Around the Nation

MISSOURI

27 hurt in school bus accident

ST. LOUIS — A school bus overturned on an interstate yesterday morning, injuring 26 children and the driver.

The bus was carrying St. Louis students, ages 6 to 11, to a school in suburban Chesterfield as part of a desegregation program. Two students and the driver were badly hurt, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

The accident occurred on Interstate 64 about 10 miles outside the city limits. The bus flipped onto its side and skidded after the driver tried to make a quick stop when traffic became backed up, the Highway Patrol said.

INDIANA

Fire damages town’s old section

JEFFERSONVILLE — A fire that authorities think started in a paper warehouse destroyed an entire block of this city’s historic business district.

No one was hurt, though dozens of homes had to be evacuated Sunday night because of intense heat and thick smoke as flames shot through the roof of the four-story Horner Novelty Co., then spread.

Preservationists said the fire was a terrible blow to their bid to revitalize the buildings. One damaged building was built in the 1880s that just had been converted into a reception hall.

“This is like watching the Titanic sink,” said Hal Sanders of the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association.

ARIZONA

Jury selection starts in bishop’s trial

PHOENIX — A judge told prospective jurors yesterday in the hit-and-run trial of Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O’Brien that they can be fair and impartial even if they have been exposed to the extensive news coverage the case has received.

The exception would be if the coverage had caused them to form an opinion they couldn’t change, said Superior Court Judge Stephen Gerst, who last week denied a defense request to move the trial.

Attorneys expect to spend up to a week selecting the 12 persons who will hear Bishop O’Brien’s case. Testimony is scheduled to begin next week. Bishop O’Brien resigned in mid-June after he was charged with leaving the scene of the accident that killed Jim Reed.

CALIFORNIA

Odor leads officers to pot farm

COSTA MESA — Officers in Southern California didn’t need a crime dog to sniff out a pot farm — they just followed their noses.

Police found more than 1,000 marijuana plants and a sophisticated growing operation last week in a warehouse in the Costa Mesa area. Paul Marriman was booked for investigation of cultivating marijuana. Officers confiscated about $75,000 worth of water pumps, electric valves and giant lights used in cultivating the illegal weed.

FLORIDA

Golf course evicts 40-year squatter

MIAMI — A man who lived on a golf course for 40 years was told to leave because some golfers complained that he scared them.

Kenny Bethel, 55, first showed up at Palmetto Golf Course after he ran away from home in 1963. He collected and resold stray golf balls, used the club’s showers and toilets at night and slept in a sheltered area on the course that housed the showers.

“This course became my job and later, my home,” he said.

For the last nine years, he was joined by his wife. They have since relocated to a space under a nearby bridge.

GEORGIA

Governor thanks kidnap-case tipsters

ATLANTA — Georgia officials want to honor four motorists who helped police stop a jealous ex-husband accused of killing four persons and kidnapping three girls.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, yesterday honored Andrea Sharp, her boyfriend, Jason Roden, and their friends Al and Lizabeth Joy. The four spotted the sport utility vehicle driven by suspect Jerry William Jones and called police.

Their call led to Mr. Jones’ capture and the safe recovery of the three children. “We might still be looking for him,” said Trooper Jason Davis of the Georgia State Patrol.

IDAHO

Student denies terrorism charge

BOISE — The University of Idaho graduate student held for nearly a year on visa fraud charges pleaded not guilty yesterday to the additional charge of supporting terrorism.

Sami Omar Al-Hussayen appeared only briefly before U.S. Magistrate Mikel Williams. Magistrate Williams postponed Mr. Al-Hussayen’s trial date from Jan. 20 to Feb. 17 and said both sides could put motions before U.S. Judge Edward Lodge — the trial judge — if they want more postponements.

Defense attorney David Nevin has accused federal prosecutors of trying to delay the trial by securing the federal indictment Friday on information the government has had since February, when the Saudi-born Mr. Al-Hussayen was arrested.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Lindquist said the newest charge came late because it took federal investigators that long to sift through the evidence seized after Mr. Al-Hussayen’s arrest.

The indictment claims Mr. Al-Hussayen knew his computer services and expertise on behalf of Islamic organizations and two sheiks would be used to recruit people and raise money for Islamic holy wars.

LOUISIANA

State agrees to rules on residential care

BATON ROUGE — The U.S. Justice Department yesterday announced an agreement with the state of Louisiana over suspected civil rights abuses at the two largest state-owned and -operated residential-care facilities serving people with developmental disabilities.

Justice officials said investigators documented credible evidence that vulnerable residents with developmental disabilities were physically and verbally abused repeatedly at the Pinecrest Developmental Center in Pineville, La., and Hammond Developmental Center in Hammond, La.

Under the terms of the agreement, the state will improve practices to meet the basic care needs of the residents, provide a safe and humane environment for residents including zero tolerance for abuse or neglect of residents, and provide adequate medical and dental care and nursing services.

The state also will ensure residents are free from undue bodily restraint and that each resident gets the most integrated setting under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state’s compliance will be monitored through public reports over the next three years.

MICHIGAN

Contest rates wacky warning labels

NOVI — It is a warning label that may seem perfectly logical — to fish: A 5-inch fishing lure with three nasty steel hooks advises that it is “Harmful if swallowed.”

If only carp could read.

The label took fourth place in the seventh annual Wacky Warning Label Contest. But organizers of the contest, the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a nonprofit group working to raise public awareness of how the explosion in litigation is harming the country, say it highlights the lengths to which manufacturers will go in order to avoid lawsuits stemming from misuse of consumer products.

Taking first prize last week was a warning found on a bottle of drain cleaner. The label reads: “If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions and warnings, do not use this product.”

The $250 second prize went to a Virginia man who sent in a label on a snow sled that advises users: “Beware: sled may develop high speed under certain snow conditions.”

NEW YORK

Reputed mobster confesses to shooting

NEW YORK — A reputed New York mobster confessed to killing a man by shooting him in the back because he heckled a woman singer and swore at him in an Italian restaurant, according to court documents released yesterday.

Reputed Luchese crime family associate Louis Barone pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday to second-degree murder, but prosecutors released his written confession to the Dec. 22 crime.

“I was about three or four feet from the guy when I shot him in the back,” Barone, 67, wrote in a statement to police. “The guy fell down face first near the doorway to the kitchen. … I fired another shot at him. I snapped at that point. I went ballistic.”

Albert Circelli, 37, died of his wounds. Another patron, Al Petraglia, 57, who was hit in the foot, was treated at a hospital.

Barone was arrested by police officers after walking out of the restaurant. Barone has a record of arrests for gambling and weapons possession dating back four decades.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Students not allowed to talk in halls

COLUMBIA — Students at Meadowfield Elementary School were told not to talk in halls or the lunchroom when they returned from break last week.

A teacher and parent committee pushed the policy to stem bad behavior and inappropriate conversations among students, but others disagree.

“This is going overboard,” said Billy Smith, a father of two Meadowfield students.

WISCONSIN

Bald eagles recoverfrom West Nile

ANTIGO — Three young bald eagles that have recovered from the West Nile virus soon will be released back into the wild, where researchers plan to study the disease’s long-term effects on the birds.

The eagles are among the first birds known to recover from the mosquito-transmitted infection.