American Scene

ALABAMA

School lesson probed by Secret Service

BIRMINGHAM | The Secret Service questioned an Alabama teacher after school officials said he used a hypothetical example of shooting at the president to teach geometric angles.

The teacher at Corner High School in Birmingham was not identified Tuesday by the Jefferson County school district.

Senior Joseph Brown told the Birmingham News that the teacher “was talking about angles and said, ’If you’re in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president.’”

The Secret Service interviewed the teacher after authorities were notified, determined there was not a credible threat and closed the investigation.

Superintendent Phil Hammonds said the teacher showed extremely poor judgment but there are no plans to fire him.

CALIFORNIA

5.1 quake hits near southern border

EL CENTRO | An estimated 5.1-magnitude earthquake near the California-Mexico border has shaken a wide area of Southern California including San Diego.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s automated seismic reporting system said the quake struck at 5:38 p.m. PDT Tuesday and was centered 18 miles west-southwest of El Centro in the state’s southeastern corner.

The area has been shaking with aftershocks since a 7.2 quake that struck northern Baja California on April 4.

Imperial County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher Veronica Marron said the quake was strongly felt but there have been no immediate reports of damage.

IDAHO

Missionary convicted in Haiti returns home

BOISE | An Idaho woman accused of trying to take 33 children from Haiti after the deadly January earthquake has returned home.

Laura Silsby hugged friends and relatives as she cleared the airport security gate in Boise and told reporters she is looking forward to spending time with her children.

Ms. Silsby, 40, was freed Monday when a judge convicted her but sentenced her to time already served.

Ms. Silsby was the organizer of an effort to take the children to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

ILLINOIS

Journalist confessed in N. Korean prison

CHICAGO | An American journalist who was imprisoned in North Korea for months after briefly crossing into the reclusive country while reporting about the sex trade said she told interrogators in a ploy for mercy that she was trying to overthrow the government.

In her first televised interview since her August release, Laura Ling said Tuesday on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that she was told the worst could happen if she didn’t confess.

Mrs. Ling said she drew suspicion because she worked for San Francisco-based Current TV, a media venture founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

“I knew that that was the confession they wanted to hear and I was told if you confess there may be forgiveness and if you’re not frank, if you don’t confess then the worst could happen,” Mrs. Ling said.

Mrs. Ling and journalist Euna Lee were captured at the North Korea-China border in March 2009 while reporting about North Korean women who were forced into the sex trade or arranged marriages when they defected to China.

MASSACHUSETTS

’Rockefeller’ loses bid to trim sentence

BOSTON | A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and spun elaborate stories about his past lost his bid Tuesday for a reduced sentence in the kidnapping of his 7-year-old daughter.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter listened in court as his attorney told an appellate panel that Gerhartsreiter should serve two years or less in prison, about half the four- to five-year sentence he received after being convicted last year.

A prosecutor, however, said the higher sentence was appropriate, given the suffering Gerhartsreiter caused the girl’s mother. It took authorities six days to find Gerhartsreiter and his daughter in Baltimore. The girl was not hurt.

MICHIGAN

Militia members released from jail

DETROIT | Two members of a Michigan-based militia who are accused of conspiring to overthrow the government were released from jail Tuesday until trial after prosecutors withdrew their efforts to keep them in custody.

David Stone Jr. and Jacob Ward were released to family members after appearing in federal court in Detroit. They must wear electronic monitors and follow strict conditions set by a judge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Falvey Jr. said he dropped his opposition to the release of the three after being assured their freedom would be very limited. The defendants can go to work, see their attorneys and keep medical appointments, but not much else.

The U.S. attorney’s office is appealing a judge’s order to release six other militia members charged in the case.

NEBRASKA

Playing cards decide sheriff’s race

BRIDGEPORT | A deck of cards and a bit of luck helped decide who will likely be the next sheriff of Morrill County.

The nine of hearts Milo Cardenas drew Monday beat Travis Petersen’s six of spades, giving Mr. Cardenas the Republican nomination for sheriff. Since no Democrats ran for sheriff, Mr. Cardenas, the police chief in Bridgeport, is likely to win in November’s election.

“I knew it was going to be close, but I didn’t expect to be this close,” Mr. Cardenas said.

The two men agreed to cut a deck of cards after Monday’s recount confirmed that both finished at the top of a four-man race with 379 votes after balloting ended May 12. State law requires tied elections to be settled by a game of chance.

NEW YORK

Car bomb suspect appears in court

NEW YORK | The suspect in a botched car bombing in Times Square appeared in court Tuesday on terrorism and weapons charges for the first time since his arrest two weeks ago and was quickly led away in handcuffs after being held without bail.

Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, muttered one word at the 10-minute hearing — “yes” — when asked to confirm an affidavit about his financial status, which allowed him to have a public defender appointed.

On Tuesday night, the White House’s top terrorism adviser said a newly formed high-value detainee interrogation group, known as the HIG, was used to question Mr. Shahzad, as well as other suspects in the U.S. and abroad, over the past few months.

John Brennan, President Obama’s homeland security counterterrorism adviser, confirmed the move in a speech Tuesday night.

Senior administration officials say the elite team of investigators — from the FBI, CIA and Defense Department — is designed to question terror suspects just after arrest, to head off future terror attacks.

OHIO

Rare vote case for mercy for inmate

COLUMBUS | In a rare gesture, the Ohio Parole Board recommended clemency Tuesday for a condemned inmate sentenced to die next month for strangling his live-in girlfriend.

The board ruled 4-3 in favor of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for death row prisoner Richard Nields, scheduled to die June 10.

Nields, 59, killed Patricia Newsome during a 1997 argument in suburban Cincinnati.

In its decision, the board questioned the validity of medical evidence used at Nields’ trial that helped support a death sentence. The ruling is only a recommendation for Gov. Ted Strickland, who has the final say.

VIRGINIA

Feds: Va. Tech violated law in massacre

RICHMOND | Virginia Tech broke federal campus security laws by waiting too long to notify students during a 2007 shooting rampage that killed 33, including the student gunman, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

Tech disputed the finding, saying university officials met standards in effect at the time of the April 16, 2007, shootings and that the U.S. Department of Education’s preliminary report is colored by “hindsight bias.”

The school could be fined for the violation unless the department revises its findings when it issues a final report.

The university has previously been criticized for not notifying the campus of the shootings sooner. The state has released its own report identifying apparent missteps.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports