Around the Nation

MISSOURI

Suspect leaves wallet at robbery scene

KANSAS CITY — Police said a robber at two restaurants in a single day left his wallet at the second location.

The man was caught on a security camera robbing a Hardee’s restaurant Sunday, police said, and was seen hours later robbing a Subway restaurant, KCTV reported.

The man took his wallet out of his pocket while pretending to order food at the Subway but forgot to retrieve it from the counter before leaving the scene, police said.

Authorities said the man’s identification was inside the wallet and they were expecting to make an arrest.

NEW JERSEY

Gun owner sentenced in terror plot

CAMDEN — A man who admitted letting a group of suspects in a terror plot shoot his guns at a firing range was sentenced yesterday to 20 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said Agron Abdullahu deserved more than the 10 to 16 months recommended under sentencing guidelines because he knew the men who were talking about violence against Americans.

The sentence was less than half the five-year maximum allowed. With time served and credit for good behavior, Abdullahu could be free before the end of the year but faces deportation.

Abdullahu, 25, was arrested in May with five men — all of them, like Abdullahu, foreign-born Muslims in their 20s — who are charged with conspiring to kill soldiers on Fort Dix. The New Jersey base was not attacked.

NEW YORK

AHA endorses ’hands-only’ CPR

NEW YORK — You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life.

In a major change, the American Heart Association said yesterday that hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation — rapid, deep presses on the victim’s chest until help arrives ” works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.

Medical professionals hope bystanders now will be more willing to help someone who suddenly collapses. Hands-only CPR is simpler and easier to remember and removes a barrier for people who are skittish about mouth-to-mouth breathing.

“You only have to do two things: call 911 and push hard and fast on the middle of the person’s chest,” said Dr. Michael Sayre, an emergency medicine professor at Ohio State University who headed the committee that made the recommendation.

OKLAHOMA

Storms, tornado cause damage, outages

OKLAHOMA CITY — Strong thunderstorms that included a small tornado caused scattered damage and power outages in parts of Oklahoma early yesterday.

No injuries were reported.

The National Weather Service posted severe thunderstorm watches and warnings during the day for parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

The 2 a.m. twister in northern Oklahoma County blew the roof off a house, knocked down utilities and damaged other buildings. Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith said an investigation showed the damage was caused by a tornado that didn’t last long. Oklahoma Gas & Electric said several thousand customers lost power.

The Weather Service said it had one confirmed tornado sighting yesterday in southwestern Missouri’s Lawrence County, but emergency officials said only a barn and utility poles were damaged.

PENNSYLVANIA

Truckers protest fuel prices

HARRISBURG — Scores of truckers took to the highways and streets around the Capitol yesterday and blasted their horns to protest rising fuel prices.

As the protest convoy circled the block, about 100 people gathered on the Capitol steps to urge state lawmakers and Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a Democrat, to eliminate Pennsylvania’s highest-in-the-nation diesel fuel tax of 38.1 cents per gallon.

Consumers pay state taxes of 32.3 cents per gallon on gasoline, the 11th highest in the nation.

Truckers across the country have been talking about a protest or strike as high diesel prices and low freight rates have pushed an increasing number of truckers into bankruptcy. Nassau Asset Management repossessed 110 percent more trucks last year than it did in 2006, said company President Edward Castagna.

Fuel prices in Pennsylvania yesterday averaged $3.28 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline and $4.33 a gallon for diesel, compared with $2.70 for regular unleaded and $2.84 for diesel a year ago.

RHODE ISLAND

Dodge ball line formed on equator

SMITHFIELD — Five students from Rhode Island’s Bryant University said they may be accepted into Guinness World Records for playing a dodge ball game on the equator.

The students coined the term “equatorial line infraction” after painting a red line on the equator in Ecuador to use for their center line, pitting the Southern and Northern hemispheres against each other, the Boston Globe reported yesterday.

“It was just a totally random idea, awesome and spur-of-the-moment. We thought we were hilarious,” Bryan Wojtowicz, 22, said of the Jan. 12 tournament.

The players said they submitted their request in February to Guinness World Records. Guinness is processing the claim and will send the students a certificate and letter if it is accepted, marketing assistant Jamie Panas said.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Extension granted for Real ID law

COLUMBIA — The Department of Homeland Security is granting South Carolina an extension to comply with a new federal identification law.

A letter granting the extension arrived yesterday, six hours after Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, said the state would not comply.

Mr. Sanford wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to say the state already meets many of the requirements under the federal Real ID law.

Mr. Chertoff said the state received an extension because of its actions toward compliance.

Maine is the last state without an agreement with the federal government.

TENNESSEE

Gore initiates green campaign

NASHVILLE — Former Vice President Al Gore yesterday launched a three-year, multimillion-dollar advocacy campaign calling for Americans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Alliance for Climate Protection’s campaign, dubbed “We,” will combine advertising, online organizing and partnerships with grass-roots groups to educate the public about climate change and demand action from elected officials.

An advertising campaign will equate the movement to other grand endeavors, such as stopping fascism in Europe during World War II, overcoming segregation and putting the first man on the moon.

TEXAS

Baby on airline deemed stillborn

HOUSTON — A baby found in a bathroom aboard a Continental Airlines jet was stillborn, according to preliminary results from an autopsy, police said yesterday.

The matter likely will be treated as a medical issue rather than a criminal investigation, the Houston Chronicle reported authorities as saying.

The baby was found Sunday afternoon by a cleaning crew about 30 minutes after the aircraft flew from New York to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Authorities questioned a 14-year-old girl thought to have delivered the baby. Citing a need to protect the girl’s privacy, they wouldn’t say whether she was from the Houston or New York area.

The Harris County medical examiner’s office performed the autopsy yesterday.

UTAH

Federal negligence found in mine collapse

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal regulators failed to protect workers at Crandall Canyon mine, where nine people died last summer, a U.S. Labor Department watchdog said yesterday.

The department’s inspector general’s office blamed federal mining regulators for negligence in approving a roof-control plan for the mine. Six miners died in a collapse Aug. 6, and a cave-in 10 days later killed three people trying to reach the trapped men.

The 80-page report issued yesterday from Assistant Inspector General Elliot Lewis said the Mine Safety and Health Administration could not show that it made the right decision when it approved risky retreat mining at Crandall Canyon.

“We take exception to the inspector general’s use of headline-grabbing language that is unsupported by facts or evidence,” MSHA spokesman Matthew Faraci said.

From wire dispatches and staff reports