Seattle Post Intelligencer

U.N. summit to push climate talks
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Yvo De Boer, left, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and Rajendra K. Pachauri, right, Chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change speak to reporters at U.N. Headquarters in New York Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007. (AP Photo/David Karp)
UNITED NATIONS -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore and the leaders of some 80 nations converge on the U.N. on Monday for a summit on the warming Earth and what to do about it.
The unprecedented meeting comes just days after U.S. scientists reported that melting temperatures this summer shrank the Arctic Ocean's ice cap to a record-low size.
"I expect the meeting on Monday to express a sense of urgency in terms of negotiating progress that needs to be made," said the U.N. climate chief, Yvo de Boer.
President Bush, who has long opposed negotiated limits on the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, will not participate in the day's meetings, but will attend a small dinner Monday evening, a gathering of key players hosted U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_UN_Climate_Summit.html?source=mypi



It takes a city to limit greenhouse gases
By LISA STIFFLER
P-I REPORTER
If you could give a rip about global warming and the pressure to do environmental good to stop it, the city of Seattle is going to drive you nuts.
Steps for slowing climate change will confront you on the flip side of the No. 12 cheer cards waved by fans at the Seahawks game. They'll nudge you from posters hanging at the local Starbucks when you're grabbing a mocha to go. The friendly librarian might add a fluorescent light bulb to your stack of books to take home.
But if you're pumped up to do what you can to slow global warming -- strategizing the best bus routes and bumping down the thermostat -- you might embrace the city's new Seattle Climate Action Now campaign in all its manifestations.
After the hoopla of vowing that Seattle will cut its greenhouse emissions on par with the Kyoto Protocol -- plus getting 672 U.S. cities to join the effort -- leaders here are trying to kick-start public involvement.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332637_globalwarming22.html



Rising seas likely to flood U.S. history
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER
Stanford University biologist Terry Root says that in a hundred years or so rising ocean waters from global warming may kill the last remaining wetlands in Palo Alto, Calif., behind her Sept. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting.
In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.
Global warming - through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding - is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.
Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.
Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians - the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Rising_Seas.html?source=mypi




Man dies months after Kansas tornado hit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GREENSBURG, Kan. -- A man who was struck by debris and suffered brain damage when a tornado destroyed this town in May has died, making him the 12th victim of the storm, his family said.
Max M. McColm, 77, of Liberal was staying with his daughter, Beverly Volz, while recovering from shoulder surgery when the tornado hit on May 4.
McColm's grandson, Ross McColm, of Lakewood, Colo., said his grandfather was hit in the head with a large piece of metal. He fell into a coma and was taken to a Wichita hospital. At the end of June, he was moved to a long-term acute care center in Overland Park.
He regained partial consciousness in mid-July and was told his daughter had died, said his son, Matthew McColm, also of Lakewood, Colo. Max McColm died on Wednesday, his family said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Kansas_Tornado.html



Wildfire destroys 6 Wash. state homes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHITE SALMON, Wash. -- A wildfire pushed by strong winds blowing through a gorge destroyed five homes on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and a sixth closer to the water, authorities said.
Residents of a bluff above where the wind-whipped fire started were told Thursday afternoon to leave their homes, but all but three were allowed to return Friday evening, said Dale Warriner, a spokesman at the fire command center.
"We got a lot of good work done," said Warriner. "We feel they can go back in safely."
The fire had burned about 150 acres and was about 60 percent contained by midday Friday, Warriner said. About 300 firefighters were battling the blaze, aided by four helicopters and three air tankers.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Wildfires.html



Fake parks fun, but how will Seattle pay for the real thing?
Advocates turn patches of urban asphalt into green oases
By JENNIFER LANGSTON
P-I REPORTER
Friday morning, Tom Reeve unrolled a square of grass sod on the edge of a barren downtown waterfront pier. He added a beach umbrella, a potted hawthorn tree, pink lawn chairs and proceeded to play bocce ball on the temporary lawn.
"Welcome to the park. Here for one day only ... unless we do something," Reeve said to curious passers-by.
Other volunteers erected mobile pint-sized parks in parking spaces near the Seattle Art Museum and Olympic Sculpture Park, part of a nationwide event that's part advocacy, part performance art.
"The point is quite simply to help people imagine more green space in their urban areas and to do it in a way that's sort of eye-catching and fun and non-political," said Karen Macdonald, spokeswoman for Trust for Public Land, the event sponsor.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332713_parks22.html



Iraq: Blackwater guards fired unprovoked
By ROBERT H. REID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Hassan Jabir, 37, is surrounded by family as he recovers from gunshot wounds in a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007. Jabir, a lawyer, says he was in his car in the Mansour neighborhood when guards in a U.S. State Department convoy opened fire, shooting him four times. Iraq's Interior Ministry has expanded its investigation into other incidents allegedly involving Blackwater USA security guards amid the furor following a deadly shooting that claimed at least 11 lives, a spokesman said Saturday.(AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.
Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html?source=mypi



Rice, al-Maliki keep distance at meeting
By MATTHEW LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki kept a polite distance Saturday as they attended a group meeting and avoided discussion of a deadly Baghdad shootout involving guards from a U.S. company protecting American diplomats.
The two greeted each other before the meeting, but in a brief exchange of pleasantries, the issue of the shootout didn't come up, deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
With tensions soaring over the Sept. 16 incident, Rice and al-Maliki chose not to speak about it at a United Nations gathering at which they were among senior diplomats and officials from Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, weighing future assistance to Iraq.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Iraq.html



Rising tensions as Rice, al-Maliki meet
By MATTHEW LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Saturday with Iraq's prime minister in their first face-to-face talks since a Baghdad shootout involving guards from a U.S. company protecting American diplomats.
Rice and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were among numerous top diplomats and officials from Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, which the United States accuses of destabilizing Iraq, gathering at the United Nations with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to discuss Iraq's future.
Neither spoke to reporters as they entered the room for the meeting, which came as a senior Iraqi official in Baghdad said Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows employees of Blackwater USA opening fire against civilians without provocation on Sept. 16.
At the same time, Iraq's Interior Ministry said it had expanded its investigation of the shooting to include six other incidents involving Blackwater guards over the past seven months .

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Iraq.html?source=mypi



Iraqi PM: Shootings 'cannot be accepted'
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI AND TAREK EL-TABLAWY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
NEW YORK -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki walked a fine line Sunday: confronting his American backers over what he sees as violations of Iraq's sovereignty while stressing that his relations are rock solid with the country on whose support he still relies.
"Success is shared," he said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his deeply intertwined partnership with President Bush and the U.S. government. "God forbid, failure is also shared."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Al_Maliki_Interview.html



Germany: U.S. won't send kidnap suspects
By MATTHIAS ARMBORST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FRANKFURT, Germany -- U.S. authorities have told Germany that they will not extradite 13 purported CIA agents sought in the alleged kidnapping of a German citizen, an official said Saturday.
A Justice Ministry spokeswoman said the Bush administration told Berlin it would not hand over the group and said the ministry had, as a result, decided against giving Washington Munich prosecutors' formal request for their arrest. She spoke on condition of anonymity as required by the ministry.
The Justice Ministry last month sounded out U.S. authorities' willingness to cooperate with legal proceedings against the suspected agents, sending a legal request that officials call a common first step in dealing with international arrest warrants.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Germany_CIA_Kidnap_Claim.html



Walt Crowley, 1947-2007: Keeper of local history
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
Walt Crowley, a political commentator and former City Council candidate who co-founded one of the nation's finest regional history Web sites, died Friday after complications following a stroke. He was 60.
Crowley, who had battled cancer of the larynx for the past year, had just undergone surgery to remove a small growth linked to the disease's recent recurrence when the stroke occurred late Thursday. Doctors removed life support Friday and he died at about 8:15 p.m. at Virginia Mason Medical Center surrounded by family and friends.
"It's devastating," said Marie McCaffrey, his wife and collaborator on www.historylink.org. "We weren't expecting this."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332802_crowley20.html



Black and white becomes gray in La. town
By TODD LEWAN
AP NATIONAL WRITER
JENA, La. -- It's got all the elements of a Delta blues ballad from the days of Jim Crow: hangman's nooses dangling from a shade tree; a mysterious fire in the night; swift deliberations by a condemning, all-white jury.
And drawn by this story, which evokes the worst of a nightmarish past, they came by the thousands this past week to Jena, La. - to demand justice, to show strength, to beat back the forces of racism as did their parents and grandparents.
But there are many in Jena who say the tale of the "Jena Six" - the black teenagers who were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy for attacking a white classmate at Jena High School last December - is not as simple as all that.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_A_Place_Called_Jena.html?source=mypi



Fujimori returns to Peru to face trial
By MONTE HAYES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LIMA, Peru -- Former President Alberto Fujimori was extradited Saturday from Chile to face charges of corruption and sanctioning death-squad killings, a grim homecoming for the strongman who fled Peru seven years ago as his government collapsed in scandal.
Hundreds of supporters were gathered to greet Peru's former leader as his police plane landed in a heavy mist at Las Palmas air force base, across town from Lima's international airport.
Many Peruvians were elated by Fujimori's extradition but others were indignant. He maintains a strong following - a recent poll showed that 23 percent of Peruvians want to see him back in politics - and some worry his return could provoke turmoil in a country emerging from decades of political and economic chaos.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Fujimori.html?source=mypi



Fake veteran gets 5-month sentence
Man claimed to have helped kill civilians in Iraq
By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER
Jesse MacBeth never was an Army Ranger, much less a corporal, never received a Purple Heart for wounds inflicted by a foreign foe, and neither saw nor participated in war crimes with fellow U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, claims for which he became a poster boy for the anti-war movement.
So, there was likely no way the 23-year-old Tacoma man suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the horrors of war and other injuries.
MacBeth was sentenced Friday to five months in jail and three years' probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and an Army discharge record.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332642_fakevet22.html



Shoreline teachers and staff plan for one-day strike
By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER
Teachers and support staff in Shoreline School District announced they would stage a one-day strike Thursday because of frustration over class sizes.
A district spokesman said a decision would be made Monday as to whether the suburban Seattle school district, which has more than 9,600 students, would have classes if teachers went on strike.
Craig Degginger, a district spokesman, said Shoreline Schools had not received an official strike notice, but officials were disappointed in the announcement because employees earlier this month ratified a two-year contract.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332816_shorelinestrike23.html



Yellowstone snowmobiles may be reduced
By MATT GOURAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HELENA, Mont. -- Yellowstone National Park officials want to reduce the number of snowmobiles allowed each day in the park as part of its winter management plan, said a congressional aide briefed on the plan.
The park is seeking to impose a daily limit of 540 snowmobiles, down from 720 vehicles, said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. McKenna said a park official met with the senator's staff Thursday to discuss the plan.
Park spokesman Al Nash declined comment.
The 540-snowmobile limit will be the agency's new "preferred alternative" in the park's winter management plan to be released Monday, McKenna said. A final decision was expected sometime in November.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Yellowstone_Snowmobiles.html


Bodies of 2 missing hikers found in WA
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEAVENWORTH, Wash. -- The Chelan County sheriff's office reports that the bodies of two hikers - a father and 12-year-old son from Spokane - have been found in the Wenatchee National Forest.
The bodies were discovered after two backpacks belonging to 53-year-old Otto Vaclavek and his son, Max, were found on Dragontail Peak, which rises 8,800 feet. The Vaclaveks were expected back earlier this week.
More than 60 searchers and three helicopters combed a rugged wilderness area of Chelan County Saturday. The searchers include the father's co-workers from Spokane Valley-based outdoor outfitter Mountain Gear.
The search began Thursday.
Vaclavek's wife reported her husband and son missing on Wednesday. They left Spokane last Saturday with a three-day supply of food.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Missing_Hikers.html



Iraqi PM: Shootings threaten sovereignty
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI AND TAREK EL-TABLAWY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is photographed during an interview, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007, in New York, ahead of his appearance Monday at the U.N. General Assembly. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)
NEW YORK -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday the shooting deaths of civilians - allegedly at the hands of Blackwater USA guards - and other violence involving the company pose "serious challenges to the sovereignty of Iraq" and cannot be accepted.
"The Iraqi government is responsible for its citizens and it cannot be accepted for a security company to carry out a killing," he told The Associated Press, speaking in his New York hotel suite ahead of his appearance at the U.N. General Assembly.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Al_Maliki_Interview.html?source=mypi



Iran's leader: U.S. wants new opinions
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that the American people are eager for different opinions about the world, and he is looking forward to providing them with "correct and clear information," state media reported.
The hardline Iranian leader left Sunday for New York to address the U.N. General Assembly and speak to students and teachers during a forum at Columbia University.
Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran over U.S. accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and helping Shiite militias in Iraq that target U.S. troops - claims Iran denies.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iran_US.html?source=mypi



Italians feared kidnapped in Afghanistan
By ALISA TANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Two Italian military personnel were believed to have been kidnapped in western Afghanistan, and police Sunday said they were searching for the pair and their two Afghan staff.
At a meeting at the United Nations, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told participants he had information about where the Italians were and would pass the information to Italian authorities, said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
In northeastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, NATO helicopters fired on a group of suspected insurgents in response to a rocket attack. Four Afghans died and 12 were wounded, the alliance said, and officials were investigating whether the dead and wounded were Afghan police or civilians targeted mistakenly.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Afghanistan.html?source=mypi



50 years since Little Rock integration
By ANDREW DEMILLO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LITTLE ROCK -- Fifty years after federal troops escorted Terrence Roberts and eight fellow black students into an all-white high school, he says the struggles over race and segregation still are unresolved.
"This country has demonstrated over time that it is not prepared to operate as an integrated society," said Roberts, who is a faculty member at Antioch University's psychology program.
He and the other students known as the Little Rock Nine will help the city observe Central High School's 50th anniversary this week with a series of events culminating with a ceremony featuring former President Bill Clinton.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Integration_Anniversary.html?source=mypi



New photo shows Castro standing, smiling
By WILL WEISSERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAVANA -- Cuba published a photo Sunday of a standing, smiling Fidel Castro looking heavier but still gaunt as he met with Angola's president, the first head of state to see the ailing 81-year-old since June.
The picture, which appeared on the front page of Communist Party youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, shows Castro in a track suit, athletic pants and tennis shoes. The Cuban leader appears to have gained weight and wears a warm half-smile as he shakes hands with Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who was in Cuba since Thursday on an official visit.
The image was released two days after Castro gave a surprise hourlong interview on state television, during which he answered rumors about his death that have swirled recently in the United States by saying simply, "well, here I am."
Sunday's photo was the first time Castro has been seen standing in months. He stayed seated during the interview, which aired Friday evening just hours after officials said it was taped.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuba_Castro.html?source=mypi



Miami Cubans skeptical of Castro on TV
By JESSICA GRESKO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MIAMI -- Cubans in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood expressed a mixture of skepticism and disappointment Friday at Fidel Castro's first appearance on Cuban television in three months.
Rumors of the Cuban leader's death had reached a fever pitch here last month after the leader's 81st birthday came without any news. Local leaders met to go over their plans for when he does pass away, fueling even more rumors.
Still, when Castro appeared in an interview on Cuban television for the first time since June 5, not everyone was convinced.
"Could be six months ago. Could be one year ago," said Cuban-born Victoria Martinez, 76, of Hollywood, who called the leader's talk "incoherent" while at the Cuban restaurant Versailles.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Cuba_Castro_Miami.html



Rice to outline Mideast peace conference
By MATTHEW LEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.S. is letting its international partners in the push for a Mideast settlement know about details of President Bush's planned peace conference, including countries to be invited.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned to outline ideas for the conference to representatives of the diplomatic group known as the Quartet - the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia - at a U.N. meeting late Sunday afternoon, a senior U.S. official said.
In addition to Israel and the Palestinians, those countries expected to be asked to attend the as-yet unscheduled conference in the U.S. are, according to the official: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_UN_Mideast.html?source=mypi



Scientists hopeful despite climate signs
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Climate scientist Michael Mann runs down the list of bad global warming news: The world is spewing greenhouse gases at a faster rate. Summer Arctic sea ice is at record lows. The ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica are melting quicker than expected.
Is he the doomsayer global warming skeptics have called him?
Mann laughs. This Penn State University professor - and many other climate scientists - are sunny optimists. Hope blooms in the hottest of greenhouses.
Climate scientists say mankind is on the path for soaring temperatures that will melt polar ice sheets, raise seas to dangerous levels, and trigger mass extinctions. But they say the most catastrophic of consequences can and will be avoided.
They have hope. So should you, Mann said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Optimistic_Doomsayers.html



Beaked whales focus of Navy sonar study
By AUDREY MCAVOY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii -- Robin Baird's research team members stare at the horizon for hours, searching for rarely seen beaked whales.
The small, gray marine mammals have been at the center of the dispute over the Navy's use of high intensity sonar ever since several washed ashore with bleeding around their brains and ears during naval exercises in the Bahamas seven years ago.
"They appear to be the most susceptible group of cetaceans to impacts from Navy sonars," said Baird, a marine biologist based in Olympia, Wash., whose team recently spent three weeks off Hawaii's Big Island studying whales.
Training sailors to use sonar is a top priority for the Navy as more nations, including China, have acquired quiet, hard-to-detect submarines. In many cases, the only way the Navy can find these stealthy ships is by using mid-frequency active sonar, firing bursts of sound through the water and listening for an echo off a ship's hull.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Navy_Whales.html



FBI reviewing anti-Jena 6 Web page
By BECKY BOHRER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- The FBI is reviewing a white supremacist Web site that purports to list the addresses of five of the six black teenagers accused of beating a white student in Jena and "essentially called for their lynching," an agency spokeswoman said Saturday.
Sheila Thorne, an agent in the FBI's New Orleans office, said authorities were reviewing whether the site breaks any federal laws. She said the FBI had "gathered intelligence on the matter," but declined to further explain how the agency got involved.
CNN first reported Friday about the Web site, which features a swastika, frequent use of racial slurs, a mailing address in Roanoke, Va., and phone numbers purportedly for some of the teens' families "in case anyone wants to deliver justice." That page is dated Thursday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Jena_Six.html



Columbine memorial opens
By P. SOLOMON BANDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LITTLETON, Colo. -- Hundreds of people gathered under blue autumn skies Friday to dedicate an expansive hillside memorial to the Columbine High School massacre victims, after more than eight years of money struggles and occasional disputes.
The placid, stone-walled oval nestled in Clement Park is next to the suburban Denver school where two student gunmen killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves on April 20, 1999, plunging the community into mourning and disbelief.
During the ceremony, 213 doves were released and flew over the park.
Patrick Ireland, who was wounded in the attack, offered words of optimism. He was shot twice in the head and hung out of a library window while the tragedy unfolded, and has since had to relearn how to speak, walk and read.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Columbine_Memorial.html



Del. State students describe tension
By RANDALL CHASE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
DOVER, Del. -- Tension between rival groups of friends from New Jersey and Washington, D.C., preceded the late-night shooting at Delaware State University that wounded two people, students said Saturday.
While investigators worked to find the shooter who opened fire early Friday as several students left a campus dining hall, a classmate recalled how the violence had escalated from altercations during the week.
"They've been getting into it, New Jersey people and D.C. people," said James Dillion, 23, of Cleveland.
"Thursday night, they saw each other again and got into it," he said. "Everybody's still astonished about what happened."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Delaware_State_Shooting.html



Emancipation Proclamation draws crowds
By JON GAMBRELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- As she looked at the Emancipation Proclamation, Catherine Jewell-Gill recalled her days of picking cotton in Arkansas as a child and later becoming a teacher and principal.
Jewell-Gill was among more than 2,100 people who filed through the Clinton Library on Saturday to see the three-page document that declared the end to slavery. Jewell-Gill, 72, said having the document in Little Rock during the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High School pulls history together.
"I think it coincides beautifully," she said.
More than 10,000 people are expected to file past the proclamation during its four-day stay in the city, a rare trip outside the National Archive.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Emancipation_Proclamation.html



Pentagon can't find major named in suit
By JOHN MILBURN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Military officials are investigating an Army specialist's allegations that he was harassed for being an atheist but said Saturday they have found no trace of the officer listed as a defendant in the soldier's lawsuit.
Spc. Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a lawsuit this past week against a Maj. Paul Welborne and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The suit, in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges that Welborne threatened to file military charges against Hall and to block his reenlistment for trying to hold a meeting of atheists and non-Christians in Iraq. Hall is in Iraq with the 97th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Riley. He has been in Iraq since 2006, on his second tour.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Military_Religion_Lawsuit.html



Baby cribs recalled after 3 deaths
By ANN SANNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- About 1 million Simplicity and Graco cribs have been recalled after three children became entrapped and suffocated. The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Friday, more than two years after a California lawyer says he alerted the federal agency about a 9-month-old who died in a faulty crib.
"Two years and two deaths is not fast enough. It's inexcusable that it took that long," said Charles Kelly, who represents the parents of the 9-month-old. Liam Johns of Citrus Heights, Calif., died in April 2005.
In addition to the Johns baby, 6-month-old Edward Millwood died in November 2006 while in one of the Simplicity cribs. His parents filed suit against the manufacturer on Sept. 4.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Cribs_Recall.html



Alaska ends plan for 'bridge to nowhere'
By STEVE QUINN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JUNEAU, Alaska -- Some called it a bridge to the future. Others called it the bridge to nowhere.
On Friday, Alaska decided the bridge really was going nowhere, officially abandoning the project in Ketchikan that became a national symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.
While the move closes a chapter that has brought the state reams of ridicule, it also leaves open wounds in a community that fought for decades to get federal help.
"We went through political hot water - tons of it - and not just nationally but internationally," Ketchikan-Gateway Borough Mayor Joe Williams said. "We have nothing to show for it."
The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan, on one island in southeastern Alaska, to its airport on another nearby island.
Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday the project was $329 million short of full funding.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Bridge_to_Nowhere.html



Wildfire destroys 6 Wash. state homes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHITE SALMON, Wash. -- A wildfire pushed by strong winds blowing through a gorge destroyed five homes on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and a sixth closer to the water, authorities said.
Residents of a bluff above where the wind-whipped fire started were told Thursday afternoon to leave their homes, but all but three were allowed to return Friday evening, said Dale Warriner, a spokesman at the fire command center.
"We got a lot of good work done," said Warriner. "We feel they can go back in safely."
The fire had burned about 150 acres and was about 60 percent contained by midday Friday, Warriner said. About 300 firefighters were battling the blaze, aided by four helicopters and three air tankers.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Wildfires.html



McGreevey ordered to hike spouse support
By JEFFREY GOLD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ELIZABETH, N.J. -- Former Gov. James E. McGreevey was ordered Friday to more than double the amount of support he pays to his estranged wife.
The nation's first openly gay governor should pay Dina Matos McGreevey $2,500 a month, Superior Court Judge Karen M. Cassidy ruled. Matos McGreevey had been receiving $1,129 a month, but maintained that was insufficient to meet the needs of herself and the couple's 5-year-old daughter.
Cassidy rejected Matos McGreevey's request for $4,000 a month, noting that Matos McGreevey said she needed to spend $2,200 a month on clothing. "It seemed a little high," the judge said.
A lawyer for the former governor, Matthew D. Piermatti, argued that his client's income was decreasing now that he'd entered an Episcopal seminary. They had offered to increase support to $1,691 a month.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Gay_Governor_Divorce.html



State trooper praised at Amish shooting
By MARK SCOLFORO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The first state trooper to breach the Amish school where 10 girls were shot last year got inside by ripping out part of a window frame with his bare hands, helping save the lives of five of them, the state police chief said.
The trooper used a ballistic shield to batter a window at West Nickel Mines Amish School, then pulled out part of the frame, injuring himself, and dove through to find the gunman still alive, Commissioner Jeffrey Miller said Thursday.
Charles C. Roberts IV had just shot 10 young girls. Five of them died.
"At the time, he was reloading. I have no question about what he was going to do, which is finish these kids off that were still alive," Miller told The Associated Press in his first in-depth interview about the shootings since shortly after the Oct. 2 massacre.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Amish_School_Shooting.html



Boy drowns in swollen creek in Minn.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS -- Torrential rains, damaging winds and large hail struck a broad swath of Minnesota on Thursday. One death was linked to the storms.
A 13-year-old boy drowned in Battle Creek Regional Park in Maplewood Thursday night. Police said he was with three friends who went to play in the swollen stream.
The rushing water swept him over a small concrete dam, Maplewood Police Chief David Thomalla said.
Rescue crews later pulled the boy's body from the water. His name was not immediately released.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport briefly suspended departures because of the storm.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Minnesota_Storms.html



Ohio investment convictions hit 19
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The former investment chief for Ohio's insurance fund for injured workers pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he failed to report gifts including meals and a sports ticket from a firm doing business with the agency.
James McLean, who led the bureau's investment operation from 2003 until he was fired in 2005, pleaded guilty to failing to properly report $500 in gifts, including a Chicago Cubs ticket, a meal at MK Restaurant in Chicago, a private tailgate party and transportation from New York-based investment firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.
It is the 19th conviction in an investment scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation that rocked state politics, leading directly and indirectly to convictions on ethics violations of former Gov. Bob Taft and his chief of staff.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Investment_Scandal_Plea.html



Fla. man says he was Tasered over Quran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OCALA, Fla. -- Four police officers are under investigation after a man accused them of using a Taser on him three times when he wouldn't take his hand off a Quran hidden under his shirt, a police spokesman said Friday.
Jeffrey Shields, 49, of Ocala, filed a complaint with the Ocala Police Department alleging an officer used a Taser to force him to hold up his right hand, police spokesman Lou Biondi said.
In a complaint filed Tuesday, Shields said he did not want to raise his right hand from under his shirt because he did not want to drop the Quran, but the officers said they could not tell what he was holding, Biondi said.
"The officers didn't have a clue what he had under there, regardless of what he was saying," he said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Man_Tasered_Quran.html



Conn. gov bans parole for some inmates
By DAVE COLLINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell banned parole on Friday for all Connecticut inmates serving prison time for violent offenses following a string of crimes police say were committed by parolees.
The parole ban will be in effect until state lawmakers reform its parole process, she said. Critics worried the move would swell the state's already crowded prisons.
"I will not allow public safety to be jeopardized because parolees return to a life of crime," Rell, a Republican, said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_No_Parole.html



Judge rules against Tenn. executions
By ERIK SCHELZIG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A federal judge's ruling this week that Tennessee's lethal injection procedure could cause excruciating pain is yet another blow to the three-drug cocktail used by every state that executes the condemned by injection.
Federal judges reached similar conclusions in Missouri and California last year, and now states have to decide whether to defend the three-drug method, or find a new way to put death row inmates to death by injection.
Death penalty opponents are heartened to see that three federal judges in three very different parts of the country have made similar findings.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Tennessee_Lethal_Injection.html



Ill. congressman won't run for 8th term
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JOLIET, Ill. -- Republican U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, recently named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by a watchdog group, announced Friday that he will not seek an eighth term.
"I need to give my family the time needed to be a full-time dad and full-time husband," Weller said during a Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce luncheon. "I'm 50 years old; I've given half of my life to public service."
Weller's announcement comes amid a swell of scrutiny. A watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently declared him one of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress. He's fighting a subpoena in a former colleague's bribery trial, and he faces criticism that he did not reveal to Congress the extent of Nicaraguan land purchases.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Illinois_Congressman.html



Holocaust survivor's neighbor was Nazi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MESA, Ariz. -- Nathan Gasch and Martin Hartmann lived next door to each other for four years in a quiet retirement community called Leisure World.
You can tell where Gasch had been six decades earlier by the tattooed number on his arm. Gasch could see where Hartmann had been when he walked into his neighbor's house and a picture of him wearing a Nazi hat on the wall.
Gasch, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, saw the picture soon after he first moved in, when Hartmann and his wife invited him to their house in Mesa, east of Phoenix.
"I just walked out of the room," said Gasch, a soft-spoken 84-year-old with a Polish accent.
But he didn't notify authorities.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Nazi_Neighbor.html



Protests over Rumsfeld at Stanford
By TERENCE CHEA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of Stanford University students, faculty and alumni are protesting the conservative Hoover Institution's decision to appoint former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a visiting fellow.
The Stanford-based Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace announced earlier this month that Rumsfeld, who served as President Bush's defense secretary for almost six years, would join a task force that will focus on issues related to "ideology and terror" in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
An online petition contesting the appointment on the grounds that Rumsfeld clashed with the university's core values had more than 2,500 signatures Friday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Rumsfeld_Stanford.html



Anglican head downplays split over gays
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP RELIGION WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- The archbishop of Canterbury indicated Friday that the Episcopal Church isn't on the brink of losing its place in the world Anglican fellowship, despite the uproar over Episcopal support for gay clergy.
Anglican leaders, called primates, had set a Sept. 30 deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for gay couples. Episcopal bishops have dedicated their meeting here to crafting a response.
But after two days of private talks with Episcopal leaders, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, said "there is no ultimatum involved." The goal, he said, is "compromise."
"It's been presented sadly as a set of demands," Williams said in a news conference before he left. "I don't think that what was in the primates' minds. In fact, I'm sure it isn't."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Episcopal_Bishops_Gays.html



Zimbabwe votes in favor of amendment
By ANGUS SHAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Lawmakers voted unanimously Thursday in favor of a constitutional amendment that critics say further consolidates ruling party power, but is hailed by the government and opposition as a breakthrough in easing Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.
The amendment would combine presidential and parliament elections next year and increase the number of legislative seats. It still must go before the upper house of parliament and then to President Robert Mugabe.
In a major concession by the government, the amendment scraps the president's power to appoint 30 members of parliament's lawmaking lower house. It also includes provisions for a new independent electoral commission as demanded by the opposition.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zimbabwe_Constitution.html



Aid workers seek flood help in Africa
By KATY POWNALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AMURIA DISTRICT, Uganda -- Aid agencies were appealing for millions of dollars Friday to help more than 1 million Africans affected by deadly floods that have swept across the continent.
The United States planned to send $100,000 for Uganda - one of the hardest hit countries - and the European Commission and the Netherlands each announced more than $15 million in aid for flood victims across 17 countries. The floods have killed at least 200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands since the summer in central and eastern Africa.
"If we don't get food people will die in this place," Francis Aruo, 28, told The Associated Press in eastern Uganda, one of the hardest-hit regions of Africa. "All our crops are rotten."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Africa_Floods.html



Darfur aid convoy ambushed, 3 wounded
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EL FASHER, Sudan -- Armed men ambushed an aid convoy in Darfur, wounding three humanitarian workers, the U.N. mission to Sudan said Saturday.
The convoy from U.S.-based World Vision International, which included eight staff members, was attacked some 25 miles south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, on Thursday, the U.N. said.
All three wounded aid workers were Sudanese. Two were shot in the head and one in the arm, World Vision said. Two are in stable condition, and one is serious condition, the group said. It did not provide more information.
The attackers have not been identified but the U.N. statement said Arab tribes have been regularly clashing in the area.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Darfur_Violence.html



20,000 march in Myanmar against junta
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YANGON, Myanmar -- About 20,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks and nuns on Sunday mounted the largest anti-government protest in Myanmar since a failed 1988 democratic uprising, shouting support for detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
At one point a small crowd of about 400 - about half of them monks - split off from the main demonstration and tried unsuccessfully to approach the home where Suu Kyi is under house arrest. The monks carried a large yellow banner that read: "Love and kindness must win over everything."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Myanmar.html



Vietnam develops taste for luxury goods
By BEN STOCKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- In a country whose peasant army once marched on flip-flops cut from old tires, Gucci beach sandals priced at $365 can come as a shock.
But the luxury market is booming in Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh's communist revolution exalted equality and the common man just a generation ago.
As the country begins to embrace private enterprise, its nouveaux riches are snapping up shoes at Gucci, handbags at Louis Vuitton and watches at Cartier, offering proof of how much the country has changed after decades of war.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Vietnam_Luxury.html



Australian follows path of Khan on horse
By PABLO GORONDI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- He scared off wolves with firecrackers in Mongolia and rescued his dog from hungry miners in Kazakhstan. But after three years on horseback, Tim Cope has retraced the route of Genghis Khan and other Asian nomads who crossed into Europe over the centuries.
The 28-year-old Australian arrived in Hungary on Saturday, ending a 6,200-mile trek through Mongolia, Kazakhstan, southern Russia and Ukraine.
"I'm very happy to be here," Cope said in the Hungarian town of Opusztaszer, surrounded by his traveling companions - his dog and three horses. "Sometimes I didn't think I would ever arrive."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Path_of_Genghis_Khan.html



Risk of fraud high in visa program
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Nearly 10,000 foreigners from states sponsoring terrorism have obtained permanent residency in the United States in the past seven years, congressional investigators say.
The State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs did not implement a recommendation to bar aliens from those countries, says the report from Congress' Government Accountability Office.
The GAO focused on the issue after the State Department inspector general pointed to the risk in allowing foreigners from countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism to obtain visas under the special diversity visa program.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Border_Security.html



Fujimori returns to Peru to face trial
By MONTE HAYES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LIMA, Peru -- Former President Alberto Fujimori returned to Peru on Saturday to face charges of corruption and sanctioning death-squad killings, a grim homecoming for the strongman who fled the country seven years ago as his government collapsed in scandal.
The plane carrying the 69-year-old former ruler landed in a heavy mist at Lima's Las Palmas air force base, a day after Chile's Supreme Court authorized his extradition. He was then flown by helicopter to a police base, where he is to be held until a permanent facility is prepared for his detention.
Some 700 supporters who gathered outside the police air terminal across town to greet him were frustated when his plane was diverted to the air base.
"We have come to welcome Fujimori, to tell him that we are with him and will accompany him wherever he goes so that he feels he has the support of his people," his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who was elected to Congress in 2006, told The Associated Press.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Fujimori.html

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