![]() An early-morning mist shrouding strollers in Prospect Park in Brooklyn Monday portended a change in the weather for New York City, with rain and colder temperatures on the way.
Peter Morgan / the associated press
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RANCHO RESORT MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care Sierra Tucson Eating Disorders Program Coordinator General A1 Communications Cable Techs NationAround the nationTucson, Arizona | Published: 10.28.2008
ARKANSAS
Shootings at college likely not random
CONWAY — A shooting that left two students dead at the University of Central Arkansas did not appear to be random, authorities said Monday as the school's president pronounced the campus secure.
Three people are being questioned, but no one has been charged in Sunday night's shooting, which wounded a third person at the 12,500-student campus.
Though investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting, "It does not seem at this time that it was a random act," campus police Lt. Preston Grumbles said.
Interim President Tom Courtway canceled classes Monday but said they would resume today. "Our campus is safe," he said.
The victims were shot in an alley between a dormitory and the Snow Fine Arts Center. One victim died on the sidewalk; police said the others fled into the dorm, where paramedics found them.
Cops may have lead in anchor's death
LITTLE ROCK — Police said they have information they hope will lead them to the killer of a television anchorwoman who died days after a brutal attack in her home.
Police said they do not yet know the suspect's identity, and would not say what evidence they have linking the person to the attack on Anne Pressly, 26, who died Saturday.
"We do have an individual. The suspect has not been arrested," police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said.
Reports last week said one of Pressly's credit cards was used Oct. 20 at a service station near downtown Little Rock. Investigators have said she may have been a robbery victim, and that her job did not appear to have had anything to do with the attack. Pressly's purse was missing the morning of the attack.
TEXAS
Drag-death suspect called pal of victim
DALLAS — A white man accused in the dragging death of a black East Texas man was a close friend of the victim and didn't kill him, the suspect's sister said Monday.
"This was no hate crime," Krystala Boyd said. "You can't hate somebody you love."
She also said she doesn't believe her brother, Shannon Keith Finley, and his childhood friend Charles Ryan Crostley had anything to do with the death of Brandon McClelland.
Finley and Crostley, both white, were arrested on murder and evidence-tampering charges after McClelland's body was found on Sept. 16. Authorities have said the three men got into a fight during a late-night beer run from Paris, Texas, to Oklahoma, and that Finley and Crostley in a pickup truck ran over McClelland and dragged him as far as 70 feet.
McClelland's family and black activists call the death a "copycat" of the decade-old James Byrd slaying, in which a black man in Jasper was chained by the ankles to a pickup by three white supremacists and dragged for three miles.
But Boyd's sister and prosecutors said they don't believe race was a factor. Investigators also said there's no indication McClelland, 24, was tied to the truck. Boyd said her brother and McClelland had been friends for about 10 years.
Crostley and Finley have not been indicted. They face up to life in prison if convicted.
A&M settling suit over deadly bonfire
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University regents have authorized the school president to settle a lawsuit brought by families over the deadly bonfire collapse nearly a decade ago.
An agenda for the regents meeting Monday said a settlement had been negotiated.
In 1999, the wedding-cake-like bonfire structure collapsed while students were building it. Twelve people died and 27 were hurt.
The bonfire had been a school tradition before the Texas A&M-Texas football game.
The lawsuits originally named several current and former Texas A&M administrators, and construction and equipment-leasing contractors.
University officials declined to comment, and an attorney for some of the families declined comment.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boy, 8, firing Uzi accidentally killed
WESTFIELD — With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in the head.
Now gun-safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed to fire a weapon used in war. Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal act.
Police said Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday afternoon, shortly after firing a 9mm micro Uzi submachine gun at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, co-sponsored by C.O.P. Firearms & Training.
"The weapon was loaded and ready to fire," Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. "The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head."
Nunez said the investigation is continuing.
Christopher, a third-grader, was attending the show with his father and sixth-grade brother, Colin. Christopher had fired handguns and rifles before, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon, said his father, Charles Bizilj.
Escaped poodle ties Logan Airport up
BOSTON — Choochy the poodle is a "runway runaway."
Boston's Logan International Airport officials say Choochy escaped from her kennel as she was being unloaded after a flight from Detroit Saturday night and scampered across runways and taxiways.
Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella says the poodle evaded airport personnel for more than 17 hours and delayed at least eight flights.
About 15 state police, firefighters, operations personnel and even electricians chased Choochy late into the night, delaying flights for up 30 minutes.
Orlandella says the poodle was frightened, tired and hungry when she was finally lured to safety with food early Sunday afternoon.
The dog was treated for minor injuries at an animal hospital and returned to her family.
NEW JERSEY
Smoking in casinos suddenly OK again
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City's less-than-two-week-old ban on smoking in casinos will soon end under a change-of-heart measure narrowly approved Monday by the City Council and quickly signed by the mayor.
Casinos said the ban cut into their business, while their workers were deeply divided whether its health benefits outweighed the potential economic harm. Some at Monday's meeting shouted "Save Our Jobs!" while others chanted "Save Our Lives!"
On Nov. 16, Atlantic City's 11 casinos will revert to a previous arrangement under which smoking is permitted on no more than 25 percent of a casino floor. The ban on smoking will be on hold for at least a year under the council's 5-4 vote.
"We had to reconcile two very compelling sides: No one wants to lose their job and certainly no one wants to lose their life," Councilman Bruce Ward said. "But the background of the financial crisis is connected to where we are tonight."
The Associated Press
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