Around the Nation

ARKANSAS

Clinton’s boyhood home burns

HOT SPRINGS — A fire gutted about 75 percent of one of former President Bill Clinton’s boyhood homes.

Fire department officials said the blaze started in a car engine in the garage and quickly spread to the rest of the house. Firefighters received the call around 9 p.m. Sunday and extinguished the blaze about 30 minutes later. Nobody was hurt.

Mr. Clinton was born in Hope, but he moved to Hot Springs in 1953. The home at 213 Scully St. was one in which his family lived during his early years in Hot Springs.

FLORIDA

Brush fire prompts evacuations

MIAMI — A brush fire that damaged one house and led to the evacuation of more than 500 others was under control and half contained yesterday, and firefighters expected to extinguish it by the end of the day.

The blaze in southwest Miami-Dade County had kept residents away from their homes for about six hours Sunday as heavy smoke blanketed the area, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokeswoman LaVerne Guillen said.

The fire ignited fences and burned to within several feet of one row of houses. The roof and attic of one house caught fire, Miss Guillen said. One minor injury was reported.

CALIFORNIA

Mother visits soldier in Iraq

SAN FRANCISCO — A mother went against the warnings of military officials and showed up for a surprise visit on Feb. 1 in Iraq to see her son, a 26-year old Army Ranger.

Susan Galleymore, 48, of Alameda, was reunited with her son for 90 minutes. He gave her a tour of the base and accompanied her to see the view from a guard tower. Mrs. Galleymore chose not to reveal her son’s name to protect him from potential harassment from colleagues for her antiwar views.

Mrs. Galleymore also was using the trip to gather information for a book she plans to write on the views of some Iraqi and U.S. parents on the war.

Mrs. Galleymore’s 10-day trip was arranged by the peace activist group Code Pink, which has led about a dozen parents to Iraq during the past few months.

U.S. military officials have discouraged parents from visiting soldiers in Iraq because of the dangers involved.

COLORADO

Liniger declines run for Senate seat

DENVER — Colorado businessman Dave Liniger announced yesterday that he won’t be a Republican candidate for the seat of retiring Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

Mr. Liniger, the wealthy founder of Re/Max real estate, said he wanted to spend more time in Colorado with his family, the Denver Post reported.

Mr. Liniger’s departure leaves Bob Schaffer as the only high-profile Republican seeking to replace Mr. Campbell, a Republican.

Gov. Bill Owens announced earlier that he would not run for the Republican nomination. Dan O’Bryant, a Colorado Springs lawyer, is the only other Republican candidate.

Attorney General Ken Salazar and Colorado Springs educator Mike Miles are seeking the Democratic nomination.

MASSACHUSETTS

Victims of priest settle in civil case

BOSTON — The Boston Archdiocese said yesterday it has settled lawsuits filed by four persons who say they were sexually abused by the Rev. Paul R. Shanley, a key figure in the clergy-abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.

Financial terms of the agreement reached late Sunday were not disclosed. However, an attorney for the plaintiffs said each will get more than the maximum of $300,000 that 550 other victims will receive in the $85 million settlement reached in September.

The four plaintiffs — Gregory Ford, Paul Busa and two other men who asked not to be identified — had refused to sign on to the earlier settlement. Their attorney, Roderick MacLeish Jr., promised to continue aiding prosecutors in their pending criminal case against Father Shanley.

Father Shanley has pleaded not guilty to charges of raping Mr. Ford, Mr. Busa and the two others at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton in the 1980s. He is free on $300,000 bail while awaiting trial.

MICHIGAN

Detroit holds prayers for peace

DETROIT — The city held a day of prayer yesterday in response to a wave of violence that has killed more than 100 people this year, with the mayor asking “the greatest power we all know” to help end the bloodshed.

The event came a day after three persons were killed when someone fired a gun at a car of partygoers. Less than a week earlier, the bodies of a woman and four of her children were found beaten and strangled in their home.

Detroit’s murder rate is on the rise this year after the city saw its lowest homicide total in more than 35 years in 2003 with 361 killings. Detroit began 2004 averaging about a killing a day and is now up to at least 106 for the year.

NEW YORK

Most low-carb dieters eat too many carbs

NEW YORK — Most U.S. consumers who say they are following low-carb diets actually are eating more carbohydrates than the diets recommend, a survey found.

According to a study of 11,000 people released by market research firm NPD Group yesterday, only one out of every four low-carb dieters “are actually significantly cutting carbs.”

At any given time, about 10 million Americans are following low-carb diets, such as the Atkins and South Beach, the report said.

But adults who are reducing their carbohydrate intakes still are eating about 128 grams of refined carbohydrates a day, the study found. That compares with the estimated 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day recommended by some low-carb diets.

OHIO

Suspect pleads not guilty in shootings

COLUMBUS — The man arrested in a deadly series of highway shootings in Ohio pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges yesterday, and his attorneys said they are gathering his psychiatric records for use in his defense.

The reports date back at least eight years and include information from several psychiatrists, said Mike Miller, an attorney for Charles A. McCoy Jr. Mr. McCoy’s attorneys have said his mental state was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia several years ago.

Mr. McCoy, 28, could get the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Gail Knisley, 62, the only person killed in the attacks. She was struck by a bullet while riding in a car.

OKLAHOMA

FBI says tracks match Nichols’ truck

McALESTER — Prosecutors introduced testimony about tire tracks yesterday as they worked to link Terry Nichols to the deadly bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

Former FBI Agent William Bodziak testified that tracks found outside a Herington, Kan., storage shed matched the tires on Nichols’ pickup truck. Prosecutors say components for the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building were kept at the shed.

“It would be highly probable that his truck made these,” Mr. Bodziak testified at Nichols’ state murder trial. He said other tracks found there were similar to what would be expected from a heavy-duty Ryder rental truck like the one that carried the bomb that exploded on April 19, 1995, killing 168 persons.

Nichols already is serving a life prison sentence for the bombing. He was convicted on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges for the deaths of eight federal law-enforcement officers.

TEXAS

Egyptian twins leave hospital after surgery

DALLAS — Egyptian twins formerly conjoined at the head have been discharged from a Dallas hospital and are living with their family for the first time, their doctors said yesterday.

Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, who will turn 3 in June and were separated at the crown of their heads in a 34-hour operation in October, were discharged March 24 and are being treated as outpatients for therapy sessions every weekday, they said.

The boys are living with their parents and their older brother at a residence near their hospital — Medical City Dallas.

The boys are walking with minimal assistance. Doctors said in February the twins could return to their home in Egypt before the end of the year.

They are scheduled to have surgery in the coming months to repair their misshapen skulls. Their doctors have called the surgery a minimal risk procedure.