise legislation will help enforce borders while treating people with respect, the President says the bill will reach that goal "without amnesty." Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy says the proposal goes "beyond bumper sticker solutions," while Arizona Republican Jon Kyl calls the reform proposal a response to voters who have been calling for a solution to illegal immigration.

College Graduates Find Employers Coming To Call

(Undated) -- Recent college graduates may not have to spend much of their summer pounding the pavement for a job. That's according to "USA Today," which says the job market is looking pretty good for recent grads. According to the newspaper, some employers are offering perks like signing bonuses and flat-screen TVs to woo this year's best and brightest college graduates. Employers answering a job outlook survey say they plan to hire nearly 20-percent more new grads this year. Those with business or engineering degrees are getting the most attention and best perks.

Former President Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh Meet

(Undated) -- They're at opposite ends of the political spectrum, but that didn't stop radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh from a friendly chat with former President Bill Clinton. The two bumped into each other earlier this week at a New York steak house and exchanged small talk. Limbaugh says Clinton took an interest in his female dinner companion, while the talk show host chatted with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In a posting on his website, Limbaugh said they all enjoyed the exchange and it continued afterwards as everyone left the restaurant.

Virginia Gun Giveaway Held To Protest NYC Mayor

(Annandale, VA) -- A controversial gun giveaway last night in Annandale, Virginia drew more than 200 people. The event was dubbed the Bloomberg Gun Giveaway, as a protest against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's assault on gun deals in Virginia. Seven Virginia gun dealers are being sued by New York City after undercover agents conducted a sting operation on their shops. The prizes at last night's event were a semi-automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun, and the winners got to take their guns home after passing a background check.

Two Lawmen Killed In Texas Shootout

(Payne Springs, TX) -- Two Texas deputies are dead and another is hospitalized after a shootout outside a rural home near the small town of Payne Springs. According to investigators, 47-year-old Randall Mays began shooting at officers who were responding to a 911 call from a neighbor who said Mays was chasing his wife with a handgun. According to witnesses, Mays tried to lure police into gunshot range by pretending to surrender. As police moved closer he opened fire. The shootout ended when Mays was shot. He is expected to recover.

Senate Democrats Want No-Confidence Vote On Alberto Gonzales

(Washington, DC) -- Two leading Senate Democrats want a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. New York Senator Chuck Schumer and California Senator Diane Feinstein say Gonzales has lost his credibility as head of the Justice Department. At a Capitol Hill news conference yesterday, Feinstein cited a number of complaints against Gonzales including his failure to provide adequate information about the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

New Immigrant Deal Not Well Received By All

(Seattle, WA) -- Some immigrant rights groups aren't optimistic about the immigration overhaul agreed to by the Bush Administration and the Senate. Under the deal announced yesterday, illegal immigrants would be allowed to come forward and get a "Z Visa" after paying fees and a five-thousand-dollar fine. They would then begin an eight to 13-year process to gain permanent residency. While waiting, heads of household would have to return to their homelands. Skills and education levels would be put above family connections in determining a person's permanent legal status.

Wisconsin Man OK After Truck Runs Over His Head

MADISON, Wis. — A delivery truck ran over a cyclist's head, leaving him only with a concussion and a mangled helmet.
Ryan Lipscomb, 26, was shaken up, especially after he saw the condition of his helmet.
"I didn't see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head," he said. "It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head."
Lipscomb, a graduate student in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was riding swiftly down a bike path in Madison Friday afternoon. As he approached an intersection where he said he had a green light, he noticed the truck preparing to make a right turn in front of him.
The truck wasn't going to stop, Lipscomb said, so he slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and landing in the street.
A moment later the truck rolled over his head — and kept going.
His black Giro helmet was flattened, tread marks visible on the cracked frame.
Lipscomb was taken to the hospital and released about three hours later.
"I'm OK except for a concussion," he said Friday night.
Police initially declined to call the incident a hit-and-run, saying it was unclear whether the driver knew someone had been hit. But Sgt. Bernie Gonzalez later updated the accident report to include the designation.
Lipscomb said he was already in the street as the truck was turning.
"The truck driver definitely would have known," he said. "You know when you run over a curb and my head was definitely higher than a curb."
A message left for police spokesman Mike Hanson was not immediately returned Sunday.

Crash Victim Says He Spent 90 Minutes In Heaven

A Texas man claims he died in a car wreck and spent 90 minutes in heaven.
Don Piper was driving on a Texas bridge when a truck slammed into his Ford Escort, he said.
More: What Is Your Vision Of Heaven?
Emergency medical technicians worked on Piper, trying to revive him. He was pronounced dead for an hour and a half, an EMT said.
"When I died I didn't float through a long dark tunnel I had no sense of fading away. A light enveloped me with a brilliance beyond Earthly comprehension or description in my next moment of awareness... I was standing in heaven," said Piper.
Almost every bone in Don Piper's body was broken, doctors said. He stayed in the hospital for over a year and underwent 34 surgeries.
Now, Piper speaks at churches across the country.
"I needed to tell people heaven is real. It is the most real thing I have ever seen, and even if you have had a great tragedy or enormous situation in your life you can have a meaningful life on the other side," Piper said.
Piper has written a book about his trip beyond, titled "90 Minutes in Heaven." With over 1 million copies sold, it is now a New York Times Best Seller.
Piper will be in Oklahoma June 3-6 speaking at a church in Lindsay

DaimlerChrysler AG Posts First Quarter Net Profits

(Auburn Hill, MI) -- DaimlerChrysler AG has posted first quarter net profits of two-point-six-billion-dollars. The news comes as the automaker meets today with Cerberus management, the leaders of the United Workers, as well as the Canadian Auto Workers. It was announced yesterday that the private equity firm Cerberus is buying an 80-percent interest in the Chrysler Group.

Search Continues For Three U.S. Soldiers Missing In Iraq

(Baghdad) -- The search continues for three U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq. The soldiers disappeared Saturday after their convoy was ambushed in an area known as the "Triangle of Death." Four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraq army translator were also killed in the attack. The three missing soldiers are believed to be held captive by a group linked to al-Qaeda, who has claimed they will kill soldiers if the U.S. troop search isn't called off.

EIA: Gas Prices Could Begin To Ease Soon

(Washington, DC) -- Despite record highs at the gas pump, motorists may soon get some relief when they fill up. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says gas price may begin to fall once more refineries come back online to help boost motor fuel and gasoline imports. This comes after yesterday's announcement that the national average for a gallon of regular gas hit three-dollars-ten-cents. The head of the EIA said as refinery productions improve during the rest of May, "gas markets may ease somewhat." He added, however, that gas markets will "remain fairly tight this summer."

Firefighters Continue To Battle Blazes in Florida, Georgia

(Ellijay, GA) -- Firefighters in Florida and Georgia continue to have their hands full battling wildfires. In northern Florida, there are more than 235 active fires. The largest, the so-called "Bugaboo Fire," has charred about 100-thousand acres and is only 30-percent contained. Smoke from that blaze is causing low visibility on some interstates. There's also a 900-acre blaze in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia. That fire is about 80-percent contained.

Republicans Meet In Debate Tonight

(Columbia, SC) -- The GOP candidates hoping to become the next president will be in South Carolina tonight for their second debate. The frontrunners for the Presidential nomination include Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. According to a recent "Fox News" poll, Giuliani and McCain are in a statistical dead heat, with Romney trailing far behind. The debate is being sponsored by Fox News and will be broadcast live from Columbia beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Jerry Falwell Reportedly Dies After Being Hospitalized In Virginia

(Lynchburg, VA) -- There are reports Reverend Jerry Falwell, the former head of the Moral Majority, has died at the age of 73. Falwell was taken to a Lynchburg, Virginia hospital after being found unconscious this morning. The head of Liberty University was found in his office after missing an appointment. Falwell launched the Moral Majority in 1979 to encourage Christians to take part in the political process. The organization became a household name for its stances on moral and social issues.

Eight Attorney Generals Ask MySpace For Information On Thousands Of Users

(Boston, MA) -- Federal officials are demanding that MySpace owners hand over the names and addresses of thousands of convicted sex offenders whom they believe are using the website to contact children. Attorneys general from eight states sent a letter to the unit of News Corp. that runs the popular social networking site. MySpace has come under fire in recent months for allegedly not doing enough to protect younger subscribers from adult sexual predators who pose at teens.

Ten-Month-Old Boy Has Firearm Owners Card

(Pullman, IL) -- A ten-month-old boy has an Illinois-issued firearm owners card. His father, columnist Howard Ludwig, says it's because his son got a gun handed down to him. Ludwig says according to state law, he had to register the gun and make it look like his son filled out the application. He says for the baby's signature, he had his son scribble something on the signature line.

Bush Presses Fuel Standards And Efficiency

(Washington, DC) -- President Bush said America's dependency on oil leaves the nation more vulnerable to dangerous regimes and terror attacks on its oil supply. He made the statements from the Rose Garden today as he addressed the issues of fuel standards and high gas prices. Bush spoke about the plan he laid out in his State of the Union speech that would reduce American gasoline usage by 20-percent over the next ten years. The plan will be introduced to Congress soon, and comes in two parts. The first will be to set a mandatory fuel standard. The second will be to continue efforts to increase fuel efficiency across the board. Bush said setting a mandatory fuel standard would include adding 35-billion gallons of alternative fuels by 2017.

President Being Kept Up To Date On Missing Soldiers

(Washington, DC) -- President Bush is being kept up-to-date on missing soldiers in Iraq. White House spokesman Tony Snow wouldn't comment on reports that alleged kidnappers have threatened to harm the soldiers unless the U.S. backs off its search. Earlier today, military officials said they believe an al-Qaeda linked group in Iraq is holding the three U.S. soldiers who have been missing since Saturday

Padilla Terrorism Trial Begins In Miami

(Miami, FL) -- Opening statements are being delivered in the trial of Jose Padilla [[ pah-DEE-yah ]] and two co-defendants. They are accused of helping to send money, resources and new recruits to Islamic terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda. Prosecutor Brian Frazier told the 12-member federal jury that charitable organizations were used to funnel cash from an American-based terror cell to help radical Islamist movements in Kosovo, Somalia and Lebanon.

Crew Members Taking Damaged Cruise Ship Back To Port

(Juneau, AK) -- More than 200 passengers have been evacuated from a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Alaska. The boat ran into something while sailing in an area called Icy Straits. The ship did take on water for a while, but the pumps were engaged shortly afterwards. The ship isn't in danger of sinking, according to officials with the ship's owner, Majestic America. Crew members remain on board to take the ship back to Juneau.

Girl Dies Falling From Chair With Scissors

VERONA BEACH, N.Y. -- Police in Verona Beach, N.Y., say a six-year-old died while reaching for scissors on top of a refrigerator when she fell from a chair and the blades stabbed her in the neck.
The girl apparently wanted the scissors to cut off gum that was stuck in her hair.
Police said she was standing on a wheeled, office-style chair when it moved and she lost her balance Friday night. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The girl's parents and her younger brother were in the house about 25 miles northeast of Syracuse, but no one saw the girl fall.

Executed man gets last meal wish after he dies

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A convicted murderer put to death in Tennessee this week got his last meal wish after he died.
Philip Workman had turned down the usual final meal of his choice traditionally offered the condemned, asking instead that a vegetarian pizza be given to a homeless person.
Prison officials refused to send out a pizza and Workman died Wednesday by lethal injection.
But news accounts of his request touched a nerve with the public.
Nashville's Union Rescue Mission received 170 pizzas. Media reports said listeners to a radio station in Minnesota also ordered pizzas sent to another organization for troubled youngsters.
Dorinda Carter, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction, said, "Taxes are to be spent on specific things for the care of the inmates." But she acknowledged there was no regulation against carrying out Workman's request.
An official at the mission said "the pizzas were enjoyed greatly by our clientele."

Katrina Dips in Popularity As Baby Name

By BEN EVANS Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
U.S. Video


WASHINGTON (AP) -- As baby names go, Katrina isn't in vogue these days. But she isn't persona non grata, either. From its peak in the 1980s - when it regularly ranked among the 100 most popular names that parents chose for their daughters - it had gradually slumped to 247th by 2005, even before Hurricane Katrina smashed the Gulf Coast in late summer of that year.
The name's association with the catastrophe has now knocked it out of consideration for most parents, sinking its popularity to the lowest ebb since the 1950s.
Only about 850 baby girls in the United States were named Katrina last year, according to new data released Friday by the Social Security Administration, dropping it more than 100 slots on the popularity list. At a rank of 382nd, it now sits just below Brenna.
Ironically, the two states that suffered most of Katrina's wrath bucked the trend, if only in small numbers. In Louisiana, the number of babies named Katrina jumped from eight in the 12 months before the storm to 15 in the 12 months after, according to state health officials. In Mississippi, seven babies were given the name from 2004 until the storm hit in August 2005, according to state data. The number climbed to 24 from September 2005 through the end of 2006.
Overall, the country's most popular names list hasn't changed much since 2005. Emily and Jacob remain atop the list. Emily has been the top girls' name since 1996; Jacob for boys since 1999.
The national trend surprised Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor and names expert at Bellevue University in Nebraska. But he said Katrina isn't likely to go extinct.
"This is not going to be a name like Adolf that's going to disappear and be unusable ever again," he said, referring to that name's association with Adolf Hitler.
Scarlett and Stephen Billis, a Los Angeles-area couple who named their daughter Katrina last May.
Scarlett said the couple was reluctant to use the name less than a year after the hurricane, but her husband had always liked it as a variation of Katherine, a family name. Also, their family is Greek and the name is close to the popular Greek name Katerina.
"People ask if we named her after the hurricane," Billis said. "We didn't pick it because of that and we were actually hesitant ... but we do joke that our house looks like a hurricane hit."
The Social Security Administration's rankings, released each year just before Mother's Day, are based on some 4.2 million Social Security card applications from 2006.
Social Security began compiling the name lists in 1997. The agency offers lists of baby names for each year since 1880 on its Web site: http://www.socialsecurity.gov

MPAA Now To Factor Smoking Into Ratings System

(Los Angeles, CA) -- Characters lighting up in a film will be now be considered when it comes to ratings assignment. The Motion Picture Association of America says it will factor in three issues in connection with smoking, including pervasiveness, glamorization and historic or mitigating context. The move comes after a campaign started in March to impose a mandatory "R" rating on any movie that contains smoking.

Filmmaker Michael Moore Under Federal Investigation

(Undated) -- Filmmaker Michael Moore is being investigated for alleged violations of a U.S. trade embargo following a trip to Cuba. Moore reportedly took 9-11 workers to the communist country to seek medical care and filmed the trek as part of a documentary examining the U.S. health care industry. In a letter sent to Moore, the Treasury Department said it has no record of Moore getting a license that authorized him to "engage in travel-related transaction involving Cuba."

Virginia Tech To Hold Graduation Ceremonies Today

(Blacksburg, VA) -- Less than one month after a gunman cut short the lives of 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech, the university will hold its graduation ceremony tonight. Images of the those killed will be shown on a large screen and family members of the victims will receive class rings. A total of 35-hundred students are getting bachelor's degrees, while eleven-hundred will get their graduate degrees. The keynote speaker at today's ceremony is General John Abizaid, the former commander of the U.S. Central Command.

President Bush Delivers Commencement At Pennsylvania College

(Latrobe, PA) -- Praising the "volunteer spirit" that exists in America, President Bush says it is vital that young Americans step forward and answer a calling that is much larger than themselves. Speaking at graduation ceremonies held at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Bush called on the graduates to find a need that has to be met and to try and make a difference in the country. Bush noted that people can get more out of performing service to others than any other calling.

Fort Dix Suspects Ordered To Be Held Without Bail

(Camden, NJ) -- A federal judge has ordered the six so-called domestic terrorists to be held without bail following a one-hour detention hearing at a Camden, New Jersey courthouse. The six men were nabbed by federal prosecutors this week for allegedly orchestrating a plot to attack Fort Dix and other key military bases. The judge refused bail considerations believing the "Fort Dix Six" are flight risks and pose threats to the community. A separate bail-consideration hearing for one of the suspects is scheduled for next week.

California's Catalina Island On Fire, Four-Thousand Acres Burned

(Avalon, CA) -- More than four-thousand acres of California's Catalina Island have been charred by a wildfire. Several homes and buildings have been destroyed by the fast-moving blaze since it broke out yesterday, but luckily no major injuries have been reported. Thick smoke and falling ash have forced hundreds of residents and tourists to flee the main town of Avalon. Meanwhile, two juveniles have been arrested and charged with arson in connection with the Georgia wildfires. Authorities say bloodhounds led them to a 12-year-old suspect, who was arrested along with a 16-year-old.

California's Catalina Island On Fire, Four-Thousand Acres Burned

(Avalon, CA) -- More than four-thousand acres of California's Catalina Island have been charred by a wildfire. Several homes and buildings have been destroyed by the fast-moving blaze since it broke out yesterday, but luckily no major injuries have been reported. Thick smoke and falling ash have forced hundreds of residents and tourists to flee the main town of Avalon. Meanwhile, two juveniles have been arrested and charged with arson in connection with the Georgia wildfires. Authorities say bloodhounds led them to a 12-year-old suspect, who was arrested along with a 16-year-old.

Two Juveniles Arrested For Arson In Georgia Wildfires

(Waycross, GA) -- Authorities have arrested two juveniles in connection with the wildfires that continue to char sections of southeast Georgia. The pair has been charged with arson. The arrests were made after investigators used bloodhounds to follow a footprint that had been left at the scene. Meanwhile, it looks like what's left of sub-tropical Storm Andrea will not bring enough rain to dampen the three-week-old fire that has consumed over 106-thousand acres.

Kentucky Attorney General Sues Marathon Oil Corporation

(Frankfort, KY) -- The Bluegrass State has filed suit against several major oil companies for allegedly overcharging Kentucky consumers by more than 89-million-dollars. The litigation was filed yesterday against the Marathon Oil Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Company and Speedway SuperAmerica. State Attorney General Greg Stumbo said the suit follows an 18-month investigation that uncovered a massive overcharge for gasoline, which he says has affected nearly every family and business in the state.

White House: Blair Is Friend And Extraordinary Leader

(Washington, DC) -- The White House is praising outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a friend and an extraordinary leader. White House Spokesman Tony Snow said Blair demonstrated his ability to work with presidents of both parties, yet maintain a long alliance of strategic importance with the U.S. Blair announced this morning that he would submit his resignation as Prime Minister on June 27th. In delivering the news, Blair noted that during his ten years in office, his government has provided more jobs, economic growth and better health care.

Embattled Attorney General Defends Attorney Firings

(Washington, DC) -- For the second time in a month, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is before Congress defending the firings of eight U.S. prosecutors. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, the embattled Gonzales praised the fired Republican prosecutors, but repeated assertions that the terminations were appropriate. Gonzales again acknowledged that the firings were handled poorly and rejected assertions that the U.S. attorneys were fired to achieve "partisan political gain."

Qaeda-led Group Posts Executions Of Abducted Officers On Web

(Dubai, Iraq) -- A video of the executions of nine abducted Iraqi police and army officers has been posted to the Internet. The footage showed a member of the Islamic State in Iraq shooting the hostages in the head with a pistol as they kneeled in an open field. The executions were carried out after the Iraqi government failed to meet a 72 hour deadline to surrender officers suspected of raping a Sunni Muslim woman. The militant group also demanded the release of additional officers suspected of violence against Sunni Muslims.

Bush Takes Part In Strategy Meeting At Pentagon

(Washington, DC) -- The troop surge in Iraq continues to take shape and needs time to work. That's the word from President Bush, who took part in a strategy meeting at the Pentagon. Bush cited ongoing progress in the training and integration of Iraqi security forces, and said they are working closely with U.S. forces in the new Baghdad security plan. The President again argued that the "consequences of failure" would be disastrous for the broader Middle East and the U.S.

Bush Gets Pentagon Briefing, Lawmakers Give Warning

(Washington, DC) -- President Bush will be briefed this morning on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The President visits the Pentagon while the House considers a short-term spending bill for the war. Meanwhile, a group of moderate Republicans have delivered a blunt warning to the President. During a meeting earlier this week, the eleven GOP House members told Bush that conditions in Iraq must improve "quickly" or he will lose more of his party's support. The group reportedly told Bush that the White House has "lost its credibility" on the war.

Parts Of Midwest Reeling From Flood Waters

(Undated) -- The same storm that brought a deadly tornado to Kansas dumped torrential rains on parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas. The floodwaters are being measured in feet instead of inches and some rivers are continuing to rise. In Oklahoma, flood warnings continue for the North Canadian river near Yukon, while the Missouri River is more than a foot above flood stage and still rising in some areas. In St. Charles, Missouri, the river is expected to crest about eight-feet above flood stage sometime next week.

Southern California, Georgia Fires Continue To Burn

(Undated) -- The Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles has now burned more than 800-acres, but the good news is that fire officials expect to have it fully contained by tonight. It's the park's worst fire in three decades, and is believed to have been started by a cigarette. The fire news isn't as good in Georgia, where authorities don't think that sub-tropical storm Andrea will bring enough rain to help put out a three-week-old wildfire. That blaze has burned more than 106-thousand acres, and has crossed over into Florida.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair Resigning In June

(Trimdon) -- Tony Blair will submit his resignation as Britain's Prime Minister on June 27th. Blair made it official this morning, saying he's had a good run and that ten years as Prime Minister is "long enough." He said sometimes the only way to "conquer the pull of power is to set it down." The Labor Party's most successful leader, Blair won three consecutive elections and said his government brought more jobs, economic growth and better health care to Britain during his tenure. The outgoing Prime Minister has thrown his support behind Finance Minister Gordon Brown as the Labor Party's next leader.

Virginia Tech Cell Phone Headed To Washington Museum

(Washington, DC) -- A cell phone used by a Virginia Tech student during the shooting there is headed for a Washington, DC museum. The student used the phone to take video and capture sounds during the massacre that killed 33 people. Some of that video was broadcast around the world and was the only footage that captured the gunfire outside Norris Hall. During the one-minute video about two dozen shots are heard. The phone is headed to a museum that documents the history of journalism.

Tennessee bees have struggled for many years

Many beekeepers discover past winter hard on hives

By ANNE PAINE Staff Writer

ARRINGTON — Brown shreds hung like burst balloons from a tulip poplar tree beside Jim Garrison's beehives.
What would have been blooms with nectar and pollen for the honeybees coming and going from the wooden boxes had withered in a killing frost.

The unpredictable climate is just one of the threats to the buzzing, flying insects, which the Tennessee Beekeepers Association says are key among the pollinators responsible for every third bite of food eaten in the country.
Honeybees alone are credited with pollinating crops worth more than $14 billion nationally and $67 million in Tennessee and include pumpkins, squash, cucumbers and watermelon.
Their most recent nemesis is a mysterious phenomenon called "colony collapse disorder." Nationally, it is devastating masses of commercial colonies — more than half in some cases — that are counted on to help produce fruit and vegetable crops.
Tennessee, a state of bee hobbyists, has not encountered this in a major way, but honeybees here are still struggling.
The number of honey-producing colonies in the state has dropped by 95 percent since the 1980s. Garrison, who has about 45 hives and is president of the beekeepers group, said he lost about a fifth of his bees over the winter.
What's happening nationally gives pause to farmers like Mack Moss of Mt. Juliet.
"I'm a little bit concerned," he said.
Moss relies on honeybees for plump, well-shaped pumpkins for his pick-your-own extravaganza that draws thousands of people to his farm, Pumpkin Hill, each October.
Garrison says he lost so many bees this winter probably due to starvation. A dry summer and fall meant less nectar from flowers, which meant less honey.
Many may have starved
A mild winter then resulted in bees moving around more in the hives — rather than bunching up to stay warm — so they ate more honey, Garrison said.
It wasn't enough, and he should have fed them more sugar water, he said. Other beekeepers reported similar losses.
Colony collapse disorder was first seen with a migratory beekeeper who moves about 3,000 colonies along the East Coast to pollinate crops, including oranges, blueberries and pumpkins, according to the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
A colony often has from 6,000 to 50,000 bees, depending on the time of year. In October, the beekeeper found that two-thirds of his colonies were gone.
Commercial beekeepers elsewhere began reporting disappearances, too, said John Skinner, UT Extension insect and bee expert.
While no cases are confirmed in Tennessee, one of the state's few beekeepers who hires out colonies, Howard Kerr of Maryville, said he lost 85 percent of his 80 hives this winter.
"I would open a hive, and there wouldn't be a bee in it," he said. "I don't have a clue why.
"For the first time in 40 years of beekeeping, I put my (honey) extracting equipment away into storage."
He's bought new bees but won't have honey to sell for at least a year.
Skinner said the national disorder could be due to bacteria, fungi or viruses or to stress from being moved and exposure to chemicals.
Cell phone towers and genetically modified seed crops have been mentioned by some speculators, and jokers have added "bee rapture" to the list.
Xerces Society seeks aid
Honeybees were brought here from Europe and today are relied on by agribusiness for many crops, including almonds, squash and cherries.
The nonprofit Xerces Society wants the honeybees — and also the about 4,000 species of native wild bees — helped.
"We think (the native bees) "can help and diversify our pollinator portfolio out there on the land," said Scott Hoffman Black, with the Oregon group.
They include bumblebees, the common sweat bee and the bluish or greenish black mason bee, which are usually mistaken for a fly.
The group has called for incentives in the 2007 federal farm bill to improve habitat for the native pollinators by having a diversity of flowering plants, saving trees and grass for nesting and taking more care with pesticides.
Native and European honeybees suffered in the 1980s when two killer species of mites wiped out many.
Lots of people, including in Tennessee, quit raising bees then.
Gray Haun, who oversees the state Agriculture Department's bee regulations, said he wasn't aware of any less food being produced here because of the bee decline over the years.
Freeze has hurt honey
Moss, as many others, has his own hives, about three in his case, or almost one per acre of pumpkins.
"It's almost like spreading fertilizer," he said. "If you're going to raise pumpkins, you better have bees."
Clover nectar is the mainstay here for bees and their honey.
Garrison, who said local honey is in short supply, remembers his father and grandfather raising bees at a time when it wasn't so difficult.
As it is, the financial adviser hasn't had a good honey take in about five years.
"We were starting to have a banner year, but the freeze got us," he said, nodding toward the stricken poplars' would-be blooms.
"I'm hoping the clover will save our hide," he said