DELAWARE
Suspension of 2 doctors sought by state
WILMINGTON | The Delaware attorney general’s office is seeking to suspend the licenses of two doctors who worked in Wilmington with a Philadelphia abortion doctor charged with killing infants.
Drs. Albert Dworkin and Arturo Apolinario are accused of not reporting Dr. Kermit Gosnell for performing late-term abortions at Atlantic Women’s Medical Services in Wilmington. Dr. Apolinario is also charged with prescribing drugs illegally.
The complaints filed by Attorney General Beau Biden on Wednesday come as part of an investigation into the Delaware activities of Dr. Gosnell, who faces charges in the deaths of a female patient and seven babies born alive inside his clinic.
The attorney general’s office also accuses the owner of Atlantic Women’s Medical Services of falsely claiming to be a gynecologist.
LOUISIANA
Rise in baby dolphin deaths scrutinized
NEW ORLEANS | Scientists are trying to figure out what has killed 53 bottlenose dolphins — many of them babies — so far this year in the Gulf of Mexico. Five more of their carcasses washed up Thursday in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
It’s likely to be months before they get back lab work showing what caused the spontaneous abortions, premature births, deaths shortly after birth, and adult deaths, said Blair Mase, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s stranding coordinator for the Gulf Coast.
Calves and fetuses made up at least 85 percent of the deaths in Alabama, 60 percent or more of those in Mississippi and Florida and 20 percent in Louisiana, according to NOAA figures.
The Mississippi and Alabama deaths were in areas where bottlenose dolphins go to calve, said Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss.
TEXAS
Saudi man charged with plotting terror attack
LUBBOCK | A college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas purchased explosive chemicals over the Internet as part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Thursday.
“After mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for jihad,” the student wrote in his journal, according to court documents.
One of the chemical companies, Carolina Biological Supply Co. of Burlington, N.C., reported suspicious purchases by Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, to the FBI on Feb. 1.
Within weeks, federal agents had traced his other online purchases; discovered extremist posts he had made on the Internet; and secretly searched his off-campus apartment, computer and e-mail accounts; and read his diary, according to court records.
Mr. Aldawsari, who was legally in the U.S. on a student visa, was expected to appear in federal court on Friday. He was charged Thursday with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Mr. Aldawsari entered the U.S. in October 2008 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study chemical engineering at Texas Tech University, then transferred earlier this year to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business.
A Saudi-based industrial company, which was not identified in court documents, was paying his tuition and living expenses in the U.S.
VIRGINIA
Man sentenced for trying to join terrorists
A college dropout and Muslim convert who threatened the creators of the “South Park” cartoon series and then tried to join an al Qaeda-linked terror group in Somalia was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison.
Zachary A. Chesser, 21, of Bristow, Va., pleaded guilty last year to supporting the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia and posting online threats against the “South Park” creators for an episode that he perceived to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
Chesser achieved notoriety on the Internet under the name Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee when he warned the creators of “South Park” that they risked death for mocking Islam. His online propaganda included urgings to leave suspicious packages in public to desensitize authorities to a real bomb threat and instructions on raising children who would grow up to be al Qaeda members.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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