Around the Nation

FLORIDA

Limbaugh drug case back in court

WEST PALM BEACH — Rush Limbaugh’s attorney argued yesterday that investigators violated the conservative commentator’s privacy rights when they made a surprise visit to a doctor’s office to seize his medical records.

Limbaugh attorney Roy Black is seeking to keep the records sealed from prosecutors who accuse the radio host of illegally buying prescription drugs. Mr. Black said investigators should have provided some notice that they were going to seize records containing private information.

Instead, they used search warrants and gave Mr. Limbaugh no chance to challenge the seizure, Mr. Black said.

UTAH

Mother in C-section case pleads guilty

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman charged with murder for reportedly delaying a Caesarean section that could have saved one of her twins pleaded guilty to child endangerment in a deal with prosecutors yesterday.

Prosecutors said they will ask for no more than five years in prison for Melissa Ann Rowland, 28. They said they dropped the murder charge based on her “mental health history.”

Mrs. Rowland has said that she never intended to kill her baby and had not been informed that she needed immediate surgery to save the babies’ lives.

CALIFORNIA

Police ’deactivate’ Zodiac killer case

SAN FRANCISCO — It has been one of the longest, most famous and frustrating homicide investigations in San Francisco, haunting detectives for more than 35 years. Now, two years after DNA evidence suggested that a break might come soon, police have “deactivated” the case of the Zodiac killer.

Homicide inspectors have been under increasing pressure to solve a rash of gang- and drug-related killings in the city. Mayor Gavin Newsom has shown up at some crime scenes and has suggested that the department’s success rate needs serious improvement.

The move to shut down the case means that, for the first time, no inspector will be assigned to actively investigate the case or follow up leads unless investigators receive an extraordinary tip.

COLORADO

Beer baron Coors to run for Senate

DENVER — Beer magnate Pete Coors is expected to enter the Colorado Senate race as early as today, giving the Republican Party a wealthy, widely known candidate to take on Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar.

“Every indication is that he’s going to enter the race,” said Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ted Halaby.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Coors, chief executive officer of Coors Brewing Co. in Golden, said he would make an announcement shortly. An active Republican who has appeared in national television commercials for Coors beer, Mr. Coors would face former Rep. Bob Schaffer in the Republican primary.

The candidates are vying to replace Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who shocked the state last month when he announced his retirement, citing health concerns.

GEORGIA

State tightens rules for scholarships

ATLANTA — Lawmakers reached an agreement yesterday to rescue Georgia’s vaunted HOPE college scholarship program by raising the academic requirements.

Under the new standards, to go into effect in 2007, students seeking a scholarship would need a 3.0 grade-point average — a B average — instead of a numeric average of 80, which in many schools is a C.

Georgia’s HOPE program uses proceeds from the state lottery to send Georgia high school graduates to public or private colleges within the state. It has given about $2 billion in scholarships to more than 700,000 students since 1993.

But the program could outstrip the lottery’s ability to support it by the end of the decade. The full legislature was expected to pass the measure by late yesterday.

HAWAII

Surfer killed in shark attack

HONOLULU — A surfer was killed yesterday in a shark attack off Maui, police said.

The 57-year-old man was attacked about 300 yards off Kahana beach on Maui’s western shore. He was helped from the water but died despite bystanders’ efforts, authorities said.

Four shark attacks were reported in Hawaii last year, including an October incident off the island of Kauai that took the left arm of top amateur surfer Bethany Hamilton, then 13.

The local man attacked yesterday had injuries to his leg that were consistent with shark bite, police said. He was not identified pending notification of relatives who live on the U.S. mainland, police said.

KENTUCKY

Cops seek old man in pharmacist’s death

CLARKSON — A 73-year-old man who has difficulty walking and is tethered to an oxygen tank was being sought yesterday in the shooting death of a pharmacist, police said.

Charles Terry is suspected of shooting Leo Marshall, 52, in the head and back Tuesday night in a pharmacy parking lot, state Trooper Steve Pavey said.

Mr. Marshall had come out of the store to collect an $18 payment from Mr. Terry, who was seated in a sport utility vehicle, Trooper Pavey said.

Mr. Terry handed Mr. Marshall a $20 bill, then shot the pharmacist as he returned with the change, police said.

Mr. Terry has a criminal record dating to the 1950s, police said. In 1980, he was convicted of second-degree rape, promoting prostitution and custodial interference. Mr. Terry finished that sentence in 1992.

LOUISIANA

Experts offer tips to keep toddlers fit

NEW ORLEANS — It doesn’t take a personal trainer to get a preschooler to exercise. All it takes is some imagination.

How would you reach for a star? How would you pick a flower? Let’s see you tiptoe. Now, let’s gallop.

These are tips offered by a physical education and sports group to help parents ensure their children don’t soon join the 123 million American adults who are overweight.

“We tend to think that we need specialized knowledge or fancy equipment or to enroll them in programs that cost a lot of money to get our kids to exercise,” said Rae Pica, who wrote a booklet of suggestions for parents.

NEVADA

Briton to bet all on roulette spin

LAS VEGAS — A British man who has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, will stand in a rented tuxedo Sunday and bet everything on a single spin of the roulette wheel.

If he wins, he doubles his money. If he loses, he will be left with only the television crew documenting his every move.

Ashley Revell, a 32-year-old Londoner, said he was worth about 75,000 pounds ($138,000) after he sold everything in March.

“I thought I was worth at least 100,000 pounds,” he said in a telephone from Las Vegas, where he is putting in a week gambling about $3,000 in a bid to raise his pot.

Mr. Revell, recently a professional gambler, said he decided to take a big plunge while he was still young and raised the stakes as high as possible, including selling his clothes.

MASSACHUSETTS

Archbishop decries hedonistic society

BOSTON — Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley said American culture is inhospitable to Roman Catholic teaching and likened preaching in the United States to a form of martyrdom.

“Today, our challenge is simple: to resist the temptation to conform to the culture of death, to consumerism, hedonism, individualism,” Archbishop O’Malley told about 500 priests and 600 parishioners on Tuesday during Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The Mass was part of Holy Week, which culminates with Easter Sunday.

Archbishop O’Malley said Catholics in the United States “find themselves in a hostile, alien environment” where there is temptation to “conform to a dominant cultural influence that is incongruous with our faith and our destiny.”

He did not refer to the clergy sexual-abuse crisis that has shaken the archdiocese and the rest of the country.

NEW YORK

Tightrope walker falls, breaks no bones

NEW YORK — A young father who recently found work with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a high-wire performer has survived a 30-foot fall without a single broken bone.

Hernando Rangel, 34, was performing in Madison Square Garden when he fell the equivalent of three stories, the New York Post reported yesterday.

He was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where doctors said he was in stable condition late Tuesday with injuries to the lower back, chest and right elbow, but — against all odds — had no broken bones.

NORTH CAROLINA

Jury acquits Marine of sabotage charges

CAMP LEJEUNE — A military jury yesterday acquitted a Marine of charges he sabotaged parachutes during a 2002 training jump in which three comrades were hurt. But he was convicted of drug charges.

A sentencing hearing opened after the jury of six Marines reached its verdict.

Cpl. Clayton Chaffin, 28, of Franklin, Ohio, was accused of conspiring to cut the suspension lines of at least 13 parachutes, and of attempting to frame another Marine in the sabotage. He was acquitted of conspiracy, assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses.

He was convicted of drug charges, including distribution of marijuana and cocaine.

OKLAHOMA

Ex-wife testifies in Nichols’ trial

McALESTER — Terry Nichols’ handwriting is on a variety of documents that investigators have linked to the Oklahoma City bombing plot, Nichols’ former wife testified yesterday at his trial for murder.

The documents identified by Lana Padilla include motel registration cards, prepaid call-card applications and rental agreements filled out in the names of Joe Kyle, Darryl Bridges and other aliases that have been linked to Nichols.

Mrs. Padilla, who was married to Nichols for eight years, said he was the only person who could have made calls from her home with the prepaid card. Although they were divorced in 1989, Nichols occasionally came to her home to visit their son, she said.

Nichols is on trial on state charges that could bring the death penalty. He is already serving a life sentence on federal charges for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 persons.

OHIO

Lotto scammer pays for police overtime

CLEVELAND — An Ohio woman who tried a scam involving a $162 million winning lotto ticket gave police a big check to cover overtime fees caused by her crime.

Elecia Battle, 41, handed South Euclid police a $5,596 check Tuesday for the cost of police overtime needed to investigate a bogus contention that she lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported yesterday.

Mrs. Battle pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of falsification, a misdemeanor, for filing a false police report.

Rather than six months in jail, the court sentenced her to 50 hours of community service, one year of probation, a $1,000 fine and $75 for court costs — plus restitution to the police.

PENNSYLVANIA

Study says number of stars decreasing

PHILADELPHIA — The number of stars in the universe is decreasing, and has been for roughly 5 billion years, according to a study based on a digital survey of the heavens.

Astronomers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the light history of more than 96,000 nearby galaxies to chronicle star formation.

Raul Jimenez, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, and Alan Heavens of the University of Edinburgh, earlier had estimated that star formation peaked 6 million years ago, based on a survey of 40,000 galaxies.

But their latest effort, reported today in the journal Nature, refined the calculation.

“Our method takes into account all the stars that are present in the observed galaxies today and allows us to create the most complete history of star formation yet assembled,” Mr. Jimenez said.

TENNESSEE

Man arrested in dog-kicking death

NASHVILLE — A man was arrested on charges of killing his neighbor’s 17-year-old dog by place-kicking it like a football.

Chad Daniel Crawford, 23, was charged Tuesday with cruelty to animals and vandalism in the death of Gizmo, a 2-pound miniature Yorkshire terrier. Mr. Crawford was freed on $25,000 bail.

Jalani Lewis said he was in his apartment complex when he saw one of three men holding the dog like a football and then saw Mr. Crawford kick the animal.

Mr. Lewis said the dog flew through the air in a high arc, hit the pavement and rolled under a parked car. The dog apparently was dead when it hit the ground and the men were laughing, Mr. Lewis said.

Mr. Crawford said the accusations were false but declined further comment.

TEXAS

Foster system seen needing overhaul

AUSTIN — The state’s foster care system needs a massive overhaul, particularly the special camps where a few children are housed, the state comptroller’s office said.

The investigation by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and her office followed reports from news organizations and other complaints that children have died or become victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse after being placed in the state’s custody.

Much of Mrs. Strayhorn’s criticism was directed at “therapeutic camps,” which offer an experience in outdoor living deemed helpful to some troubled children, and residential treatment centers, where foster children live as a group instead of with families.

About 20 percent of foster children live in such group facilities, the vast majority of them in the residential centers.

WISCONSIN

Student in hoax gets medical care

MADISON — A college student who police say faked her abduction is receiving medical care after going from “one major crisis to another major crisis,” her attorney said.

Randy Hopper did not release any details of University of Wisconsin sophomore Audrey Seiler, 20. NBC has reported that Miss Seiler was in a psychiatric facility.

Police, family and friends spent several days looking for Miss Seiler after she walked out of her off-campus apartment March 27 and disappeared. She was found in a marsh four days later. She told police she had been held captive by a man with a knife.

Police concluded that the story was fake after obtaining a videotape showing Miss Seiler buying the knife, duct tape, rope and cold medicine that she said her abductor used to restrain her.