In Everett, Wash., Nikki Dawson, 17, left, and Raymond Dawson, 12, picket Boeing Co. in support of their uncle, Jim Dawson, a Machinists union member who has worked for the aircraft company for 30 years.

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EVERETT — Striking Boeing Co. production workers hunkered down Saturday for what could be a long, bruising battle, with costly repercussions for both sides.

Greeted by friendly honking from passing vehicles, members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers responded with cheering and blasts from hand-held air horns Saturday at plants from Frederickson to Everett.

As of midday Saturday, no talks had been scheduled, said Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the union's District Lodge 751.

The Machinists, representing about 25,000 workers in the Puget Sound area, 1,500 in the Portland, Ore., area and about 750 in Wichita, Kan., began picketing at 12:01 a.m. with the expiration of a 48-hour contract extension that had been requested by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and a federal mediator.

Negotiations with the aid of a federal mediator during the unusual post-strike vote extension failed to resolve the dispute over pay, outsourcing, retirement benefits, health-care provisions and other issues.

KIRKWOOD — The former mayor of the St. Louis suburb who was badly wounded when a gunman opened fire at a February City Council meeting has died of complications connected to his injuries.

Mary Jo Wich, a spokeswoman for St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis, said Mike Swoboda died Saturday morning after a stay in hospice care. He would have turned 70 this month.

Resident Charles "Cookie" Thornton killed a police officer outside City Hall on Feb. 7, then burst into a City Council meeting and killed another officer, two council members, and the public works director. He shot and wounded the mayor and a reporter.

Swoboda was shot twice in the head. He was hospitalized for weeks. His health suffered setbacks in recent months.

CHICAGO — Since being diagnosed with brain cancer, Robert Novak has lost partial vision and has undergone surgery to remove a tumor, the conservative political commentator wrote in a column published Saturday.

In a piece titled "My brain tumor brings out the best in people," posted on the Chicago Sun-Times' Web site, Novak details his life since his diagnosis, including losing his way to his longtime office and having seizures.

"I have lost not only left peripheral vision but nearly all my left vision, probably permanently," Novak wrote. The article is online at www.suntimes.com/index.

Novak, editor of the Evans-Novak Political Report, has been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for decades. He is perhaps best known as the longtime co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" from 1980 to 2005.

He announced his retirement on Aug. 4, less than a week after he struck a pedestrian with his car in downtown Washington, telling the newspaper his prognosis was "dire."

BELLEVILLE — Look out, Tiger Woods. Five-year-old Drew Gray's got game.

The kindergartner had a hole-in-one — on a par-3 course — last week on the 75-yard fifth hole at Yorktown Golf Club. The shot was witnessed by several family members and verified by course owner John Bethard.

Drew is the youngest player to ace a hole at the course, Bethard said. Drew has been playing golf on family outings for two years. He played this summer in the club's golf camp for 4- to 8-year-olds, Bethard said.

FRANKFORT — An explosion destroyed a house early Saturday, and the bodies of the elderly couple who occupied the home were found in the wreckage, authorities said. Seven other homes were destroyed.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, said Richard Caragol, a Nicor Inc. natural gas company spokesman. Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil identified the dead couple as Clyde and Luella Reils of Frankfort, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.

Frankfort Mayor Jim Holland said the couple were longtime residents who had children and grandchildren living in Chicago's southern suburbs.

"They were well-known and well-respected in our community," Holland said. "There is a lot of grieving right now."

Luella Reils was 87. O'Neil said Clyde Reils was 89; Frankfort police gave his age as 88.

Holland said the explosion reduced the couple's home to rubble. Suzy Turnbull, a disaster team coordinator with the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, said the scene of the blast resembled the destruction sometimes wrought by a tornado. Authorities reported no other injuries from the blast.

FRESNO — A burglar who broke into a home just east of Fresno rubbed spices over the body of one of two men as they slept in their rooms and then used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man in the face and head before he ran out the house, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday.

Lt. Ian Burrimond, describing the crime as one of the strangest he's ever heard of, said a suspect was found hiding in a nearby field a few minutes later and was taken into custody on suspicion of residential robbery.

Deputies, he said, had no problem linking the suspect to the crime.

"It seems the guy ran out of the house wearing only a T-shirt, boxer shorts and socks, leaving behind his wallet with his ID," Burrimond said.

VISTA — Prosecutors have brought additional charges against a Hollywood actor accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend 20 times.

Shelley Malil, 43, who played a supporting role in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," was charged Friday with residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly attacking a man who was with Malil's ex-girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, on Aug. 10.

Prosecutors said that was the day Malil stabbed Beebe with two knives while chasing her in and around her San Marcos home as her two children slept.

A man with Beebe at the time grabbed one knife, but Malil found another and continued the attack until a neighbor disarmed him, prosecutors said.

Malil previously pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted murder, with a special circumstance of premeditation, and one count of personal use of a knife and inflicting great bodily injury. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Beebe, 35, suffered deep wounds to her lungs and throat but was expected to recover.

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — A supersharp Earth-imaging satellite has been launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.

A Delta 2 rocket carrying the GeoEye-1 satellite lifted off at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. Video on the GeoEye Web site showed the satellite separating from the rocket moments later on its way to an eventual polar orbit.

The satellite makers say GeoEye-1 has the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system. It can collect images from orbit with enough detail to show home plate on a baseball diamond.

FORT BRAGG — The military is investigating the death of a soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division who collapsed during physical training.

The Army said in a statement Saturday that 44-year-old Staff Sgt. Huy Nguyen of Inglewood, Calif., died Friday. A cause of death had not been determined.

Nguyen was a CH-47 helicopter flight engineer with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. He joined the division earlier this month and joined the Army in 1996.

Nguyen's awards include the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Afghan Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.