U.S. National News

OSHA to give report on blast at Ga. sugar refinery

In a Feb. 8, 2008 file photo smoke rises from a section of the Imperial Sugar Company plant after an explosion ripped apart the plant on the Savannah River in Port Wentworth, Ga. Ed Foulke Jr., head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is scheduled Friday, July 25, 2008, to release his agency's findings in connection with the Feb. 7 explosion (AP Photo/Stephen Morton, File)
Enlarge Photo
AP
AP - 1 hour, 1 minute ago

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor said there may be "significant" penalties proposed when federal workplace safety regulators released their findings after investigating a dust explosion that killed 13 workers at a company sugar refinery.

  • Casey Anthony wipes tears from her eyes at a bond hearing at the Orange County courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, July 22, 2008. The 22-year-old mother reported her daughter missing last week, more than a month after the little girl allegedly disappeared. Anthony faces charges of child endangerment, making false officials statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.(AP Photo/Red Huber, pool)
    911 calls released in case of missing Orlando girl AP - Fri Jul 25, 1:33 AM ET

    MIAMI - The grandmother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl told an emergency dispatcher that a car driven by the girl's mother smelled like there had been a dead body inside, according to recordings of 911 calls released Thursday.

  • Prosecutor: Escaped convict, wife, daughter slain AP - Fri Jul 25, 12:06 AM ET

    BENNETT, Colo. - A convicted spammer fatally shot his wife and young daughter in an apparent murder-suicide Thursday while being sought after escaping prison last weekend, authorities said.

  • Va. executes killer who challenged injections AP - Thu Jul 24, 11:28 PM ET

    JARRATT, Va. - A killer who argued Virginia's procedures for lethal injection were unconstitutional was executed Thursday after a federal appeals court upheld the primary method of capital punishment in the nation's second-busiest death chamber.

  • Charges dismissed against Marine in Iraq shootings AP - Thu Jul 24, 11:03 PM ET

    SAN DIEGO - Charges have been dismissed against a Camp Pendleton Marine sniper accused in the shooting deaths of two Syrians in Iraq, Marine Corps officials said Thursday.

  • 1 dead in N.H. storms that levels several homes AP - Thu Jul 24, 11:09 PM ET

    DEERFIELD, N.H. - Violent storms on Thursday in a 25-mile-long swath of central New Hampshire destroyed several homes, damaged dozens of others and left at least one person dead, authorities said as police and firefighters went door-to-door searching for more possible victims.

  • In this Tuesday, July 1, 2003, file photograph, New Jersey State Assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union, is seen as he talks about a bill at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J. Cohen is being investigated for child pornography possession on his legislative office computer, according to four officials familiar with the situation. (AP Photo/Brian Branch-Price, File)
    Lawmakers: NJ legislator focus of child porn probe AP - Thu Jul 24, 11:05 PM ET

    TRENTON, N.J. - Authorities are investigating whether a veteran state lawmaker possessed child pornography on his office computer, two assemblymen who share an office with him said Thursday.

  • Workers use absorbent mops to soak up fuel oil on a bank of the Mississippi River in Jesuit Bend, La., Thursday, July 24, 2008. A ship collided with an oil barge spilling 9,000 barrels of fuel oil Wednesday forcing the closure of the river from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
    Miss. River oil spill idles ships near New Orleans AP - Thu Jul 24, 9:36 PM ET

    NEW ORLEANS - Dozens of cargo ships, petrochemical tankers and smaller vessels stacked up Thursday near a closed stretch of the Mississippi River, a day after a collision between a barge and tanker spilled more than 400,000 gallons of fuel oil into the nation's busy shipping waterway.

  • Richard Stickler, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, presents the findings of the Crandall Canyon mine collapse Thursday, July 24, 2008, in Price, Utah. Miners and rescuers were killed last year. Federal regulators say the operator of a collapsed Utah mine violated safety protocols by cutting coal pillars that should have been left standing to prevent cave-ins. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
    Feds say Utah mine operator courted danger AP - Thu Jul 24, 9:17 PM ET

    PRICE, Utah - The operator of a collapsed Utah mine violated safety protocols by cutting coal pillars that should have been left standing to prevent cave-ins, federal regulators said Thursday.

  • Family members and friends of the captain and crew of the 'Joe Cool' fishing charter boat leave federal court Thursday, July 24, 2008 in Miami. One of two men accused of the slayings last year of four people aboard the 'Joe Cool' changed his plea Thursday to guilty in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
    Ark. man accused in 4 boat deaths pleads guilty AP - Thu Jul 24, 6:59 PM ET

    MIAMI - One of two men accused of killing four people aboard a fishing charter last year pleaded guilty Thursday in exchange for an agreement that prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

  • Grizzly bear attacks woman in Alaska near lodge AP - Thu Jul 24, 9:35 PM ET

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 21-year-old woman working at a lodge for the summer was attacked by a grizzly bear about 25 yards outside a building.

  • Robin S. Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, presents the commission's 2007 Hate Crimes report during a news conference in Los Angeles Thursday, July 24, 2008. Hate crimes in the county soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to the report. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
    Report: Hate crimes hit 5-year high in LA County AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:55 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - Hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to a report released Thursday.

  • A car crushed by a crane is pictured in Oklahoma City, Thusday, July 24, 2008. A crane holding a church steeple, white object behind car, collapsed Thursday morning, crushing a car and killing an 80-year-old man who was watching the construction, firefighters said. (AP Photo)
    Okla. crane fall kills man watching construction AP - Thu Jul 24, 8:56 PM ET

    OKLAHOMA CITY - Church members watching the steeple being raised on their new building looked on in horror Thursday as a crane holding the structure toppled, crushing a car and killing a 79-year-old man who had been watching from inside the vehicle, firefighters said.

  • Dolly destroys Texas cotton, sorghum crops AP - Thu Jul 24, 4:23 PM ET

    Hurricane Dolly probably doomed South Texas's cotton and sorghum crops already damaged by heavy rains earlier in the summer. But analysts said the loss, while devastating for local producers, will have only a short-term effect on the markets.

  • Judge: Idaho child-killer is mentally competent AP - Thu Jul 24, 6:16 PM ET

    BOISE, Idaho - Convicted child-killer Joseph Edward Duncan III is mentally competent to face a death penalty hearing, a federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday.

  • The main entrance to Colorado Christian University is pictured on Thursday, July 24, 2008. A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that Colorado Christian University can participate in a state aid program. It is the latest in a string of legal decisions nationwide from courts that are increasingly sympathetic to religious schools arguing they're entitled to public dollars. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
    Another courtroom victory for religious colleges AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:12 PM ET

    A federal appeals court ruling that a Christian university in Colorado can receive state scholarship money is the latest in a string of legal victories for religious schools seeking public dollars.

Crimes and Trials News

  • Rapper Earl 'DMX' Simmons is shown in this Maricopa County Sheriff's Department booking photograph July 2, 2008. (Maricopa County Sheriff Department/Handout/Reuters)
    Rapper DMX denies theft charges, sings at court Reuters - Thu Jul 24, 8:48 PM ET

    PHOENIX (Reuters) - Chart-topping rapper DMX pleaded not guilty to a pair of felony theft charges in a Phoenix court on Thursday, and then treated reporters to an impromptu rap about bouncing back from adversity.

  • Report: Hate crimes hit 5-year high in LA County AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:55 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - Hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to a report released Thursday.

  • Grand jury to call reporter on indictment sources AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:45 PM ET

    SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal judge decided Thursday that a reporter who used confidential sources in a story on export-conspiracy indictments would not have to reveal those sources to him, but it became public during the hearing that the journalist will be called to appear before a grand jury seeking the same information.