Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

L.A. Times names Baquet new editor

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Times Editor John S. Carroll is retiring and will be succeeded by Dean Baquet, the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning managing editor, the newspaper announced yesterday.

Mr. Baquet, 48, will become executive vice president and editor on Aug. 15, the newspaper said.

Mr. Carroll, 63, was named editor of the newspaper in April 2000 after Tribune Co. purchased the newspaper’s parent, Times Mirror Co. During his tenure at the Times, the newspaper won 13 Pulitzer Prizes, but also weathered circulation and advertising declines.

COLORADO

Crews brace for new wildfires

TOWOAC — Fire crews battled two blazes near Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado yesterday and braced for thunderstorms that could start new blazes.

Temperatures in the high 90s, along with lightning-producing storms, were forecast.

A 193-acre, lightning-caused fire on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian reservation was 40 percent contained, and a second blaze on the reservation covering 2,318 acres was 75 percent contained.

FLORIDA

Boy, 8, charged in death of infant

TAMPA — Prosecutors charged an 8-year-old boy with aggravated manslaughter Tuesday, saying he kicked and punched his infant half sister and then hit her in the face with a two-by-four, killing her.

If convicted, he could be held in a juvenile facility until his 21st birthday.

Jayza Laney Simms was 7 months old when she was killed in the May 22 attack. The boy, who isn’t being identified because of his age, was visiting his father, his father’s girlfriend and their two daughters at their home. The adults were outside talking with friends when the boy came out and said the baby was bleeding, authorities said.

GEORGIA

Developer to spare Civil War structures

ATLANTA — Civil War fortifications in southeastern Cobb County that have survived 141 years will be spared from development under a plan approved Tuesday by the County Commission.

The developer, Walton Communities, agreed to set aside almost 2 acres to spare remains of two triangular fortifications, known as “shoupades” for their designer, Confederate Brig. Gen. Francis Shoup, and an artillery fort, called a redan.

The fortifications were constructed on the north bank of the Chattahoochee River by Confederates to defend Atlanta against Yankee invasion in 1864. Union Gen. William T. Sherman declared the forts the most formidable he encountered during the entire war.

Historic preservationists walked away from the zoning hearing Tuesday with at least the hope that more property surrounding the site can be set aside.

Lawyer John Moore, who represents Walton Communities, said the developer also will give the historical groups a chance to buy an additional 5 acres surrounding the fortifications.

INDIANA

Captain uses firetruck to water his lawn

KOKOMO — A city fire captain has been penalized for mixing work with his home life.

Capt. Kevin Shaffer must repay the department $120 for using a firetruck to water his yard. He also was reprimanded and must pay 35 cents per gallon for the water he used, officials said.

Capt. Shaffer and other firefighters were training recently, after which Capt. Shaffer wanted to purge the truck’s tank. Instead of dumping the water onto the street or down a drain as is normal procedure, Capt. Shaffer put the water on his lawn, Deputy Chief Pat Donoghue said Tuesday.

“We consider that a misuse of fire department equipment,” Chief Donoghue said. “He said he didn’t want to waste it. If he didn’t want to waste it, he could have watered the department’s lawn.”

MINNESOTA

Crime-fighting pig dies of heart failure

MINNEAPOLIS — R.I.P., Arnold the Crime-Fighting Pig.

A southern Minneapolis neighborhood is mourning the loss of Arnold, a 450-pound porker who once foiled a burglary. The beast died last month from apparent heart failure. He was 6.

Arnold earned his name after sinking his teeth into one of two intruders who tried to rob his owner, Becky Moyer, at gunpoint in February 2001. Miss Moyer screamed, and Arnold sprang into action. When he clamped down on the burglar’s leg, the intruders bolted and left behind a puddle of blood.

OKLAHOMA

Killer executed; blamed steroids

MCALESTER — A man who killed a store clerk during a 1991 robbery and blamed it on steroid use was executed Tuesday by injection.

Michael Pennington, the third person put to death this year in Oklahoma, was condemned for murdering Bradley Grooms while robbing a Lawton, Okla., convenience store on Oct. 21, 1991.

Pennington later said he was psychotic at the time of the crime because of the anabolic steroids he took.

OREGON

Bill would require cold pill prescription

SALEM — Oregon would become the first state to require a prescription for many types of cold medicines under a bill overwhelmingly passed yesterday by the House as part of an attack on methamphetamine.

Pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in popular over-the-counter medicines such as Sudafed and Sinutab, is used to make meth, an illegal and powerfully addictive drug.

The bill was sent to the Senate on a 55-4 vote. Supporters said they expect the measure to pass in the Senate, and it is supported by Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski, a Democrat.

VERMONT

Ammonia spill kills thousands of fish

CABOT — State officials investigated an ammonia spill from the Cabot Creamery that killed thousands of fish in the upper Winooski River. Health Department officials warned people to stay away from the river.

The spill occurred during the installation of a new process refrigeration system at the creamery. An undetermined amount of ammonia-based refrigerant was spilled, officials said.

WISCONSIN

Fire spreads across acres of tires

WATERTOWN — Fire erupted in a huge pile of tires at a recycling plant Tuesday, sending black smoke billowing for miles across southeastern Wisconsin and shutting down roads as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.

About 6 acres of Watertown Tire Recycling Co.’s estimated 1 million tires were in flames Tuesday night, a smoldering mound expected to take days to burn itself out.

No one was injured, but crews had to fight through acrid smoke as they tried to isolate the burning tires.

WYOMING

Environmentalists split on park plan

JACKSON — Two environmental groups are divided over a plan for pathways and public transportation in Grand Teton National Park.

The National Parks Conservation Association and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance have been traditional allies. However, the association backs a plan for 41 miles of pathways in the park. The alliance favors fewer pathways and more mass transit.

From wire dispatches and staff reports