Around the Nation

ARKANSAS

2 killed as storms pound the South

BENTON — A band of hail, heavy rain and twisters pounded Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma yesterday, damaging hundreds of homes, flooding roads and leaving thousands without power.

Arkansas already was contending with three weeks of flooding and the aftermath of 10 tornadoes that struck last week.

About 1,000 customers of Entergy Arkansas lost power, and tornado sirens blared around midday in parts of central Arkansas, including Little Rock. Flooding also was reported in southwestern Missouri as storms crossed the region.

The severe weather began Wednesday in the region. An apparent tornado with winds of up to 70 mph moved through western Texas, tearing shingles from roofs, shattering glass and flipping vehicles. Roughly 100 homes reported damage.

WASHINGTON

Neighbors buy RV for homeless man

SEATTLE — A homeless man who has spent the past two years living in a treehouse has a new, terrestrial home just in the nick of time, thanks to neighbors.

David “Squirrelman” Csaky, a self-taught carpenter, learned Tuesday that neighbors had found an aging recreational vehicle for him to occupy.

“I’m overwhelmed,” said Mr. Csaky, 52, who had been threatened with eviction because the treehouse is a health and safety concern. “I started crying when they told me.”

Brandon Ferrante, 28, and Maria Bolander, 27, who befriended him after watching the treehouse take shape, found an aging RV online after they learned of Mr. Csaky’s situation. After delivering the RV on Tuesday, owner Timothy Custer decided instead to sell it to Mr. Csaky for a penny.

CALIFORNIA

Judge drops fraud charges

LOS ANGELES — U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer granted a prosecution request yesterday to dismiss 28 charges against private investigator Anthony Pellicano and a co-defendant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Saunders said the government made the request because some of the suspected victims weren’t available to testify and other counts were redundant.

More than 35 charges remain against Mr. Pellicano and former Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson.

The dropped counts mostly involved wire fraud that authorities said had reportedly involved Sgt. Arneson searching law enforcement databases for Mr. Pellicano.

Mr. Pellicano, Sgt. Arneson and three other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty in the case in which Mr. Pellicano is accused of running a criminal enterprise that used wiretaps and other clandestine tactics to dig up dirt to help his clients gain an advantage in legal and other disputes.

COLORADO

ICE agent found not guilty in leak

DENVER — Immigration agent Cory Voorhis was found not guilty Wednesday of illegally leaking confidential information on the status of illegal immigrants to a 2006 Republican gubernatorial campaign.

Mr. Voorhis, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent, used the National Crime Information Center to pull the criminal record of an accused heroin dealer previously arrested under another name, Carlos Estrada Medina, in San Francisco for sexual assault on a child.

He passed along the information to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez, which ran TV ads blasting Democratic candidate Bill Ritter for allowing Ramo to plead to a misdemeanor farmland-trespass charge. Mr. Ritter, who won the election, accused the Beauprez campaign of using illegally obtained information in the ads.

The jury verdict came as a victory for illegal-immigration critics, who had rallied behind Mr. Voorhis, saying he was only doing his job and that such information should be available to the public.

LOUISIANA

Governor admits campaign violation

BATON ROUGE — Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has pushed for tougher ethics laws, acknowledged yesterday that his gubernatorial campaign missed a deadline to report financial help from the state Republican Party and agreed to pay a $2,500 ethics fine.

Under a settlement approved by the state Board of Ethics, Mr. Jindal admitted his 2007 campaign missed the deadline to disclose the state Republican Party spent $118,264 for pro-Jindal mailings. The fine is the maximum allowed under state law for the campaign finance violation.

By settling with the board, Mr. Jindal avoided a public hearing that had been set for July. The board approved the settlement without discussion and the governor did not attend.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Men convicted in tax case

CONCORD — A federal jury has convicted two men accused of helping a New Hampshire couple avoid arrest for tax evasion last year.

Jason Gerhard of Brookhaven, N.Y., and Daniel Riley of Cohoes, N.Y., were found guilty Wednesday of conspiring to prevent U.S. marshals from arresting tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown. The two men were also convicted of charges accusing them of providing the Browns with guns to help prolong a standoff with authorities.

Defense lawyers argued that while the men visited the Browns and shared some of their views, they did not conspire together.

NEW YORK

Judge trims Rather’s suit

NEW YORK — A New York state judge threw out parts of Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS yesterday, but preserved several key elements, including the former news anchor’s breach of contract claim.

State Supreme Court Judge Ira Gammerman dismissed Mr. Rather’s fraud claim, saying he was too late in filing it, and rejected Mr. Rather’s charge that CBS executives damaged his future job prospects, saying Mr. Rather could not support the claim.

The judge let stand the portion of the suit in which Mr. Rather says the network breached his contract by not giving him enough on-air assignments after he was removed as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005, following a scandal over a report on President Bush’s military record.

PENNSYLVANIA

Defense says girls can’t understand

ERIE — Two young girls accused of brutally attacking another girl on a playground are too emotionally immature to understand the criminal charges against them and the charges should be dismissed, their attorneys said.

The girls, ages 10 and 11, face aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on another 10-year-old girl at an elementary school playground the evening of April 3. The girls are accused of stomping on the victim and breaking her hip, police said.

The lawyers said the case should be treated as a dependency case, not a delinquency case. In legal terms, a judge who rules a child is dependent can place the child under the supervision of the Erie County Office of Children and Youth.

WASHINGTON

Dalai Lama arrives for U.S. visit

SEATTLE — The Dalai Lama arrived yesterday in the United States for the first time since the recent turmoil in Tibet. He was serenaded by fellow Tibetans as he prepared to anchor an ambitious conference on compassion.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader came here a day after demonstrators disrupted the Olympic torch run in San Francisco in protest of China’s treatment of his people. The Dalai Lama will attend a five-day conference that begins today.

With the Dalai Lama in town, some community leaders said they expected counterdemonstrations from pro-China groups. But all was peaceful when he arrived yesterday at a downtown hotel, telling local Tibetans who sang to him that he supports nonviolent demonstrations but was saddened by the protests in San Francisco.

From wire dispatches and staff reports