Click here to subscribe today or Login.
3 children die in home fire Grief-stricken family members huddle near the scene where three children died in the fire at the Cozy Mobile Home Park in Riverton, Wyo., early Thursday morning. Police say two of the children were found dead inside the mobile home and the third died after being taken to a hospital.
AP PHOTO
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba
66 months for driver
A six-member U.S. military jury Thursday sentenced Osama bin Laden’s driver, convicted a day earlier, to 66 months in prison.
With credit extended by the judge for time already served, that likely means he will serve five months before being sent back to the normal population.
Jurors deliberated just 70 minutes after a sentencing hearing in which Salim Hamdan, 40, expressed regret and apologized for any pain his actions caused victims of al-Qaida.
The U.S. government had asked the jury to sentence him to 30 years to life; Hamdan’s lawyers proposed 45 months.
The jury was made up of senior U.S. military officers, among them an Apache helicopter pilot with battlefield experience, and included two colonels and two lieutenant colonels.
DETROIT
Mayor violates bond, jailed
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, charged with perjury and other felonies for his testimony in a civil trial, was ordered to jail Thursday because he violated his bond by taking a quick trip to Canada without notifying authorities.
Kilpatrick apologized and acknowledged that he made a mistake when he visited Windsor, Ontario, minutes away from Detroit, for city business last month. But 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles was not moved, saying he needed to treat the mayor like any other defendant.
Kilpatrick and former top aide Christine Beatty are charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice, all tied to their testimony in a civil trial last year.
At the heart of the case: steamy text messages contradicting their claim that they didn’t have a romantic relationship.
FLORENCE, Ariz.
9 illegal aliens die in crash
A sport utility vehicle packed with suspected illegal immigrants flipped over on a rural highway southeast of Phoenix, killing at least nine people Thursday, authorities said.
The SUV that crashed on State Route 79, about 80 miles southeast of Phoenix, had 19 people aboard, Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said. The other 10 occupants were injured and were taken to hospitals.
MILLERSTOWN, Pa.
Rifles controversial prizes
A father said a central Pennsylvania youth football league is using inappropriate raffle prizes for a fundraiser — rifles.
David Diaz, who says he spent two years serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, said he doesn’t want his 9-year-old daughter, a cheerleader, to sell tickets for the October nightly raffle.
The money from the sale of the $10 raffle tickets will go to the Greenwood-Newport Midget Football Association, which puts on games children ranging from 5 to 13.
Pat Dorman, the association vice president, said she didn’t see a problem with a rifle as an attention-getting prize.
“People hunt; guns are not just used for violence,” said Dorman, of Newport. “We want to attract the people to buying the tickets.”
Dorman said winners can receive cash if they don’t want a rifle.