New book warns how to avoid Ponzi schemes

A book to be published Tuesday and written by a somewhat obscure federal regulator uses real-world examples of recent financial fraud to help investors protect themselves from those who'd prey upon them. | 11/14/11 19:00:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Penn State faculty shares insights on Sandusky scandal

When a solemn John Surma, the vice chairman of Penn State’s board of trustees, announced the board’s termination of university President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno on Wednesday, he provided a much-needed voice of leadership to a community in dire need of direction, according to former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who joined Penn State’s faculty earlier this year. | 11/14/11 06:46:51 By - Cliff White

Execution scheduled Friday in Idaho would be state's first in many years

If an execution takes place as scheduled in Idaho on Friday, it will be the first time a state Death Row inmate has been executed against his will since 1957. | 11/13/11 16:35:36 By - Patrick Orr

Love, murder and a suicide run for Cuba

Hunted for gunning down his girlfriend, Noel Sosa Ruiz saw no way out except returning to Cuba. Then his plan ran out of fuel. | 11/13/11 16:12:42 By - By Melissa Sanchez and Susan Carroll

Charges added in Alaska's Ketchikan porn case

One of Ketchikan's most prominent political leaders, already accused of possessing child pornography, now finds himself charged with 80 additional counts including one involving a homemade video featuring himself unclothed with a young girl, according to police. | 11/11/11 13:41:38 By - Lisa Demer

Charity program The Second Mile may not survive Sandusky scandal

Guidance counselors in the State College Area schools have stopped referring students to The Second Mile’s early intervention youth programs. And whether a significant number of schools will continue to participate in the nonprofit’s leadership conferences is one of many uncertainties. | 11/11/11 07:20:00 By - Ed Mahon

Colombian paramilitary leader gets 33-year sentence for drug trafficking in Miami

A Colombian paramilitary warlord who pleaded guilty to exporting tons of cocaine into the United States to fund terrorism in his homeland was sentenced in Miami to 33 years in prison, authorities said Wednesday. | 11/10/11 06:55:13 By - Jay Weaver

Penn State fires Joe Paterno, president in abuse scandal fallout

In an effort to contain a widening scandal, the Penn State board of trustees late Wednesday fired head football coach Joe Paterno, and university president Graham Spanier. The unanimous decision came hours after Paterno announced he would retire in the wake of allegations that a former assistant coach sexually abused at least eight boys over a 15-year period, and that Paterno and university officials failed to report it. | 11/09/11 23:47:01 By - Jeff Rice

Guantanamo trial for Cole bombing suspect delayed for a year

The reputed mastermind of the USS Cole bombing made his first appearance in before a U.S. military commission judge Wednesday, the first time Abd al Rahim al Nashiri had been seen in public since he was arrested in 2002 and spiritied into a series of secret CIA prisons. | 11/09/11 18:14:00 By - Carol Rosenberg

Prescription-abuse babies a growing ‘crisis’ in Bradenton

There’s a growing epidemic of babies being born addicted to prescription drugs ingested by young mothers, representatives of substance abuse organizations told county commissioners Tuesday. | 11/09/11 12:05:19 By - Sara Kennedy

Kansas City gamer stops gunman from stealing 'Call of Duty 3'

How bad did one man want "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which was released Tuesday? Bad enough to follow a customer home from a Kansas City GameStop, point a gun and try to steal his game, according to court records released Tuesday. But not as bad as the customer, who refused to cough up his copy and fought the would-be robber for control of the gun, the court records said. | 11/09/11 07:15:12 By - Christine Venel

Penn State hurt by media blunders, communications expert says

A stunned silence descended upon the hundreds of reporters, photographers and cameramen representing the national media as a Penn State official announced Joe Paterno’s press conference had been canceled Tuesday. | 11/09/11 06:30:48 By - Cliff White

Holder calls ATF gun operation 'flawed' but doesn't apologize

Attorney General Eric Holder disavowed the controversial Fast and Furious program Tuesday, calling the practice of federal agents letting U.S. guns illegally enter Mexico "unacceptable" during a sometimes tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. | 11/08/11 18:07:00 By - Maria Recio

Penn State alums' reactions to Sandusky scandal run the gamut

In downtown State College, you can find Joe Paterno’s face on nearly every block. It’s on paintings, book covers, and — at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop — “We Love Our Joe” mugs. | 11/08/11 12:44:04 By - Jessica VanderKolk, Ed Mahon and Jeff Rice

Police: Penn State failed to stop abuse

Penn State officials had three opportunities to stop Jerry Sandusky from preying on young boys but failed to take action, state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Monday at a news conference with Attorney General Linda Kelly. | 11/08/11 09:17:15 By - Mike Dawson

Feds say California realty ring defrauded $16 million from banks

The collapse of the housing bubble exposed Sacramento as one of the nation's centers for mortgage fraud. Yet even here, prosecutors say, their latest case stands out for its scope and the number of people involved. | 11/08/11 06:47:06 By - Rick Daysog

Dr. Conrad Murray guilty in death of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's personal physician has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for causing the pop icon's 2009 death by a powerful surgical anesthetic. | 11/08/11 06:18:09 By -

Penn AG: Paterno is not a target of Sandusky investigation

In a news conference held Monday afternoon to discuss the charges filed over the weekend against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky and two university administrators, Attorney General Linda Kelly said Joe Paterno is not a target of the investigation. | 11/07/11 14:42:52 By -

Kentucky woman accused of Bosnia war crimes awaits extradition decision

No decision was made Monday during an extradition hearing for a Croation woman facing charges of murder and torture stemming from the unraveling of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. More than three hours of testimony and arguments were heard Monday in U.S. District Court in Lexington in the case of Azra Basic. The U.S. government wants to return Basic, 52, to Bosnia to face charges. Basic's attorney, Patrick Nash, is fighting the extradition. | 11/07/11 14:04:06 By - Jennifer Hewlett

Penn State AD Tim Curley, finance VP step down over Sandusky scandal

Following a board of trustees executive session late Sunday night in Old Main, a Penn State spokesman announced Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, interim vice president for finance and business, will step down while the case surrounding them and former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is investigated. | 11/07/11 07:21:47 By - Jessica Vanderkolk

Lisa Irwin's family feels strain of media scrutiny

Since the mystifying Oct. 4 disappearance of 10-month-old Lisa Irwin, much of the nation has been introduced to her parents, Debbie Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, as the latest breathless, blow-by-blow, cable-crime-case sensation. | 11/07/11 07:01:21 By - Lee Hill Kavanaugh

Miami man tumbles to death battling swarm of angry bees

Donald Mason tumbled from a chair he was standing on while battling a swarm of angry bees in an upstairs bedroom. | 11/06/11 17:17:19 By - David Ovalle

Texas man commits suicide at sea after stealing boat

A 41-year-old Texas, man suspected of killing his wife was found dead from an apparent suicide after a bizarre incident at sea that began Friday after he stole a boat from friends in the Florida Keys and tried to flee to Cuba. | 11/06/11 17:11:51 By - Mike Clary

How deep did coverup go in Penn State child sex abuse case?

A grand jury investigation that led to the indictment of Jerry Sandusky on charges that included the rape of pre-teen in the football locker room shower also led to charges against two senior Penn State officials. According to the grand jury's findings, famed Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno and Penn State President Graham Spanier, both of whom were not charged, also knew of the allegations. | 11/06/11 10:56:39 By - Mike Dawson

What prosecution says Penn State officials knew about Sandusky

Seven years before a state grand jury began investigating a boy’s report that he had been sexually assaulted by former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, Penn State officials were told by an eyewitness that Sandusky has sexually assaulted a boy in a shower room on the University Park campus. | 11/05/11 19:24:42 By -

After years of secrecy, Pentagon seeks order to let public view hearing for accused Cole bomber

Pentagon prosecutors have filed a sealed motion with the Guantánamo war court that apparently proposes allowing the general public for the first time to watch military proceedings against an accused al Qaida terrorist. | 11/05/11 16:05:45 By - Carol Rosenberg

Prosecution: Penn State execs hid child sex claims against football coach

STATE COLLEGE, Penn. — Penn State coaching legend and Second Mile founder Jerry Sandusky was arraigned Saturday on more than 40 charges alleging sex crimes involving minors. | 11/05/11 11:22:52 By -

Court closes Green Duck Lounge, scene of notorious Kansas City murder

Repeated instances of violent crime and illegal drug activity in and near the business prompted the county prosecutor to seek a court order to have it shuttered for as long as a year. | 11/05/11 10:02:11 By - Tony Rizzo

Cops suspected of illegal gun sales in Calfornia probe

Two deputies from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, one Sacramento police officer and one Roseville police officer are the focus of the probe. | 11/05/11 09:33:44 By - Sam Stanton

Witness says Stryker 'kill team' suspect calmly displayed human fingers

Alleged “kill team” ringleader Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs was “very calm, very cool, very collected” last year as he unwrapped a pair of human fingers and threatened a private who raised an alarm about drug use in their platoon, the whistleblower testified Thursday. | 11/04/11 13:11:34 By - Adam Ashton

Zahra Baker's father wants to take her remains to Australia

Adam Baker, whose wife pleaded guilty to murdering his 10-year-old daughter, Zahra, says he feels like a hostage. He can't return to Australia while the felony and misdemeanor crimes he's been accused of committing remain pending. And he can't work, he says, because he's been accused of being in the country illegally. | 11/04/11 07:26:25 By - Gary L. Wright

Convictions in 'Liberty City Seven' terrorism case upheld

Five Miami men convicted of conspiring to support the terrorist organization al-Qaida lost their appeal Tuesday for a new trial. A federal appeals court ruled that U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard did not make a mistake when she removed a main juror and replaced her with an alternate juror during trial deliberations that led to the men’s convictions. | 11/02/11 07:02:21 By - Jay Weaver

In Alaska, soldier, 22, held on suspicion of spying

A 22-year-old Army military policeman from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is in custody in Anchorage on suspicion of espionage, an FBI spokesman said Tuesday. The soldier, Spc. William Colton Millay, was booked in the Anchorage jail at 8 p.m. Friday. He's being held without bail, a jail spokesman said. | 11/01/11 22:23:18 By - Richard Mauer

Afghan 'kill team' leader Gibbs was framed, defense says

Alleged Army “kill team” leader Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs would celebrate whenever he or his soldiers shot Afghan men during their deployment with a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade last year, his attorney acknowledged Monday. Gibbs would pose for photos and even clip body parts from the victims as “war trophies,” he said. | 11/01/11 07:33:54 By - Adam Ashton

Wichita mosque damaged by fire had received anti-Islam messages

A Muslim mosque in west Wichita that was heavily damaged by fire early Monday had received anti-Islam letters in recent months. Somebody also had begun turning on its outside water faucet overnight to hike its water bill, its leader said. | 11/01/11 06:56:58 By - Fred Mann and Stan Finger

44 charity pink flamingos stolen in Kennewick, Wash.

A thief with a penchant for pink flamingos pilfered 44 birds from a Kennewick yard Saturday night. Forty-nine flamingos were put in the yard of a home near Fourth Avenue and Joliet Avenue in Hansen Park around 10:30 p.m. But by the time the homeowners returned from a Halloween party at 11:45 p.m., most of the birds were gone, said Jenna Boogerd, owner of Swanky Babies. | 10/31/11 14:21:16 By - Paula Horton

Was autistic man really a Marine? Military court to decide

Los Angeles native Joshua D. Fry had been diagnosed as autistic and was living in a group home for people with mental disabilities when a Marine Corps recruiter signed him up for service. Fry's enlistment three years ago helped the recruiter meet his quota. It turned out far worse for Fry, who ended up being court-martialed on child pornography and other charges. Now his fate is posing a mind-boggling question for military judges: Was Fry never really in the Marine Corps in the first place? | 10/28/11 16:03:00 By - Michael Doyle

Interviews with Lisa Irwin's brothers postponed

Today’s planned interviews of Lisa Irwin’s two brothers has been postponed.

It may never happen now, because the case took a bizarre turn late Thursday as two attorneys for the family appeared to be in open conflict. | 10/28/11 07:07:00 By - Alan Bavley and Donald Bradley

Judge won't dismiss case against John Edwards

A federal court judge rejected efforts by John Edwards, the former presidential candidate facing criminal charges, to have his case thrown out before trial. | 10/27/11 13:23:33 By - Anne Blythe

Police: Couple on way to buy heroin passes out in traffic with 4-year-old in car

A Granite City, Illinois, couple took their 4-year-old daughter on a trip to buy heroin in St. Louis and ended up passing out in traffic, court documents state | 10/27/11 11:33:07 By - Kevin Bersett

Report: S.C. man points gun, cuts woman's hair after argument

A man is accused of threatening a woman with a gun then cutting her hair after an argument Monday. Kenneth Diamond Abner, 35, of Rock Hill has been charged with pointing a firearm and criminal domestic violence. | 10/26/11 13:03:51 By - Nichole Smith

After two months of searching, American finds Jack the Cat

After two months of searching, Jack the Cat has been found by American Airlines. The Fort Worth-based carrier lost the cat on August 25 after its owner Karen Pascoe had checked the cat in to American before she boarded a flight to California. | 10/26/11 12:20:17 By - Andrea Ahles

In Lisa Irwin case, legal wrangling with police is part of the system

Last week Cyndy Short, a lawyer for Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, said she was setting boundaries for her clients’ cooperation with police and insisting on ground rules in exchange for additional interviews about the disappearance of Lisa Irwin in early October. | 10/26/11 07:12:19 By - Mark Morris and Christine Vendel

Jury awards Sears employee $5.2M for racial harassment

At first, Medro Johnson tried to shrug it off. The African American employee of Sears Home Improvement Products in Natomas, Calif., was at an August 2008 company barbecue with his family, court records say. A co-worker walked up and blurted a racial slur, issued with a "slave dialect." | 10/26/11 06:50:41 By - Loretta Kalb

Woman allegedly drained checking account of Washington state couple

Authorities say a 32-year-old woman used a fake identity and phony checks to drain nearly $330,000 from a Gig Harbor, Wash., couple’s checking account earlier this year. | 10/24/11 16:41:38 By - Adam Lynn

Missing evidence is among military crime lab's new woes

The Army's crime lab, already beleaguered by multiple internal investigations, has something new to explain: missing evidence. Examiners misplaced evidence in a possible suicide investigation and an assault case. Meanwhile, two former senior employees of the lab's high-profile forensics testing in Afghanistan have accused their bosses of firing them in August in retaliation for complaining about mismanagement. | 10/24/11 15:30:00 By - Marisa Taylor

The cocaine road - from Colombia to Columbus, Georgia

It’s a long way from Colombia to Columbus, Georgia. But cocaine finds a way, from the farmer’s field to the dealer’s corner. And between the farmer trying to feed his family and the crackhead feeding his addiction, a lot of people make a lot of money. | 10/24/11 14:24:59 By -

Kansas prosecutors get more time to work around shredded records in Planned Parenthood case

Johnson County, Kansas, prosecutors have more time to try to replace shredded evidence in the country’s first criminal case against Planned Parenthood, a judge ruled this morning. | 10/24/11 14:20:32 By - Joe Lambe

Lisa Irwin case keeping Kansas City police frustrated

After nearly three weeks of searching for 11-month Lisa Irwin, Kansas City police continue to track down leads in a frustrating case that seems to have few. | 10/24/11 06:59:39 By - Laura Bauer and Scott Canon

Elisa Baker insists she didn't do it

Elisa Baker, in her first public interview, insisted from jail Friday that she was innocent despite pleading guilty last month to murdering her stepdaughter Zahra. | 10/23/11 17:36:15 By - Franco Ordoñez and Elizabeth Leland

Cadaver dog ‘hit’ inside Missouri house in Lisa Irwin case

An FBI cadaver dog indicated a “hit” inside the home where Lisa Irwin disappeared from her crib, according to an affidavit police filed to support a request for a search warrant of the house. | 10/21/11 16:36:46 By - Tony Rizzo

Thief botches Tacoma woman's life-saving auction

Money doesn’t usually matter much to Cindi Hayes, but this time it’s a matter of life or death. After 13 years battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia, doctors told her in August that a bone marrow transplant was her last chance. Faced with the procedure and related costs estimated at $600,000, Hayes and her family began saving every penny, seeking donations and collecting items for their big fund raiser – an auction Saturday at the Tacoma Elks Club. | 10/20/11 15:41:11 By - Stacia Glenn

Former Alaska legislators avoid more prison time in oil-tax bribery case

Prosecutors have agreed to not seek any more prison time for two former Alaska legislators, Pete Kott and Vic Kohring, despite their fresh admissions that they accepted bribes to promote oil-tax legislation favored by industry. | 10/20/11 07:36:30 By - Richard Mauer

Citigroup settles for $285 million; no Wall Street exec jailed yet

Global banking giant Citigroup has agreed to pay $285 million to settle charges that it misled investors about a complex financial instrument tied to the now-crippled housing market, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday. | 10/19/11 18:47:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Greg Gordon

'Promising' lead in Lisa Irwin case fizzles out

An intensive search Tuesday of woods a few blocks from where 11-month-old Lisa Irwin disappeared turned up nothing substantial, police said. | 10/19/11 07:10:23 By - Tony Rizzo and Glenn E. Rice

Father-daughter Renaissance "fight" ends in arrests

A Washington state man reportedly upset with his 16-year-old daughter because she went to Puyallup without parental approval Saturday night is accused of forcing her to suit up in armor and then beating her with a wooden sword for two hours until she could no longer stand, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. | 10/18/11 12:28:18 By - Jeremy Pawloski

Judge: Watchdog group CREW can help John Edwards

A federal judge will allow a government watchdog group to officially weigh in on the criminal case against John Edwards, the former presidential candidate accused of secretly obtaining campaign contributions to hide his pregnant mistress from the public. | 10/18/11 07:25:10 By - Anne Blythe

Texas man accused of smuggling cash to Mexico

A federal complaint has been lodged against a Texas man accused of smuggling thousands of dollars from Georgia to Mexico, according to U.S. District Court records. | 10/17/11 13:17:21 By - Margaret Baker

Missouri National Guard joins search for Lisa Irwin

Twenty-five Missouri National Guard military police joined about 50 law enforcement officers Sunday in the search for evidence related to the disappearance of Lisa Irwin. | 10/17/11 06:57:37 By - Mark Davis

NOAA takes control of 'pirate' ship seized for drift netting

An illegal high seas drift net fishing boat that a U.S. senator called a "pirate" ship has been turned over to a federal law enforcement office, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. | 10/17/11 06:27:03 By - Lisa Demer

Renewed probe into anthrax killings called unlikely

A senior Republican senator says it would take a powerful grass-roots movement or startling new evidence to reopen the Justice Department's investigation that branded a now-deceased Army researcher as the anthrax mailer who killed five people a decade ago. | 10/16/11 00:01:00 By - Greg Gordon, Stephen Engelberg and Mike Wiser

Kansas City bishop, Catholic diocese indicted for failure to report child abuse

A Jackson County grand jury has indicted Bishop Robert Finn on a misdemeanor charge of failure to report child abuse. The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also was charged with failure to report. | 10/14/11 15:38:26 By - Judy L. Thomas, Mark Morris and Glenn E. Rice

Wal-Mart heiress arrested on suspicion of DWI

A birthday celebration for Alice Walton last week ended on a sour note when the Wal-Mart heiress was arrested in Weatherford on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. | 10/14/11 12:22:18 By - Deanna Boyd

FBI: Alaskan bank robber left behind personal check for $1 million

A man turned himself in to police Thursday evening in connection with an East Anchorage bank robbery in which the suspect signed his name to a check and left it with a teller, authorities said. | 10/14/11 11:49:07 By - Kyle Hopkins

Police investigating Lisa Irwin case search wooded area again

Investigators spent part of Thursday afternoon searching a wooded area near Missouri 210 looking for any evidence connected to missing Northland baby Lisa Irwin. | 10/14/11 07:11:20 By - Glenn E. Rice

Feds bust another ring of accused painkiller peddlers in Florida

South Florida’s painkiller peddlers have taken a sharp turn into the Medicare rackets, authorities say. On Wednesday, federal agents broke up another major ring of alleged prescription drug peddlers — including a doctor, a pharmacist and two clinic owners — in a takedown across Miami-Dade and Broward counties. | 10/13/11 07:49:58 By - Jay Weaver

Sheriff's clerk tries to fix speeding ticket for teen by faxing to newspaper

St. Clair County (Illinois) Sheriff's Department records clerk Joann Reed wanted a speeding ticket for the son of a deputy dismissed, but she didn't go to a judge or jury in traffic court. She accidentally faxed the request to the News-Democrat's newsroom. | 10/13/11 07:41:05 By - Beth Hundsdorfer and George Pawlaczyk

Saudis don't name Iran in condemnation of alleged murder plot

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday denounced an alleged assassination plot against its ambassador to Washington as "outrageous and heinous" but said it was still trying to determine who was behind it. | 10/12/11 19:49:00 By - Roy Gutman

6 shot in beauty salon in California

| 10/12/11 17:35:52 By -

Domestic violence law repealed in Topeka, Ks., to save money

The Topeka City Council on Tuesday voted to repeal the city’s law against misdemeanor domestic battery, the latest in a budget battle that has freed about 30 abuse suspects from charges. One of the offenders was even arrested and released twice since the brouhaha broke out Sept. 8. | 10/12/11 07:17:06 By - Joe Lambe

Iran accused in alleged plot to kill Saudi ambassador in Washington

For the first time in more than a generation, a foreign power was accused Tuesday of plotting a political assassination in the United States capital, an allegation that stunned analysts who said it would seem to be an incredibly incautious move and a mark of desperation, if proved true. | 10/11/11 20:07:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

U.S. says Iran plot to kill Saudi ambassador hatched in Mexico

For the first time in more than a generation, a foreign power was accused Tuesday of plotting a political assassination in the United States capital, an allegation that stunned analysts who said it would seem to be an incredibly brazen move and a mark of desperation, if proved true. | 10/11/11 18:42:35 By - Kevin G. Hall

Backyard of Lisa Irwin's home is searched by Kansas City police

A few hours after neighborhood kids left stuffed animals outside Lisa Irwin’s house on Monday, investigators returned to the home to search the backyard. It was unclear what they were looking to find. | 10/11/11 07:02:24 By - Glenn Rice and Robert A. Cronkleton

Newly released files cloud FBI's anthrax finding

In early 2002, federal agents who were hunting the anthrax killer were trying to winnow a suspect list that numbered in the hundreds. They knew only that they were looking for someone with access to the rare Ames strain of anthrax used in research labs around the world. Profilers said the perpetrator probably was an American with "an agenda." | 10/11/11 00:01:00 By - Stephen Engelberg, Greg Gordon, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser

Was FBI's science good enough to ID anthrax killer?

A look at the scientific aspects of the most expensive federal investigation in history shows that new, more powerful technologies already had overtaken the methods used to pinpoint the flask as the murder weapon when prosecutors revealed their case in August 2008. | 10/11/11 00:01:00 By - Stephen Engelberg, Gary Matsumoto, Greg Gordon and Mike Wiser

FBI's case against anthrax suspect rife with questions

Newly available documents and testimony shed fresh light on the evidence against Bruce Ivins, the accused "anthrax killer" who committed suicide. While prosecutors continue to vehemently defend their case, some scientists wonder whether the real killer is still at large. | 10/11/11 00:01:00 By - Stephen Engelberg, Greg Gordon, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser

Wichita cops: Man uncooperative after being stabbed in scrotum with hypodermic needle

A 39-year-old Wichita man told police someone stabbed him in the scrotum with a hypodermic needle after an argument. | 10/10/11 14:48:48 By - Deb Gruver

Mexican drug cartel's impact felt in California's San Joaquin Valley

Recent large-scale marijuana busts have raised questions about whether Mexican drug cartels are active in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. The answer: yes, very active. | 10/10/11 14:23:57 By - Erin Tracy

Man brandishing machete killed by Miami-Dade police

The man was wearing only his underwear when he attacked two people with the machete and threatened the police officer. | 10/08/11 17:07:20 By - Jon Silman

Most dangerous cities in America? Detroit's No. 1, but the others may surprise

What's the most dangerous city in Texas? If you guessed Houston, Dallas or even Fort Worth - not so fast, cowpoke. Lubbock? | 10/08/11 17:01:06 By - Tom Uhler

12-year-old girl's tale of torture ends with escape at DMV office

Duewa Abeana Lee is charged with 12 felony counts of violating California's penal code in a "serious" fashion. Here's what that means: She used a frying pan to beat her boyfriend's 12-year-old daughter, then a hot clothing iron to burn her back. She used an electrical cord to cause permanent scarring on the girl's back, chest and arms, then stapled her ear to cause permanent disfigurement.

She heated a spatula and burned the girl's hand and buttocks, pushed her head through a window and shoved her down a flight of stairs, court papers state | 10/08/11 16:50:27 By - Marjie Lundstrom and Sam Stanton

Feds crack down on California's medical pot dispensaries

Declaring that California's medical marijuana law "has been hijacked by profiteers," U.S. prosecutors announced charges Friday against dispensaries, growers and financial speculators throughout the state's medicinal pot market. | 10/08/11 16:44:46 By - Peter Hecht

Paramilitaries may have entered Mexico's drug wars

The gruesome discovery of 32 bodies scattered in houses in the port city of Veracruz this week is the latest sign that Mexico's drug-fueled violence is entering a new phase in which murky paramilitary-style squads are carrying out mass exterminations. | 10/07/11 17:53:00 By - Tim Johnson

Lisa Irwin's mother says police accused her in infant's disappearance

The parents of Lisa Irwin appeared this morning on national news shows and said they were frustrated with the tactics of Kansas City police investigators. | 10/07/11 13:20:23 By - Brian Burnes

Arrests made in 'Occupy Sacramento' protest

Sacramento Police began arresting a group of about 19 Occupy Sacramento protesters about 12:40 a.m. today. The protesters were either lying or sitting at the entrance to Cesar Chavez Park at Ninth and K streets. | 10/07/11 06:48:36 By - Cynthia Hubert

Haitian mother seeks justice for daughter murdered in Dominican Republic

Rose-Marie Lindor seeks justice. The soft-spoken mother from Haiti gently tells the story of her 20-year old daughter Rooldine, who was tied up with rope, raped and stabbed in the Dominican Republic. Her body was found July 12 in an abandoned house in Hipodromo, a neighborhood in Santo Domingo. | 10/06/11 07:01:02 By - Nadege Green and Frances Robles

Alaska Sen. Begich warns against 'showboat' politics in Native contract hearing

Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey on Wednesday called for hearing to investigate Alaska Native corporation federal contracting in the wake of a massive bribery and kickback scandal involving an executive at a subsidiary of the Eyak Corporation. | 10/06/11 06:40:49 By - Sean Cockerham

Edwards case goes before federal judge in late October

A federal judge will hear arguments later this month on whether the criminal case against John Edwards should be dismissed or move toward trial. In a court document filed this week, federal court officials set a hearing for Oct. 26. | 10/05/11 14:20:25 By - Anne Blythe

Nazi salute lawsuit against California town can proceed

The U.S. Supreme Court has left intact an appellate ruling that a California man who was thrown out of a Santa Cruz City Council meeting and arrested for giving a mock Nazi salute to the mayor is entitled to a jury trial on his freedom of speech damage claims. | 10/05/11 07:34:41 By - Denny Walsh

Eyak Technology executive charged in federal bribery case

Federal agents arrested an executive with an Alaska Native corporation subsidiary Tuesday for his alleged role in a massive kickback scheme likely to intensify scrutiny of the federal contracting privileges Native corporations have used to make billions of dollars. | 10/05/11 06:46:24 By - Sean Cockerham

Soldiers' IDs used in online romance scam

Internet impostors are co-opting the identities of well-known soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in bids to scam people out of thousands of dollars, according to Army reports. | 10/04/11 07:32:23 By - Adam Ashton

Alaska lawmakers seek reduction of prison costs, recidivism

Alaska's growing -- and expensive -- prison population is getting new attention from state legislators, who say they want to try new ways to lower inmate numbers. And they are looking hardest at those who have already been there. | 10/04/11 06:39:35 By - Lisa Demer

Amanda Knox acquitted of murder in Italy

An Italian appeals court has thrown out Amanda Knox's murder conviction and ordered the young American free after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate. | 10/03/11 16:03:24 By -

Lawsuit leaves large gas storage fields in Kansas unregulated

Knox says it's unsettling to know that because of a federal court decision last year, neither the state nor federal governments are inspecting the gas field near his home, or others holding thousands of times the amount of gas that caused havoc in Hutchinson. | 10/03/11 14:19:24 By - Dion Lefler

Montana man faces cold case homicide charge in Alaska

Twelve years and more than 1,200 miles apart, Robert Kowalski shot and killed two women. One died on vacation in Alaska, the other in her Montana home. | 10/02/11 12:39:55 By -

Running booze a way of life on Gulf Coast during Prohibition

Prohibition, forced on Americans in 1919 by the 18th Amendment, wasn’t a big deal to most Mississippians living on the Coast and in the Southern pineywoods. Skirting laws that restricted drinking was, more often than not, an accepted way of life. | 10/02/11 12:31:24 By - Kat Bergeron

Missouri man gets 18 life sentences for 30-year old rapes

A Jackson County judge sentenced Bernard Jackson to 18 consecutive life sentences today for rapes he committed in the Waldo and Armour Hills neighborhoods almost 30 years ago. | 09/30/11 12:36:59 By - Tony Rizzo and Mark Morris

Prosecutor: 15-year-old 'ambushed' victims in Charlotte

Days after he'd been grounded, the 15-year-old accused of killing his father and stepmother ambushed them as part of his plan to run away to Mexico, prosecutors said in court Thursday. | 09/30/11 11:46:46 By - Meghan Cooke

ICE detains 3,000 immigrants with criminal records

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday detentions nationwide of nearly 3,000 foreign nationals with criminal convictions in the largest operation of its kind since the agency was created in 2003. | 09/29/11 07:01:53 By - Alfonso Chardy

Poll: Californians staunchly support death penalty

As death penalty opponents work to get a ballot measure before California voters next fall to abolish capital punishment, a new Field Poll indicates the initiative would be a tough sell. More than two-thirds of state voters – 68 percent – favor keeping the death penalty, the poll found, with 27 percent favoring abolition and 5 percent expressing no opinion. | 09/29/11 06:51:56 By - Sam Stanton

Pentagon announces trial of alleged Cole mastermind on new Guantanamo website

Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, 46, a former Saudi millionaire, faces the death penalty in al Qaida’s suicide bombing of a U.S. Navy warship in a Yemen port a decade ago. The announcement came on a new website that news organizations had requested. | 09/28/11 17:34:00 By - Carol Rosenberg

Laser hits American Airlines flight near Meacham

An American Airlines flight, westbound from D/FW Airport, reported being hit by a green laser at 10,000 feet late Tuesday, seven miles northwest of Meacham Airport. | 09/28/11 11:46:16 By - Marty Sabota

Suspended Florida immigration official arrested on Internet child-porn charges

The suspended head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida was arrested Tuesday on charges of possessing and distributing images of child pornography over the Internet, according to authorities familiar with the case. | 09/27/11 18:51:03 By - Jay Weaver

Supreme Court to hear deportation case

Carlos Martinez Gutierrez got caught smuggling three Mexican children into California. Now, his travails have reached the Supreme Court. | 09/27/11 17:22:00 By - Michael Doyle

After North Carolina prison closing, what about the cats?

When the Durham Correctional Center shut down last week and its inmates shuttled off to other facilities, Runt, Bobo, Twinkletoes and Smokey once again faced an uncertain future. Those last four inhabitants - all feline - were treated as pets by inmates and officers, who worried about what would happen to the cats with the prison closed. So prison officials called the same group that had saved the cats' lives more than a year earlier. | 09/27/11 13:05:16 By - Brooke Cain

Georgia man electrocuted while trying to take copper

An Opelika, Ala., man authorities say was trying to take copper from a power pole electrocuted himself on Friday in Chambers County. | 09/27/11 12:46:19 By - Alan Riquelmy

Man offers to resume relationship but only if he gets teen daughter

A 49-year-old Anchorage man offered earlier this month to rekindle a relationship with a former girlfriend -- but only if she would let him have sex with her 14-year-old daughter, police said Monday. | 09/27/11 11:57:46 By - Lisa Demer

EEOC files harassment complaint against Nu-Way Weiners

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against Nu-Way Weiners Inc., claiming that two female employees “were repeatedly subjected to a sexually hostile work environment” and that the restaurant chain didn’t end the alleged harassment. | 09/26/11 15:11:29 By - Amy Leigh Womack

Pentagon plans to transmit Guantanamo trials to U.S. points

The Obama administration’s choice to run prosecutions at the Guantanamo war crimes court is pledging a new era of transparency from the remote base, including the nearly simultaneous broadcast of the proceedings to locations in the United States where reporters and families of victims would be able to view them. | 09/25/11 20:10:44 By - Carol Rosenberg

Miami detective involved in murder love triangle case

North Miami Beach Detective Ed Hill, tasked with investigating a straight-out-of Hollywood love triangle assassination, already suffered a blow in credibility when he began romancing one suspect’s bombshell Russian wife. | 09/23/11 15:35:33 By - David Ovalle

14 indicted in Kansas City in massive tax refund scam

A three-year scheme that allegedly tried to defraud the Internal Revenue Service out of millions in inflated tax refunds unraveled Thursday in Kansas City as authorities announced charges against 14 defendants from around the country. | 09/23/11 15:27:00 By - Mark Morris

Pfc. Andrew Holmes pleads guilty in Afghan 'kill team' case

Pfc. Andrew Holmes had a bad feeling when he followed a command from a higher-ranked soldier to help search a teenage Afghan boy standing in a poppy field. Holmes knew his fellow Stryker infantryman, Spc. Jeremy Morlock, had been talking about killing Afghans in combat-like scenarios. He also knew Morlock was carrying a grenade he wasn't supposed to have. | 09/23/11 07:34:20 By - Adam Ashton

Alaska whaling official charged with theft

For the second time in three months, an official with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission faces federal charges of stealing and misspending from the organization. | 09/23/11 06:48:37 By - Lisa Demer

'Twitter terrorists' walk free in Mexico amid crime surge

Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against two social media users dubbed the "Twitter terrorists" three weeks after their tweets and Facebook postings enraged authorities in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. | 09/21/11 18:33:00 By - Tim Johnson

'Flawed' new rape law roils military justice system

Six years ago, Congress tried cracking down on rape in the military. Prompted by disturbing reports of sexual assaults in military academies and war zones, lawmakers rewrote the rules. They wanted to protect victims and help prosecutors. Now it's clear that the effort backfired. | 09/21/11 15:25:00 By - Michael Doyle and Marisa Taylor

Zahra Baker's mom found her too late

While some think Elisa Baker's sentence is too short for killing her stepdaughter Zahra Baker, the 10-year-old's biological mother said she's satisfied knowing Baker is going to prison. | 09/20/11 18:01:21 By - Franco Ordoñez

Mexican leader hints again at U.S. drug legalization

For the second time in less than a month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has inched toward suggesting that the United States decriminalize narcotics if that's what it takes to reduce the "astronomical profits" of the crime gangs roiling his nation. | 09/20/11 16:57:00 By - Tim Johnson

Release of juror questionnaires sought in Chandra Levy case

Long after Chandra Levy's convicted killer was packed off to prison, his trial has become a test case for public access to courtroom proceedings. | 09/20/11 15:18:00 By - Michael Doyle

Bronze statue of Scout is stolen in Tacoma, likely for metal

A 6-foot bronze statue of a boy commanded respect and emulation from thousands of Boy Scouts coming in and out of the Creighton Scout Service Center for a dozen years. | 09/20/11 13:05:44 By - Stacia Glenn

Zahra Baker case: Both sides said they got best deal possible

In the weeks before Elisa Baker pleaded guilty to murdering her 10-year-old stepdaughter, Zahra, the Catawba County District Attorney feared she might escape responsibility for the killing. But Baker's attorney, Scott Reilly, feared his client could spend the rest of her life behind bars. | 09/17/11 18:09:47 By - Franco Ordoñez

U.S. expands its drug watch list to include all Central America

The White House on Thursday added tiny El Salvador and Belize to its list of drug producing and transit countries, placing for the first time all seven Central American nations on the list in a sign of how awash in illegal narcotics the region has become. | 09/15/11 19:58:00 By - Tim Johnson

Zahra Baker's stepmom Elisa pleads guilty to murder

Elisa Baker entered a guilty plea Thursday morning to second-degree murder and other charges related to the death of her 10-year-old stepdaughter Zahra Baker nearly a year ago. Baker, 43, entered the pleas following an agreement reached between her attorney, Scott Reilly, and District Attorney Jay Gaither. | 09/15/11 12:56:38 By - Franco Ordonez, Bruce Henderson and Joe DePriest

Cocaine is no longer drug of choice in Miami

In these rough economic times, another pricey extravagance appears to be waning in South Florida: cocaine. The city that gave rise to Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs has seen a decline in people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction or dying from the drug. | 09/15/11 06:50:39 By - Frances Robles

Zahra Baker's stepmom Elisa could get plea deal in murder trial

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are in negotiations that could put an end to the nearly yearlong murder case of 10-year-old Zahra Baker of Hickory. Defense Attorney Scott Reilly told the Observer on Monday night that he is in discussions with District Attorney Jay Gaither on resolving the second-degree murder charges against Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, possibly as early as Wednesday. | 09/13/11 07:15:50 By - Franco Ordoñez

Feds charge Colombian drug lord called ‘Loco Barrera’ and two partners

One of Colombia’s most-wanted drug traffickers with alleged ties to a narco-terrorist organization has been charged in Miami along with two other “high-level” partners, U.S. authorities said Monday. | 09/12/11 19:14:50 By - Jay Weaver

Kansas human trafficking law falls short, Polaris Project says

A national anti-trafficking organization is giving Kansas low marks on state efforts to police human trafficking, but Missouri fares much better. Even though Kansas' governor and attorney general have been strong voices against trafficking, an analysis by the Polaris Project found that the state still lacks the full arsenal of laws considered "critical to a comprehensive anti-trafficking effort." | 09/12/11 07:14:34 By - Mike McGraw

Do conflicts among Marine lawyers put justice at risk?

How many Marines may have been shortchanged by a potentially conflicted military defense attorney? The troubling answer is: No one knows. | 09/07/11 17:03:00 By - Michael Doyle

U.S. and Europe to fight pirates who steal fish on the high seas

Illegal fishing undermines efforts to stop overfishing and shrinks the profits of legal commercial fishermen, the oceans chiefs of the United States and the European Union declared on Wednesday, as they pledged to cooperate to nab fish pirates. | 09/07/11 16:56:49 By - Renee Schoof

California woman paralyzed by boyfriend's beating dies

When Tim Dunn needed an emotional lift, he visited his good friend Cindy Hammond. Hammond no longer could be his dance partner, at least in the traditional way, after a savage beating by her boyfriend two years ago left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. | 09/07/11 16:38:35 By - Cynthia L. Hubert

In Monterrey, gangsters display brutality for all to see

The gangsters in this city seem to fear no one, especially not the police. They steal and kill in broad daylight, and some of their actions are designed to instill terror. | 09/07/11 15:25:00 By - Tim Johnson

Mexico's Monterrey, famed for industrial might, slipping into gangsters' grip

Out of the desert scrub, the tycoons of Monterrey have erected an industrial powerhouse that is a beacon across Latin America. But with a speed that has surprised even astute industrialists, gangsters have brought the prosperous metropolis to its knees. The news in Monterrey grows darker by the day. | 09/07/11 14:58:00 By - Tim Johnson

Iraq War vet accused of murder; pleads not guilty by reason of insanity

An Iraqi war veteran had post-traumatic stress disorder, his lawyer says, and killed his girlfriend because he thought she was part of a terrorist attack on America. | 09/07/11 12:25:58 By - Gary L. Wright

Mississippi man pinched with live lobsters in pants

A shoplifting suspect had stuffed a pork loin and jumbo shrimp in his pants and filled his pockets with live lobsters when employees of Winn-Dixie confronted him Saturday, Police Chief Wayne Payne said | 09/07/11 12:11:33 By - Robin Fitzgerald

John Edwards seeks dismissal of case

Lawyers for John Edwards filed a barrage of court documents Tuesday asking a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate. | 09/07/11 07:21:19 By - Anne Blythe

Adult entertainment law goes before Missouri's high court

Missouri's yearlong dispute over what adult entertainment venues can offer — and when — is probably entering its final, decisive stage today in Jefferson City. Missouri's Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments this morning in the legal challenge to a law that broadly restricts adult entertainment in strip clubs, bookstores and movie houses. | 09/07/11 07:15:13 By - Dave Helling

Fistfights, insults disrupt Mubarak trial testimony

Not even an hour into the third day of the trial of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a fistfight broke out in court Monday and insults flew between his supporters and detractors as an exasperated judge tried to restore order to the chaotic proceedings. | 09/05/11 17:05:00 By - Mohannad Sabry

Texas has too many prison beds, not enough prisoners

For about 20 years, employees at the North Texas Intermediate Sanctions Facility went quietly about the business of housing hundreds of short-term parole violators. The prison, a complex occupying almost an entire block, now is vacant largely as a result of reforms aimed at reducing the state's penal system costs. | 09/04/11 17:53:58 By - Mitch Mitchell

911 tapes: Quick response prevented propane disaster

A calm, take-charge dispatcher, quick action by firefighters and police, and plenty of good breaks were were credited with preventing a catastrophe in Lincoln, Calif., last week. The fire prompted the evacuation of approximately 4,800 homes, as well as businesses and City Hall, within the one-mile radius of the fire that could have been affected had the tanker exploded. | 09/03/11 18:46:41 By - Cathy Locke

Python recovers, minus a few ribs, after man bites her

A pet python that underwent surgery after being bitten by a Sacramento man is "looking a ton better," Sacramento animal control officials said today. The man who allegedly bit the female snake, 54-year-old David Elmer Senk, has been in custody in the Sacramento Jail since Thursday on $10,000 bail. Police arrested him on charges of maiming/mutilating a reptile. | 09/03/11 18:37:19 By - Whitney Mountain

Grassley asks Justice to explain contradictory acts on anthrax

A senior Republican senator has asked the Justice Department to explain why its civil lawyers filed court papers questioning prosecutors' conclusions that an Army researcher mailed the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people in 2001. | 09/02/11 18:25:00 By - Greg Gordon, Mike Wiser and Stephen Engelberg

Police charge California man with biting pet python

Sacramento man has been taken into custody for allegedly taking big bites out a pet python, which was reported recovering after surgery. | 09/02/11 16:21:04 By - Bill Lindelof

Lexington, Ky. doctor shot multiple times before crash

Dr. Martha Post, a long-time Lexington dermatologist, was trying to back out of the parking lot at her office when she was apparently shot multiple times Thursday night. | 09/02/11 15:45:58 By - Linda J. Johnson and Greg Kocher

East St. Louis mother charged with murder in deaths of two children

Yokeia T. Smith, the 25-year-old accused of shooting her two young children to death, was charged Friday in East St. Louis with two counts of first-degree murder. | 09/02/11 13:38:46 By - Carolyn P. Smith

Haley Barbour relative defrauded FEMA after Katrina, judge rules

Six years after Hurricane Katrina, a relative of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was found by a federal court to have masterminded a massive fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the inspection of the legendary trailers that housed storm refugees along the Gulf Coast. | 08/31/11 18:52:00 By - Maria Recio

Ex-Beazer Homes CFO O'Leary to return $1.4 bonus

Another former executive at Beazer Homes USA Inc. is returning the money he made from his bonus and stock while his company was committing accounting fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. Former chief financial officer James O'Leary agreed to reimburse the Atlanta homebuilder more than $1.4 million he received after Beazer filed fraudulent financial statements in fiscal year 2006. | 08/31/11 07:08:15 By - Kirsten Valle Pittman

Feds nab Florida fisherman for attempting to defraud regarding oil spill

Eliu Gonzalez, a South Florida fisherman who worked the waters off Miami-Dade and Monroe counties for more than a decade, lived hundreds of miles from the Deepwater Horizon rig when it exploded in April 2010. But that didn’t stop Gonzalez from logging onto the British Petroleum’s Gulf Coast claim center website five months later, stating that that the massive oil spill cost him more than $110,000 in lost income. | 08/31/11 06:47:47 By - Adam H. Bealsey

Napolitano's deportation statistic displeases both sides

Now in her third year as the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano has experience battling simultaneous criticism that the Obama administration deports both too many and too few undocumented immigrants. | 08/30/11 18:38:55 By - Adam Sege

Ex-boyfriend held in slaying of South Carolina professor in her home

Jennifer Lee Wilson, the 36-year-old woman found stabbed to death Sunday in her Shandon duplex, was a University of South Carolina professor highly regarded by colleagues as a shining star in the world of children’s literacy and teacher instruction. | 08/30/11 13:28:58 By - John Monk

Study: Racial disparities taint military's use of death penalty

Ten of the 16 men whom the military has sentenced to death in the last 27 years share another common characteristic: They're all minorities. | 08/28/11 00:01:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Military capital cases deserve better defense, critics say

When military jurors sentenced former Marine Lance Cpl. Ronnie Curtis to death, they had every reason to believe that he deserved to be executed. No one disputed that he'd stabbed and killed his superior officer and the officer's wife inside their home. The only real question was why. | 08/28/11 00:01:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Many death sentences in U.S. military overturned

Of the 16 men sentenced to death since the military overhauled its system in 1984, 10 have been taken off death row. The military's appeals courts have overturned most of the sentences, not because of a change in heart about the death penalty or questions about the men's guilt, but because of mistakes made at every level of the military's judicial system. | 08/28/11 00:01:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Copper theft hits recreation centers in Macon, Ga.

Copper thieves haven’t spared Macon’s recreation centers, causing the cancellation of some programs, high repair costs, and hothouse conditions for the public and city workers alike. | 08/26/11 15:40:05 By - Jim Gaines

Case against Kansas man accused of crimes in Rwanda is dismissed

Andre Kandy said his 84-year-old father, Lazare Kobagaya, told him about a prayer he said this week while facing deportation to Rwanda. | 08/26/11 07:06:23 By - Ron Sylvester

Firebombing of casino leaves 'around 40' dead in Mexico

Assailants on Thursday dumped gasoline and set it afire in a casino in the city of Monterrey, trapping gamblers inside as flames engulfed the building, and a top official said "around 40" people had died. | 08/25/11 22:51:00 By - Tim Johnson

Kentucky lesbian couple seeks federal involvement in hate crime case

A lesbian couple in Harlan County, Kentucky, who believe they were attacked and beaten because of their sexual orientation want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the case. | 08/25/11 07:13:08 By - Bill Estep

Former foster children sue state over Tacoma 'house of horrors'

Four former foster children who allegedly suffered horrible abuse at the hands of their state-appointed guardians filed suit Tuesday against the state of Washington. | 08/24/11 16:48:42 By - Adam Lynn

Anarchists arrested in attack in Olympia

Several people arrested early Sunday after allegedly attacking two men downtown Olympia, Wash., are affiliated with local anarchist groups, Olympia Police Lt. Jim Costa said Tuesday. | 08/24/11 16:22:56 By - Jeremy Pawloski

Bronze thieves strike Bellingham Federal Building

Yet another bronze plaque has been stolen from public property, this time from the façade of the Federal Building downtown | 08/24/11 12:37:08 By - Zoe Fraley

'Liberty City Seven' defendants' fate up to federal appeals court

The judge's removal of a woman from the federal jury in one of the nation’s most controversial terrorism trials dominated oral arguments Tuesday, in the appeal of five Miami men, dubbed the "Liberty City Seven," convicted of conspiring to aid al-Qaida. | 08/24/11 07:04:23 By - Jay Weaver

Washington state man bought home with mom's savings meant for her care

Kenneth Dwayne Rogers bought a beautiful new house in Lynden, spent thousands on remodeling and landscaping and even bought his wife a three-stone diamond ring. He did it all with money that should have been used to care for his elderly mother. Once he'd burned through all her savings, he went to the state asking for assistance with her care. | 08/23/11 12:28:10 By - Zoe Fraley

'In Cold Blood' house damaged by fire

An unattended cigarette is being blamed for a fire that damaged the house in southwest Kansas where Herb Clutter and his family were murdered on a November night in 1959. The crime shocked a nation and became the basis for Truman Capote's literary classic, "In Cold Blood." | 08/23/11 06:42:23 By - Stan Finger

Victims detail million-dollar fraud charges against Florida ex-con

After he left state prison on June 1, 2008, Michael Scott Segal lost no time trying to get back on his feet the best way he knew how: sweet-talking prospective investors into funding his foreign-trade projects. | 08/22/11 12:57:10 By - Elinor J. Brecher

Florida medical licenses targeted in pill mill crackdown

The strike force met in Orlando in March, more than 100 police, healthcare and state regulators, to form their battle plan against a state scourge: prescription drug abuse, a public health threat that has killed thousands and reduced Florida to a national symbol for rampant pill popping and peddling. | 08/22/11 12:52:14 By - Audra D.S. Burch

Identity thieves are busy

There is a man in Belleville, Illinois who goes by the name of Michael, but he has also been known by three other first names. He also goes by four different last names and has used eight different Social Security numbers and as many different dates of birth. | 08/22/11 11:54:19 By - Will Buss

Gunfire sends Mexican soccer fans and players scrambling

Saturday at the soccer stadium in Torreon during a match between Santos and Morelia, gunshots broke out. In video of the scene, at about 38 seconds, you'll see where the fans _ and the players _ suddenly realize that a fierce gunfight is nearby. Later in the video, you'll see fans lying face down in the stands, huddled behind chairs, running wildly for the exits. The panic and fright are evident. The two announcers, in Spanish, try to determine if the gunfire is inside or outside the stadium. | 08/21/11 22:26:32 By -

Florida men charged with sexually assaulting women on tape

The women were promised fame and fortune if they travelled to South Florida. After reading enticements on the Internet, one victim was told she would be the face of a new Bacardi drink. Another was told she would get a role in a Paramount film. But it was all a scam, federal prosecutors say, and instead of riches, the women were drugged, sexually assaulted and filmed. | 08/18/11 12:30:55 By - Jon Silman

Belleville coroner: 85-year-old carjacking victim was burned alive

An 85-year-old Belleville, Illinois woman killed in a carjacking was alive when her killers set her car on fire, according to the coroner's report. | 08/18/11 11:38:15 By - Elizabeth Donald

'Dr. Phil' videos will be evidence in 'hot sauce mom' trial

An Anchorage jury heard opening statements Wednesday in the trial of Jessica Beagley, an Anchorage mother accused of abusing her adopted Russian son by putting hot sauce in his mouth and forcing him into a cold shower as punishment for bad behavior. | 08/18/11 06:40:06 By - Casey Grove

Calif. man accused of luring Texas teens to beach for prostitution

He invited the three Irving teens to California to visit the beach, but authorities say Samuel Martinez Gonzalez had more sinister plans. Once they arrived, he took the three girls -- 15- and 16-year-old sisters and their 15-year-old friend -- shopping for dresses and high heels with plans of making them work as prostitutes. | 08/17/11 07:32:30 By - Deanna Boyd

'Hot sauce mom' abuse trial opens in Alaska

Opening statements are expected today in the trial of an Anchorage mother accused of abusing her adopted Russian son by putting hot sauce in his mouth as punishment for bad behavior. Municipal prosecutors charged Jessica Beagley, 36, in January with one count of misdemeanor child abuse after her unorthodox punishments were featured on national television for a November 2010 segment of the "Dr. Phil" show called "Mommy Confessions." | 08/17/11 06:37:23 By - Casey Grove

Forklift operator held after police chase of up 16 mph

A Fort Worth man remained in custody Tuesday on suspicion that led police on a brief chase on a forklift through a street and then a highway during the weekend before he stopped on Interstate 30. | 08/16/11 17:10:44 By - Domingo Ramirez Jr.

Grandfather of slain girl blames California court system

Mourad "Moni" Samaan killed himself and his 2-year-old daughter, Madeleine Layla Samaan-Fay following a bitter custody battle that began even before the child was born, Samaan's father said Monday. | 08/16/11 13:50:34 By - Stephen Magagnini and Peter Hecht

Oxycodone purchases are down in Florida

With a towering mound of pain pills next to him, Gov. Rick Scott Monday offered a hopeful snapshot from the front lines of Florida’s fight against epidemic prescription drug abuse. | 08/16/11 07:00:53 By - Audra D.S. Burch

Illegal bear hunt, identity theft net Florida man $66,450 in fines

A Florida man who stole a friend's identity to illegally kill a brown bear in Alaska — then complained about the hunt because he wanted a bigger bear — has been sentenced to pay more than $66,000 in penalties. | 08/16/11 06:42:24 By - Kyle Hopkins

Convicts face tough job market when they leave prison

Timothy Woodward has spent seven years in prison for assault, a devastating crime to which he pleaded guilty and for which he makes no excuses. His release date is Sept. 6. Trouble is, the dismal job market has drained the work out of work release. | 08/15/11 15:00:46 By - Kathleen Merryman

Kansas City mall mayhem prompts call for change

Kansas City Mayor Sly James vowed Sunday that he’d take steps to end large, nighttime gatherings of unsupervised teenagers and preteens on the Country Club Plaza by holding parents to account. How, he didn’t know. | 08/15/11 13:15:28 By - Mike Hendricks and Eric Adler

Rustlers steal horse trailer, cattle in Fort Worth

The move to a new home for a one-eyed horse and pet cow who were paired in a two-for-one auction sale got temporarily sidetracked after cattle rustlers stole the good Samaritan bidder's horse trailer. | 08/15/11 13:03:28 By - Steve Campbell

Shots too close for comfort for mayor in tony K.C. district

The mayor was shoved to the ground by his security detail when shots rang out in the Country Club Plaza shopping district Saturday night. Three people were wounded. | 08/14/11 17:49:34 By - Mike Hendricks and Eric Adler

Courts locked in dispute over validity of Florida's drug law

On July 27, U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven ruled that Florida’s drug law was “draconian” because prosecutors do not have to prove that the accused actually knew they were carrying illegal drugs. State court judges have refused to abide by the ruling, however. | 08/14/11 17:22:32 By - David Ovalle

Woman's rape case shows pitfalls of Chinese justice

In March 1997, Jia Hongling was raped by a low-level manager of a mining company in Henan Province. Jia, then 28, reported the sexual assault to the police in her hometown of Jiyuan in central China. In July, the policeman investigating the case raped her too. It took Jia eight years of filing complaints before the first man was sentenced to five years in prison. The policeman was never brought to trial. | 08/14/11 14:02:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Gunman in Chauncey Bailey murder sentenced to 25 years

The man who gunned down journalist Chauncey Bailey and another man on instructions from the leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison. The sentence was part of a plea deal for his testimony against the man who ordered the hit. | 08/13/11 11:49:18 By - Matt Krupnick

New accusation of sex abuse against Kansas City priest

The latest lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that Thomas Reardon sexually abused the plaintiff repeatedly beginning in the late 1960s, when the plaintiff was in middle school in the St. Elizabeth Parish. | 08/13/11 09:44:20 By - Judy L. Thomas

Miami's bloody week: 8 dead in a spate of shootings

A 25-year-old mom who clerked at a check cashing store. A former head cheerleader at Booker T. Washington Senior High. A middle-aged man who worked mowing lawns with his friend. A distraught U.S. Air Force veteran. These are the latest victims in a particularly bloody week in South Florida where gunshots have left at least eight people dead and more wounded. | 08/13/11 09:39:36 By - Laura Isensee and Diana Moskovitz

Hunt on for Amazon tribesmen who disappeared in London

Two young Huitoto tribesmen from the Amazon were taken to England in 1911 to illustrate the brutality of the rubber trade. Ushered around by a controversial humanitarian eventually executed for treason, the men met the Archbishop of Canterbury, were photographed and painted by renowned artists, and were splashed across the front page of the Daily Mail. Then they disappeared from public view. | 08/13/11 09:35:14 By - Jim Wyss

Man who punched 7-year-old says jail too rough for him

Alaska State Troopers are investigating the reported jailhouse beating of an Anchorage man accused of punching a young girl in June. But a judge on Friday denied Byron Syvinski's subsequent request to be moved from the jail to a halfway house, saying the 32-year-old remains a danger to the community. | 08/13/11 09:27:05 By - Casey Grove

Ex-aide to Pete Wilson went for walk — and vanished

The disappearance of a former political appointee and aide to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson has rattled friends and former colleagues from the Capitol. Martin Dyer, who vanished the evening of July 30, was last seen going for a walk after dinner at a friend's encampment on Henthorne Lake in rural southeastern Trinity County. | 08/13/11 09:21:31 By - Torey Van Oot

Life sentence is angry end for man who helped girl kill mom

Michael Witt, the brother of an El Dorado Hills woman savagely murdered with the help of her own daughter, knew the outcome to be announced in a Placerville courtroom Friday. He knew Steven Paul Colver, 21, was going to be sent to prison forever. He knew his niece, Tylar Marie Witt, 16, was taking a plea deal for 15 years to life. | 08/13/11 09:16:04 By - Peter Hecht

Almost naked man discovered live in car trunk in Wichita

He was leaving Towne East mall with some freshly purchased clothes early Wednesday evening. The next thing he knew, he awoke wearing only a shirt in the trunk of a strange car early on Thursday morning and someone was telling him to get out. | 08/12/11 13:51:02 By - Stan Finger

Sentencing for California teen lovers who murdered girl's mother

Steven Paul Colver and Tylar Marie Witt once vowed in a suicide pact to live together in eternity. Today, in a Placerville, California, courtroom, they are to be sentenced together in the fatal stabbing of Witt's mother, Joanne M. Witt. | 08/12/11 13:25:17 By - Peter Hecht

New sex abuse lawsuit leveled at Kansas City priest

A new lawsuit is accusing the Rev. Shawn Ratigan of engaging a 9-year-old girl in sexually explicit conduct as recently as May. The suit also alleges that Bishop Robert Finn allowed Ratigan continued access to children even after learning of disturbing images found on the priest’s computer and despite warnings from clerics about his troubling behavior. | 08/12/11 12:42:56 By - Judy L. Thomas

Teen convicted, sentenced for rape of woman, 83

Robert McFadden hung his head, buried his face in his left hand and cried. The Charlotte teenager had just learned he'd been convicted of raping an 83-year-old woman. | 08/12/11 12:04:02 By - Gary L. Wright

Murkowski aide Fuglvog pleads guilty to breaking fishing law

Arne Fuglvog, who was Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's top fisheries adviser, pleaded guilty Thursday to breaking commercial fishing law and also indicated he could be feeding information to prosecutors in an attempt to lighten his sentence. | 08/12/11 06:28:34 By - Sean Cockerham

AKC: Dognapping on the rise

Animal advocates are reporting a sharp rise in dog theft - a murky and hard-to-track crime that often goes unreported. The American Kennel Club tracks larcenies through a national database, and its figures show at least a 32 percent uptick so far in 2011. | 08/11/11 13:14:29 By - Josh Shaffer

Son of late Alaska Sen. Stevens won't face corruption charges

Ben Stevens has been told he's off the hook in the rapidly fading Alaska political corruption investigation, according to people with knowledge of the case. Family friends of Stevens, the former Alaska Senate president and son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, say he's recently received a letter from federal prosecutors that he won't face charges. | 08/11/11 06:42:42 By - Richard Mauer

Extreme TV show about coupons tied to thefts of newspapers

The popularity of a reality TV show about bargain hunters is being blamed for an increase in stolen Sunday newspapers across the country, including a spike in thefts at North Carolina's two largest dailies, The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer. | 08/10/11 12:38:41 By - Brook Cain

Police report flood of thefts of metal rich backflow preventers

About 18 months ago a run of thefts on backflow preventers had the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office handing out advice to homeowners on how to protect them. | 08/10/11 12:29:31 By - Richard Dymond

Catholic priest Ratigan faces federal child porn charges

A Catholic priest charged with possessing child pornography in Clay County now faces similar, but much more serious, counts in federal court. A federal grand jury today indicted the Rev. Shawn Francis Ratigan, 45, with 13 counts of possessing, producing and attempting to produce child pornography — including producing of child porn in a church choir loft. | 08/10/11 07:10:50 By - Mark Morris and Glenn E. Rice

Ex-Alaska Speaker Kott seeks secret FBI files for retrial

There are still thousands of secret documents in the FBI's Alaska corruption investigation. Former House Speaker Pete Kott says about 4,500 pages of them should be unsealed to ensure his retrial is fair. | 08/10/11 06:45:19 By - Richard Mauer

Catholic priest in Missouri faces federal charges on child porn

A Catholic priest charged with possessing child pornography in Clay County, Missouri, now faces similar, but much more serious, counts in federal court. | 08/09/11 17:28:19 By - Mark Morris and Glenn E. Rice

Ted Bundy's DNA profile entered into national database

The DNA profile of serial killer Ted Bundy has been added to a national database where it can be compared to evidence from unsolved cases. | 08/09/11 13:38:43 By - Stacey Mulick

S.C. police hope new law cuts into copper thefts

Copper thieves, beware. Your time is running out to get away with selling stolen copper in South Carolina. At least that is what state law enforcement officers hope when the new law regulating scrap-metal sales goes into effect a week from today. | 08/09/11 13:31:53 By - Noelle Phillips

Facebook pages of California inmates to be shut down, prison officials say

Facebook "friend" requests from strangers are common, but California's state corrections officials say they are moving to stop use of the social network by prison inmates. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday that it's working with Facebook security officials to shut down inmate pages that have been set up by prisoners using contraband cellphones or that have been arranged for an inmate's use by someone outside of prison. | 08/09/11 06:51:24 By - Sam Stanton

California prison officials seek to end inmate Facebook use

Facebook "friend" requests from strangers are common, but California state corrections officials say they are moving to stop use of the social network by prison inmates. | 08/08/11 18:54:44 By - Sam Stanton

Slain Mercer Law graduate Lauren Giddings laid to rest in Maryland

As a soaking rain fell, a few hundred umbrella-protected mourners filed into a church in Laurel, Md., to remember Lauren Teresa Giddings, 27. But the rain couldn't wash away their anguish over the gruesome manner in which the life of the promising Mercer Law School graduate was taken. | 08/07/11 00:24:31 By - Curtis Tate and Daniel Lippman

California plumber learns it's best just to pay your taxes

Mark DeVries, a plumber from Bakersfield, Calif., defied the tax man. Bad idea. DeVries is now prison-bound, sentenced to 27 months by a federal judge in Fresno, Calif. He's also on the hook for hefty penalties, newly imposed by a Washington-based court. | 08/05/11 18:08:00 By - Michael Doyle

Jewelry returned after being stolen, pawned and sold in Bradenton

Something rare and dramatic occurred at Buccaneer Pawn Shop at noon Thursday. A Bradenton woman got back her 14-karat, Bismarck choker necklace in an emotional and improbable reunion after it had been stolen, pawned and sold. | 08/05/11 12:36:57 By -

Murkowski fails to answer questions about fisheries aide Fuglvog

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday continued to refuse to answer questions about her top fisheries advisor Arne Fuglvog, who faces nearly a year in prison after he admitted lying about illegally catching at least $100,000 worth of sablefish. Murkowski has repeatedly declined to answer any questions about Fuglvog, including when she learned Fuglvog was under criminal investigation and whether she knew he admitted his crime to federal prosecutors four months ago. | 08/04/11 06:34:44 By - Sean Cockerham and Richard Mauer

A graying Mubarak makes his first court appearance

Bed-ridden and dressed in prison whites, gray hair poking through his familiar jet-black dye job, the 83-year-old ousted president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, made a stunning court appearance here Wednesday to answer charges of corruption and plotting to kill protesters who demanded his resignation. | 08/03/11 08:50:50 By - Mohannad Sabry

Mortgage fraud indictments cite 27 people in South Florida

Four separate indictments were unsealed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami accusing 27 people in various mortgage fraud schemes against banks and South Florida homeowners. The charges range from mail fraud to insurance fraud to arson, and highlight the problems that South Florida faces as the nation’s top market for mortgage loan fraud, U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said. | 08/03/11 07:03:13 By - Toluse Olorunnipa

Murkowski aide Fuglvog resigns, agrees to plea deal for falsifying records

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's fisheries aide has resigned and faces prison time after admitting to breaking commercial fisheries laws. Arne Fuglvog, who has long played an influential role in Alaska fisheries politics, will be sentenced to 10 months in jail if a judge agrees to his plea deal on the charge of falsifying fishing records. The deal also includes $150,000 in fines and an admission of guilt. | 08/03/11 06:34:06 By - Casey Grove and Sean Cockerham

New report blasts failures in Garrido case

In a blistering assessment of how badly officials bungled their oversight of rapist-kidnapper Phillip Garrido, El Dorado County prosecutors have compiled a list of dozens of instances for which his parole should have been revoked, many of them that would have saved Jaycee Lee Dugard from being abducted. | 08/02/11 16:53:08 By - Sam Stanton

Washington woman burned allegedly trying to steal copper

32-year-old Enumclaw, Washington, woman was seriously burned Saturday while trying to steal copper from a Puget Sound Energy electrical substation, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. | 08/02/11 15:59:44 By - Stacia Glenn

S.C. man strangled outside home for escort service debt

A 43-year-old Mount Pleasant, S.C. man was strangled outside his home in June because he owed money to an escort service, according to court records. | 08/02/11 15:52:34 By - David W. MacDougall

Army Stryker investigation coming towards the end

The Army’s “kill team” investigation at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is in its home stretch, and attorneys on both sides are calculating whom they can count on to give believable testimony at some of the most watched war crimes courts-martial since Abu Ghraib. | 08/02/11 12:06:07 By - Adam Ashton

Feds seize drug sub off coast of Honduras

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 first spotted the knife-shaped craft skimming along the blue-green Caribbean waters off the coast of Honduras. The crew notified a Customs and Border Patrol airplane, which flew down for a closer look, confirming everyone’s suspicions: It was a drug sub. | 08/02/11 07:03:48 By - Jay Weaver

Calif. man is alleged 'mastermind' in sham marriage ring

Prosecutors say Sergey Potepalov collected tens of thousands of dollars from Russian and eastern European nationals in return for arranging marriages to American citizens and making them candidates for permanent residency in the United States. | 08/01/11 06:58:37 By - Denny Walsh and Sam Stanton

Judge allows feds to revise filing in anthrax case

Justice Department lawyers, defending a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of the first victim of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks, won a judge's approval Friday to withdraw a court filing that seemed to undermine the FBI's assertion that an Army researcher was the killer. | 07/29/11 19:07:00 By - Mike Wiser, Greg Gordon and Stephen Engelberg

Tacoma copper thieves stripping wire from Old Town

Thieves have been targeting the old-style street lights in Tacoma's Old Town and other neighborhoods, stealing copper wire and darkening the streets. Since April, police have received more than 20 reports of the wire theft. Thieves have ripped off an estimated $70,000 worth of copper wire. | 07/29/11 16:43:37 By - Stacey Mulick

40 reels of copper stolen from N.C. Justice Center site

Spools of copper weighing a total of 4,000 pounds were stolen from a construction site in downtown Raleigh overnight, according to Raleigh police. | 07/29/11 16:07:51 By - Taylor Renae Anderson

Fort Hood terror plot was thwarted by gun store's tip

Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo carefully cultivated an image of a peace lover, both inside the Army and outside it. On Thursday night, Abdo, 21, was in custody, accused of plotting to kill by bullet and bomb fellow soldiers in a frightening reprise of the November 2009 massacre at Fort Hood. | 07/29/11 07:34:19 By - Chris Vaughn, Alex Branch and Darren Barbee

House probes policies on counterfeit military electronics

Lawmakers from both parties are challenging the Department of Homeland Security over policies that they say impede efforts to stop imports of counterfeit electronics used in military devices. | 07/28/11 16:03:00 By - Michelle M. Stein

Police investigation into Wichita 'saggy pants' incident provides detail

An investigation by police says officers were justified and reasonable in actions against a student during a disturbance at the high school this past April. Jonathan Villarreal, 17, said he was walking to the bus with some friends after school, when school resource officers confronted him about his "sagging" pants, pulled him to the ground, used a Taser on him and broke his arm. Villarreal denied he was resisting the officers. Lee said in a statement today that Villarreal had been yelling racial slurs at a group of students. | 07/28/11 13:14:33 By - Ron Sylvester

Georgia man, seeking prison time, threatened Obama

A man on federal probation for bank robbery asked an officer what he must do to return to prison moments before he threatened to kill President Barack Obama and threw a brick through a window of the Columbus, Ga., federal courthouse earlier this month, authorities say. | 07/28/11 12:03:47 By - Alan Riquelmy

Morlock's testimony assailed in Afghanistan 'kill team' case

An Army investigator for the second time has found scant evidence to substantiate the murder charge prosecutors brought against a Stryker soldier who allegedly killed an Afghan civilian in a staged incident last year. The new report is a boost for Spc. Michael Wagnon, 30, one of five Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers accused of making up a “kill team” during their deployment with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. | 07/28/11 08:41:44 By - Adam Ashton

Judge in 'Tax Lady' Roni Deutch's case is replaced

The Sacramento Superior Court judge presiding over a case against tax attorney Roni Lynn Deutch, her brother and other defendants has been removed from the case. | 07/28/11 06:58:23 By - Darrell Smith

Judge: U.S. must show 'good cause' to revise anthrax filing

A federal judge has blocked, at least temporarily, a Justice Department attempt to back away from court admissions that appeared to undercut previous FBI assertions that an Army researcher was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks. | 07/27/11 19:57:00 By - Mike Wiser, Greg Gordon and Stephen Engelberg

Naturalized citizen accused in Sacramento of masterminding alleged immigration fraud

They posed for pictures and joined their names on apartment leases, but those and other routines common for newlyweds were all part of elaborate ruses to make sham marriages look real to immigration officers, say federal authorities. | 07/27/11 12:38:05 By - Denny Walsh

Tea Party president arrested in SC on counterfeit software charges

The president of the Grand Strand Tea Party and his son were arrested on charges related to counterfeit language software being sold to a Loris man, according to an Horry County police report. | 07/27/11 12:28:46 By - Tonya Root

Gag order sought for Alaska militia's attorney

Federal prosecutors are seeking a partial gag order against an attorney representing a defendant in the Fairbanks militia cases after the attorney disparaged the character of an informant to a reporter. | 07/27/11 06:48:16 By - Richard Mauer

Police: Texas couple dismembers N.C. woman, packed remains in cooler, went home

RALEIGH Police say a Raleigh musician and his wife killed a Kinston mother here, dismembered her body, packed the pieces in coolers and loaded them aboard a rented U-Haul trailer before dumping the remains in a creek 1,250 miles away outside Houston.

Grant Ruffin Hayes, 32, and Amanda Perry Hayes, 39, were arrested early Monday at a house at 1505 Holman St. in Kinston, brought to Raleigh and charged with murdering Laura Jean Ackerson, 27.

Ackerson was Grant Hayes' ex-girlfriend, and they had been embroiled in a bitter custody fight over their two young children, according to Lenoir County court records.

Relatives of Amanda Hayes in Richmond, Texas, told investigators that she and Grant Hayes had come to visit her sister after Ackerson was killed, said Craig Brady, chief deputy for the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. While there, relatives said, the pair carried coolers they brought from Raleigh to Oyster Creek. | 07/26/11 11:37:29 By - Jay Price and Matt Caulder

Human trafficking is target of new federal initiative

Western Missouri and Kansas will be the focus of one of six new federal law enforcement teams targeting human trafficking, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday. The Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team is designed to "streamline" criminal investigations and prosecution of violators of federal slavery laws. | 07/26/11 07:06:03 By - Mark Morris

Obama team cracks down on international crime gangs

The Obama administration moved Monday to crack down on international criminal networks from Mexico, Italy, Japan and the former Soviet Union, calling them a growing threat to U.S. interests. | 07/25/11 15:42:00 By - Steven Thomma

Miami grand jury blasts child welfare agency in Barahona death

State child welfare workers fail to properly monitor adopted parents as highlighted by the tragic torture and slaying of Nubia Barahona, a Miami-Dade grand jury report said Monday. | 07/25/11 15:05:27 By - David Ovalle

Norway suspect's manifesto called for campaign against Muslims

He wanted to ignite "a revolution," one that would upend contemporary Norwegian and European society. The goal: to purge the continent of Muslims and punish the "indigenous Europeans" who had failed to protect their nations from "cultural suicide." | 07/25/11 06:42:38 By - Henry Chu

Gunman in Texas kills 4 family members and himself

A man opened fire on his estraged wife and members of her family, killing four and then killing himself. | 07/24/11 16:30:13 By -

Kentucky woman faces abuse charges regarding adopted kids

A Lexington woman faces abuse and other charges for allegations that she attempted to suffocate her children and made them jump off a roof. She also is accused of locking one of them in a dog cage. | 07/22/11 14:02:14 By - Josh Kegley

Tasers shelved by Charlotte, N.C., police after second suspect dies

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is taking all of its Tasers off the streets for as many as 45 days, after a suspect died when he was shocked by an officer's X26 Taser at a Lynx light rail station. The death came just a day after a federal jury in Charlotte awarded $10 million to the family of 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner, who died in 2008 after a CMPD officer shocked him with a Taser. | 07/22/11 07:18:18 By - Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Gary L. Wright

Ex-Kansas AG Kline criticizes grand jury

Testimony in former Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline’s disciplinary hearing ended Thursday with Kline denying allegations that he misled a grand jury. He and his defense team have portrayed the grand jury as a fractured panel in which some members acted improperly by trying to cut their own deal with Planned Parenthood to get abortion records. | 07/22/11 07:11:57 By - Brad Cooper

Florida Rep. Rivera faces federal probe over casino contract

Federal investigators have opened a second criminal probe of U.S. Rep. David Rivera, examining undisclosed payments from a Miami gambling enterprise to a company tied to the Republican congressman, The Miami Herald has learned. | 07/22/11 06:51:15 By - Scott Hiaasen and Marc Caputo

Oregon man accused of killing his family was a convicted child molester

Before Jordan Adam Criado allegedly committed the worst mass murder in Medford, Ore., history on Monday, the 51-year-old sex offender left a series of helpless young victims behind in Sacramento two decades ago. | 07/22/11 06:41:26 By - Sam Stanton

Minkow given 5 years for defrauding Lennar investors

Barry Minkow, the one-time teen whiz who defrauded investors of millions through a bogus carpet cleaning business in the 1980s, is headed back to prison for a five-year stint after pleading guilty to scheming to depress the stock of Miami-based builder Lennar Corp. | 07/21/11 16:52:45 By - Toluse Olorunnipa

Rielle Hunter's lawyers say Young gave feds sealed information

Rielle Hunter, the videographer who had an extramarital affair and child with John Edwards, the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate, has asked for a hearing in Orange County Superior Court next week. | 07/21/11 14:12:13 By - Anne Blythe

John Edwards campaign ordered to repay $2.3 million in matching funds

The Federal Elections Commission this morning approved its auditors’ recommendation that John Edwards presidential campaign committee pay back about $2.3 million, most of which was in the form of federal matching funds it received after he pulled out of the race in January 2008. | 07/21/11 12:05:41 By - Craig Jarvis

S.C. Lt. Gov. Ard to face grand jury

S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson said Wednesday that he will ask the state grand jury to investigate allegations of illegal use of campaign money by Lt. Gov. Ken Ard. The decision to have the state grand jury investigate a sitting state constitutional officer is historic. After the governor, the lieutenant governor is the second-ranking official in the state. | 07/21/11 07:34:01 By - John Monk and Adam Beam

Ex-Kansas AG Kline defends his actions against Planned Parenthood

Former Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline and a top deputy said today that they didn’t mislead a grand injury investigation of Planned Parenthood. | 07/21/11 07:24:08 By - Brad Cooper

Experts: Justice Department waffling in anthrax case could be costly

Waffling by Justice Department lawyers in a wrongful death lawsuit that arose from the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks could boost prospects that the government will be liable for millions in damages for failing to prevent the killing of a Florida man. | 07/20/11 19:57:00 By - Greg Gordon, Steve Engelberg and Mike Wiser

Charlotte teen's family wins $10 million Taser verdict

A federal jury has ordered Taser International Inc. to pay $10 million to the family of a 17-year-old Charlotte teenager who died after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer struck him with a Taser. | 07/20/11 12:30:53 By - Doug Miller

Justice Department retracts court filings that undercut FBI's anthrax case

Rushing into court to undo a major gaffe, Justice Department lawyers defending a civil suit Tuesday retracted statements that seemed to undercut the FBI's finding that a former Army microbiologist mailed the anthrax-filled letters that killed five people in 2001. | 07/19/11 20:20:00 By - Greg Gordon, Mike Wiser and Stephen Engelberg

Copper Theft Task Force in Georgia launches reward fund

A fund has been established to pay rewards of up to $1,000 to citizens who report copper thieves, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson announced Monday. “We want it to be more profitable to report a copper thief than to become a copper thief,” she said. | 07/19/11 12:43:27 By - Mike Owen

New twist in anthrax case; Justice Department lawyers contradict FBI findings

The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized Congress a decade ago. | 07/18/11 19:18:00 By - Mike Wiser, Greg Gordon and Stephen Engelberg

Florida's Novack murders: a tale of greed, sex, betrayal and brutality

In 2009, authorities say, Alejandro Gutierrez-Garcia was recruited to kill Ben Novack, a Fort Lauderdale millionaire whose flamboyant father, Ben Sr., built the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. Court records allege Gutierrez-Garcia was also commissioned to attack Novack’s 87-year-old mother, Bernice Novack, who was bludgeoned to death with a monkey wrench.

Ben Jr.’s wife, Narcy Veliz Novack, 54, fearing a divorce, allegedly engineered the murder-for-hire plot, so she could inherit the family’s fortune. | 07/18/11 13:06:22 By - Julie Brown

FBI struggling to catch dozens of fraud fugitives hiding in Cuba

As Medicare crime spreads across South Florida, accused scammers are escaping in droves to Cuba and other Latin American countries to avoid prosecution. | 07/17/11 16:28:55 By - Jay Weaver

Mexican heroin use on upswing among California teens

Mexico's heroin industry has had a bullish few years thanks, in part, to the drug's emergence as a popular choice of teenagers. And more heroin is coming into California from Mexico this year. | 07/16/11 12:58:57 By - Marc Benjamin and Tim Johnson

2 plead guilty to trafficking walrus tusks, polar bear hides

Two Alaska men charged with trading in hundreds of pounds of walrus tusks and two polar bear hides admitted in court Friday to breaking federal marine mammal laws. A third member of the alleged conspiracy is set to enter a guilty plea Tuesday. | 07/16/11 12:54:06 By - Casey Grove

Bar confrontation escalates when man pulls chainsaw from back of truck

A confrontation that started in a bar Thursday night ended with a chainsaw and a car chase, Wichita police said today. Police are still looking for two men who were involved. | 07/15/11 14:11:00 By - Sarah Rajewski