U.S. National News

States step up demands for restitution

The St. Paul United Methodist Church, shown in Chambersburg, Pa., Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, was rebuilt after it burned to the ground 13 years ago. Jeffrey A. Byington, an unemployed 20-year-old who pleaded guilty to burglary, served a decade in prison for his role in the arson fire but remains far from paying off what is the state's fifth-largest restitution order. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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AP - 57 minutes ago

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A young burglar accused of burning down the St. Paul United Methodist Church 13 years ago was ordered to make $2.4 million in restitution. It was, at best, wishful thinking on the part of the court.

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  • In this April 13, 2007 file photo, J. Russell Coffey, 108, one of three oldest living World War I veterans known in the U.S., talks to a reporter at Blakely Care Center in North Baltimore, Ohio. Coffey, one of only three U.S. veterans known to survive from the 'war to end all wars,' died Thursday, according to a funeral home.(AP Photo/Madalyn Ruggiero)
    Oldest U.S. WWI vet dies in Ohio at 109 AP - Fri Dec 21, 11:47 AM ET

    TOLEDO, Ohio - J. Russell Coffey, the oldest known surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. The retired teacher, one of only three U.S. veterans from the "war to end all wars," was 109.

  • While waiting for a live shot during a morning news show, Lex looks for attention from new owners Camryn Lee and other family members, from left, Rachel, Jerome and Mady on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia. The adoption of Lex, an 8-year-old German Shepherd, by the family of fallen Marine Cpl. Dustin Lee marked the first time the U.S. military has granted early retirement to a working dog so it could live with a former handler's family, officials said. (AP Photo/Walter Petruska)
    Family adopts slain son's military dog AP - Fri Dec 21, 1:06 PM ET

    ALBANY, Ga. - A military working dog wounded in Iraq during a rocket attack that killed its Marine handler was adopted Friday by the slain Marine's family.

  • Secret Santa's legacy lives on AP - Fri Dec 21, 1:13 PM ET

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Susan Dahl had spent four months homeless in Colorado and just been on a harrowing 10-hour bus trip through sleet and snow. Hungry and broke, all she wanted to do was get back to family in Minnesota.

  • Gov't wants Kansas doc held until trial AP - Fri Dec 21, 1:40 PM ET

    WICHITA, Kan. - Prosecutors are asking a federal magistrate to keep a doctor and his nurse wife in jail pending trial on charges they operated a "pill mill" that allegedly caused the overdose deaths of at least four patients.

  • Trouble follows Philly TV anchorwoman AP - 2 hours, 28 minutes ago

    PHILADELPHIA - The Anchor Behaving Badly show seems to be in reruns.

  • Clinton neighbor held in NY killing AP - Fri Dec 21, 11:40 AM ET

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A disbarred lawyer who is a neighbor of Bill and Hillary Clinton was held Friday on $1 million bail in the shooting death of his wife.

  • More prison for man in missing boys case AP - Fri Dec 21, 11:05 AM ET

    ST. LOUIS - Michael Devlin received one final sentence Friday — 170 years — for making pornography of a boy he kidnapped and sexually assaulted.

  • Judge strikes Louisville smoking ban AP - Fri Dec 21, 1:12 PM ET

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As Churchill Downs goes, so goes Louisville, according to a circuit judge who struck down a citywide smoking ban citing an exemption for the famed horse track.

  • Black caucus seeks pardon for Jena 6 AP - Fri Dec 21, 11:56 AM ET

    NEW ORLEANS - Members of the Congressional Black Caucus called on Gov. Kathleen Blanco to pardon Mychal Bell and five other teenagers known as the "Jena 6."

  • A woman yells at a New Orleans Police sergeant as the gate outside the New Orleans City Council chambers as the council was holding a meeting about tearing down public housing buildings in New Orleans, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007. Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
    NOLA protesters vow to keep fighting AP - Fri Dec 21, 8:09 AM ET

    NEW ORLEANS - After violent clashes with police at City Hall, protesters vowed that the fight over a plan to demolish 218 public housing buildings for the poor was far from over, both in the courts and on the streets.

  • In this photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries, an adult, male ribbon seal sits on an ice flow in Russian's Ozernoy Gulf in the summer of 2005, just prior to capture. Frustrated by a lack of regulations limiting global warming, a conservation group, The Center for Biological Diversity, wants ribbon seals listed as threatened or endangered because their habitat — sea ice — is disappearing because of climate change. The group filed a 91-page petition Thursday Dec. 20, 2007 with the National Marine Fisheries Service seeking to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered. (AP Photo/NOAA, Fisheries, Michael Cameron)
    Petition seeks protection for seals AP - Fri Dec 21, 7:15 AM ET

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Frustrated by a lack of regulations limiting global warming, a conservation group wants ribbon seals listed as threatened or endangered because their habitat — sea ice — is disappearing amid climate change.

  • Va. Tech to put peace program in Norris AP - Fri Dec 21, 5:36 AM ET

    BLACKSBURG, Va. - Vowing never again to use the Virginia Tech classroom wing where a student gunman killed 30 people and himself for general classes, school officials said the space would be used to study peace.

  • Inmate: Suspect in boat deaths confessed AP - Fri Dec 21, 7:39 AM ET

    MIAMI - A jail inmate told investigators that a suspect in the killings of four people aboard a charter fishing boat admitted his role in their shooting deaths, but insisted he did not pull the trigger, according to court documents.

  • 4 quakes hit Alaska's Aleutian Islands AP - Fri Dec 21, 12:29 PM ET

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Two significant earthquakes that shook Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands were followed Friday morning by two smaller quakes, but there were no reports of any damage or injuries.

  • This photo released by NASA shows astronaut Daniel M. Tani as he prepares to use the galley on the middeck of Space Shuttle Discovery on Oct. 24, 2007. Rose Tani, the 90-year-old mother of Daniel Tani who is aboard the international space station died in Lombard, Ill. on Wednesday Dec. 19, 2007 when a train struck her vehicle, police said. (AP Photo/NASA, File)
    U.S. astronaut mourns mother from orbit AP - Thu Dec 20, 7:11 PM ET

    HOUSTON - Daniel M. Tani's 90-year-old mother died in an auto accident this week, but he has no way of getting home until late January. He must grieve from more than 200 miles away — in orbit, aboard the international space station.

Crimes and Trials News

  • Vincent 'Don Vito' Margera is shown in this August 2006 booking photograph released by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, on Aug. 27, 2007. Margera, the man known as Don Vito on MTV's 'Viva La Bam' show, has been sentenced to 10 years to life on probation after he was convicted on sexual assault charges. He was also ordered not to appear as the Don Vito character for 10 years. (AP Photo/Jefferson County Sheriff)
    Vincent Margera gets probation in Colo. AP - 1 hour, 24 minutes ago

    GOLDEN, Colo. - The man known as Don Vito on MTV's "Viva La Bam" show has been sentenced to 10 years to life on probation after he was convicted on two counts of sexual assault on a child.

  • Child kidnapper sentenced to 170 years Reuters - 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday sentenced a Missouri man to 170 years in prison for abducting two boys, including one he held and sexually assaulted for more than four years.

  • Singer R. Kelly arrives at Cook County criminal court for a bond status hearing in his child pornography case in Chicago, Friday, Dec. 21, 2007. Kelly is in the midst of a long legal fight after prosecutors said he videotaped sex acts with a teenage girl. He has pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)
    R. Kelly avoids having bond revoked AP - Fri Dec 21, 12:28 PM ET

    CHICAGO - R. Kelly avoided having his bond revoked Friday in his child pornography case, but a judge admonished him for missing an earlier court hearing.

  • More prison for man in missing boys case AP - Fri Dec 21, 11:05 AM ET

    ST. LOUIS - Michael Devlin received one final sentence Friday — 170 years — for making pornography of a boy he kidnapped and sexually assaulted.

  • Inmate: Suspect in boat deaths confessed AP - Fri Dec 21, 7:39 AM ET

    MIAMI - A jail inmate told investigators that a suspect in the killings of four people aboard a charter fishing boat admitted his role in their shooting deaths, but insisted he did not pull the trigger, according to court documents.