http://myhopes.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/50729
Laron Lee Larrimore was arrested Friday afternoon at a motel in the 3500 block of Slauson Avenue, police said.

Larrimore is accused of driving the getaway car following the attack that claimed the life of Kaitlyn Avila and left her father, Cesar Avila, wounded, according to Deputy Chief Charles Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The suspected gunman, Jonathan Durrell Banks, remained at large and is believed to be hiding somewhere in Los Angeles, Beck said.

A $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of Banks, who was described by police as African American, 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds.

"We are actively requesting the public's help to find this vicious criminal, this vicious murderer of a child before he escapes the net of justice," Beck said during a news conference at the LAPD's downtown dispatch center.

The attack happened about 2:45 p.m. on Sept. 24.

Cesar Avila and his two daughters had just arrived at their home in the 4500 block of Pinafore Street after lunching at a McDonald's when a gunman walked up, shouted a gang slogan and opened fire, authorities said.

Kaitlyn was killed and her father was critically wounded, according to police. Kaitlyn's 6-year-old sister, Kassey, witnessed the shooting, but was not hurt.

The suspects allegedly sped away in a gray Chevrolet Pacifica.

"We're heartbroken, we're very heartbroken for the death of my daughter," Avila said, his voice breaking.

"We ask the suspect to turn himself in," he said. "Even though it won't bring my daughter back, at least we know more innocent people won't get hurt. I don't care so much for what he did to me, but for what he did to my daughter."

Beck said that detectives from the LAPD's Southwest Division "worked 24 hours a day" for the last two weeks to solve the crime, and that several witnesses came forward with critical information.

"We found several reasons for the cooperation, one being the universal tragedy of the death of a 3-year-old, and two, the callous nature in which this was instituted," Beck said. "This was not an accident."

The motive for the attack remains under investigation. Both suspects are known gang-members and may have mistaken Avila for a rival, according to Beck.

It was unclear whether the attack was racially motivated, but police held community meetings with Latino and black residents in South Los Angeles to keep tensions from rising.

"Obviously there's a racial difference between the suspects and the victims in this case, but we believe it is the monster of gang activity in South Los Angeles that is that cause of this shooting," Beck said.

"It's very hard going home," Avila said. "Walking around my house and knowing I won't see my daughter again, it's too much."

Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call police at (213) 485-2417 or (877) LAWFULL.


]]> Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:19:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/50729 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/50499







More than 40 buggies splashed along country roads behind a funeral-home car, two mounted state troopers and a carriage with the body of 12-year-old Anna Mae Stoltzfus in a hand-sawn wooden coffin.

Four other girls killed during Monday's shootings, two of them sisters, were laid to rest Thursday at the same hilltop graveyard.

All roads into Nickel Mines village were again blocked, and the funeral procession, like those Thursday, passed the home of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the 32-year-old milk truck driver who took the 10 girls, ages 6 to 13, hostage, tied them up and shot them before killing himself.

One of the surviving girls was reported to be in grave condition. The county coroner said he had been told she was being taken off life support, but her location was not known Friday. The four other girls remain hospitalized.

Funerals for Marian Fisher, 13, Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7, and sisters Mary Liz Miller, 8, and Lena Miller, 7, were held Thursday.

The families of the slain girls and the children who survived the schoolhouse siege will endure the same deep grief as would anyone outside their insular, 19th-century world, experts said.

"(Outsiders) think these people don't embrace each other, they don't cry. That's not true," said Jonas Beiler, a counselor who was raised Amish and has visited with some of the victims' families this week.

Beiler, 59, and his wife, Anne, who founded the Auntie Anne's Inc. pretzel chain, lost an 18-month-old daughter to a farm accident years ago, a tragedy he says nearly destroyed them. They now use some of their fortune to fund a counseling center in nearby Paradise.

"You never get done wondering how things might have been had this not happened, especially when children are involved," Beiler said. "Years later, it's not deep grief. But it hangs there."

Beiler's staff will make house calls in the next week to families affected by the West Nickel Mines Amish School shootings.

There were about 15 boys, ages 6 to 13, in the school. The gunman released all of them.

"They're still in shock. ... They have this glazed look in their eyes," woodworker Daniel Esh, whose three grandnephews were in the school, said earlier this week. "They'll heal, but it will affect them their whole lives."

Richard J. Gelles, a childhood violence expert and a University of Pennsylvania dean, said the importance of forgiveness in Amish culture should help survivors heal.

"Nobody has to accept that behavior. But forgiveness is a whole lot easier than seeking revenge," he said.

Many Amish have embraced the gunman's wife, Marie Roberts, and their three young children.





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]]> Sat, 07 Oct 2006 05:55:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/50499 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45487
All roads leading into the village of Nickel Mines, the site of the shooting, were blocked off so the Amish could meet quietly in three homes for the funerals.

Naomi Ebersol, 7; Marian Fisher, 13; and sisters Mary Liz Miller, 8, and Lena Miller, 7, were laid to rest.


The funeral for the fifth girl, 12-year-old Anna Mae Stoltzfus, will be Friday.

The news media were kept at a church in the village of Georgetown, away from the homes but along the route where the buggies drove to the cemetery for a short graveside service. Even airspace was restricted so that TV news helicopters could not get video from above.

The funerals were held at the families' homes and lasted about two hours. They were spread throughout the day to allow families to attend each service. The girls were dressed in white to symbolize the purity of heaven. There was no singing or eulogizing at the services.

Rita Rhoads, a friend of the victims who has been sharing information with the media, said she did not attend Thursday's services.

"I have already been there and visited more than once. I've had my chance to view the bodies. I've had my chance to grieve with the families. I feel today needs just to be the family," Rhoads said.

Rhoads said that while the families are grieving, they believe their children are in heaven.

"Even if they're crying, there's a calmness. It's not desperation. They really are just hanging onto their faith in God," said Rhoads.

Meanwhile, an official at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said three of the five schoolgirls who survived the school shooting in Lancaster County, Pa., are showing progress but have an arduous road to recovery.

An 8-year-old girl with gunshot wounds to her neck and arm was in critical condition and remained on a ventilator. Hospital vice president and Chief Operating Officer Gavin Kerr said she is making "encouraging progress."

A 12-year-old girl with arm and leg injuries is in serious condition. Kerr said she can communicate with her family and caregivers and continues to make "very positive progress."



AP Image
An Amish man drives a bench wagon, used in funerals, along Mines Road in Nickel Mines, Pa.


A 10-year-old girl who has a gunshot wound to her head was in critical condition and on life support.

Kerr said the girls' families have asked that no further information on the girls be given.

Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey, Pa., where the other two girls were being treated, also stopped releasing condition updates at the parents' request.]]> Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:19:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45487 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45485
In a hearing in Middlesex Superior Court, the defense attorney said a recent request by the prosecution to swab Entwistle's cheek for DNA indicated that the samples authorities used this spring to link him to the murder weapon were unreliable.

"They have been putting forth statements using the language of a 'DNA match,'" defense lawyer Elliot Weinstein said, alluding to court filings in which prosecutors claimed there was only a 1 in 5 trillion chance the genetic material found on a .22-caliber revolver was not Entwistle's.

A prosecutor acknowledged in court Monday that the testing was based on two secondary sources of DNA, genetic material from a water bottle in Entwistle's car and the DNA of his murdered 9-month-old daughter, Lillian.

Laboratory tests found that profile as well as the DNA of his 27-year-old wife, Rachel, on the grip of the handgun.

Story continues



Entwistle, 28, faces first-degree murder charges in the slayings. His wife and daughter were found shot to death in the couple's bed Jan. 22. Entwistle fled to England. He has told police he panicked after finding the bodies and wanted to be near his family.

As Entwistle, shackled at the hands and feet and wearing a dark-gray suit, pink shirt, and lilac tie, looked on, his lawyer cited an affidavit in which a state chemist wrote that "in order for DNA analysis to be reliable, a DNA standard sample should be taken directly from a suspect or defendant in accordance with laboratory policy guidelines."

"Everything else is unreliable," Weinstein told Judge Peter Lauriat.

Weinstein said prosecutors had violated rules of "fundamental fairness" by presenting the tests to the court — and the news media covering the proceedings — as reliable when using secondary sources for DNA testing was frowned upon.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Fabbri argued that the fact the water-bottle sample was identical to the profile extrapolated from the baby's DNA was strong enough evidence to arrest the defendant.

"It was certainly reasonable for law enforcement to rely on that standard," Fabbri said.

He said the prosecution was now seeking a cheek swab because the standard of evidence at a trial — beyond a reasonable doubt — was higher than the probable cause standard for an arrest.

"We accept that burden [of proof] and that is what we are asking to do with this testing," Fabbri said.

The judge said he would take the matter under advisement and issue a written order. Lawyers said they expected a decision in the coming days.

Entwistle's trial is scheduled for April. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.



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Family members cried and wiped away tears as prosecutors played the clip for the jury before resting their murder case against Martin Heidgen, who is charged with killing 7-year-old Katie and the limousine's driver in the July 2005 crash.

Prosecutors said Heidgen, with his blood alcohol level more than triple the legal limit, drove the wrong way down a highway and plowed into the limousine, as Stanley Rabinowitz drove the little girl and her relatives home from a wedding reception.

The clip was made on a dashboard security camera that faced the road.

"I just watched my entire existence in five seconds," said Katie's father, Neil Flynn, after the video was played. "That's the definition of my life now."

Story continues



The video, played a single time on a large screen, showed the limousine traveling south in the left lane at about 2 a.m., when headlights are seen also in the left lane in the distance.

As the two vehicles moved perilously close to each other, it appeared as though both drivers veered slightly into the center lane before the sound of crumpling metal and screeching tires can be heard. Four other members of the Flynn family were injured.

Once the prosecution rested its case, acting state Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof denied a request from defense attorney Stephen LaMagna to dismiss the charge of murder by depraved indifference.

The defense called Heidgen's mother, Margot Aponte, who told jurors about his move from Arkansas to Long Island and of his work as an insurance salesman.

Heidgen, 25, of Valley Stream, was charged with murder, DWI and other charges in an unusual move by prosecutors. Most drunken driver cases involving fatalities result in lesser charges; Heidgen faces 25 years to life if convicted of murder.

The jury may also consider a conviction of second-degree manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, which carry lesser sentences.

Authorities say Heidgen had a blood alcohol level of 0.28 at the time of the fatal crash, while the legal limit in New York state is 0.08.

]]> Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:46:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45403 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45401
Robert Fontanez Jr., 27, had faced the more serious charge of second-degree murder in the April death of Bismark Vasquez before agreeing to the plea. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, expected early next year.

According to police, Fontanez became enraged when his 5-year-old daughter told him that Vasquez had touched her inappropriately.

He went to Vasquez's home and punched him so hard that the older man went through the back door, police said. Investigators said Fontanez continued to beat Vasquez as he lay bleeding on the concrete outside. Vasquez died in a hospital three days later.

Police detective Scott Chaffin said there was no physical evidence to support the molestation allegation, though he said the child's comments to police were consistent with what she had told her mother.

Story continues



In a similar case in Fairfield, Conn., a man was charged with stabbing to death a 58-year-old neighbor in August whom he had suspected of molesting his 2-year-old daughter. Jonathon Edington, 29, is free on $1 million bond and due back in court next week. Police have said they do not know if the abuse claim against the neighbor was true.



]]> Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:46:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/45401 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44971
Francis B. Coombs Jr., the managing editor of The Washington Times, a major media ally of the Bush administration, is described by multiple newsroom sources in Blumenthal's piece as an unreconstructed "racial nationalist" and a hater of blacks and Jews.

Following Blumenthal's cover story in The Nation (posted Sept. 20 on the magazine's Web site), Coombs wrote a letter denouncing the supposed "mendacity" of the piece and categorically labeled its serious allegations as false without explanation.

The serious problem with Coombs' line of defense is that his wife, Marian Kester Coombs, confirmed his racist white supremacist worldview in her own on-the-record interview with Blumenthal.

Fran Coombs attacked Blumenthal for his story's "smear" of Marian, saying it was "beneath contempt." Yet the only reason Blumenthal described Marian Coombs' white supremacist activities in detail was because they confirmed her husband's own racist views.

Marian Coombs is a close friend of Jared Taylor, notorious white supremacist and founder of the neo-eugenicist group, American Renaissance. She admitted in her Nation interview that she attended American Renaissance conferences to meet with her old friend, Nick Griffin, leader of the neo-fascist whites-only British National Party (BNP).

Marian Coombs has written frequently for Occidental Quarterly, an openly white supremacist and anti-Semitic publication. In one article, she wrote the United States had become a "den of iniquity" because it allowed too many minority immigrants. In another piece, she criticized interracial marriage, stating: "white men should 'run, not walk' to wed 'racially conscious' white women and avoid being outbred by non-whites."

On American Renaissance's Web site, she posted this comment in 2001: "Whites do not like crowded societies, and Americans would not have to live in crowds if our government kept out Third-World invaders."

Marian Coombs is a self-proclaimed "white nationalist" and avowed racist who writes for white supremacist magazines and spends time hobnobbing with fascist leaders. Some may say, so what? The sins of the wife are not necessarily the sins of the husband. True. But when Max Blumenthal asked Marian Coombs whether her husband shared her political and racial views, she said, "Pretty much" - while insisting that Fran Coombs' personal views were not reflected in the pages of the Times.

Wrong. I know from many years' experience with this couple that this is not true. Just look at the paper's slant on immigration coverage over the past several years. But why would the owners of The Washington Times want a white supremacist and neo-eugenicist as its No. 2 editor, let alone possible successor to outgoing Editor-in-Chief Wesley Pruden?

Fran Coombs attacked Blumenthal for my on-the-record disclosures and for using some Times reporters and lower-level editors who spoke for his Nation piece on condition of anonymity. But his own wife confirmed publicly, on tape and on the record, that Fran Coombs is a racist and white supremacist.

In conversations with Times senior reporters, editors, and corporate executives over the past several months, I was told that a report about the management and ideology of Fran Coombs was compiled and submitted in June 2006 to Dong Moon Joo, South Korean president of The Washington Times Corp. (who has anglicized his name to Douglas M. Joo).

The report documented Fran Coombs' extensive racist comments and abusive, unpopular management style. Several Times employees who attended a party at a Times editor's home in spring 2003 were told by Coombs that, "I would never want to be born black. This would mean that I would be born genetically 15 to 20 IQ points lower than a white person."

At the party, Coombs repeatedly said he was "unequivocally for abortion ... since abortion disproportionately impacts blacks and minorities, it helps to keep the black and minority population down in this country."

I personally heard Coombs express such racist comments to me and others over the years when I was a senior national reporter at The Times. Coombs claimed that he never said such things. Yet Blumenthal reported that such statements attributed to Coombs were confirmed to him by at least three other Times sources - all who said they personally heard Coombs laud abortion as a means to stem the tide of black, brown, and Asian babies.

Coombs also claimed that I, a former veteran reporter nominated on four occasions by The Times for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism, was "virtually the only named source" in Blumenthal's piece. This is false. Marlene Johnson, former Times arts section editor was quoted as saying "what a racist Fran [Coombs] is."

Johnson recounted how she was given an order from Wesley Pruden, delivered to her by Coombs, to stop doing "so many black stories." She also recounted how Coombs had protected and promoted Assistant National Editor Robert Stacy McCain, even though he is an "avowed segregationist."

But in Coombs' eyes, Marlene Johnson probably doesn't count as a genuine named source as she is an African-American.

Yet if Coombs was interested in more named sources willing to testify to his virulent neo-Confederate racism and abusive and unpopular management style, he should read a letter sent to The Nation by former Times assistant book section editor, Amanda Kolson Hurley, in response to Blumenthal's piece and posted on his blog site:

"As a former (albeit short-lived) staffer at the Washington Times, I was eager to read Max Blumenthal's expose," Hurley wrote. "What I found was largely a rehash of revelations about Fran Coombs' hateful, but well-known, views on race, along with a fair summary of the struggle for the Times' soul. What's missing is a larger indictment of a newsroom culture that quashes real journalistic talent for the sake of an extremist ideology."

Hurley added: "Readers may get the impression that editors like Coombs and Stacy McCain have handpicked a staff of right-wing crazies to support their agenda -- but that's simply not the case. Coombs and especially McCain, a virulent misogynist, are reviled by most Times staffers, who would like nothing more than to turn the crass propaganda sheet into a respectable newspaper.

"One detail did give me a jolt: Blumenthal wrote that on August 22, Coombs devoted page 1 to a positive review of Pat Buchanan's anti-immigrant screed. How typical. In my brief tenure at the Times' Sunday books section, I remember being pre-empted again and again by McCain (presumably with Coombs' all-clear) placing fawning 'news' stories about right-wing books in the main section, despite the fact that said books had already been assigned to experts for objective review."

So there was myself, Marlene Johnson, Amanda Hurley and 10 other current and former reporters and editors who all said the same thing: Fran Coombs is governed by deeply racist views and is a highly unpopular managing editor, who has stifled the energies and skills of the Times newsroom.

For me, it was necessary to go on the record in gratitude for devoted service to The Times by so many wonderful reporters, writers, editors, photographers, and support staff - my colleagues over almost a quarter century. The two senior editors under fire who have disparaged me with character assassination have it completely wrong. It is emblematic of the Christian faith always to uphold truth, and for believers even to take on the role of prophet against powerful opposition to tell the truth, not for personal material gain, but simply to uphold truth and the faith.

I was surprised to find out how many Times staffers were willing to talk to Blumenthal about the rampant racism and abusive management of Pruden and Coombs, the paper's top two editors, who are legendary for their spiteful vindictiveness and ruthlessness. It took a lot of courage for Times people to speak out.

In fact, nothing illustrated this better than the joint reaction of Pruden and Coombs to The Nation piece. Instead of honestly confronting the very serious and credible allegations against them, they were bent on savaging the reputations and careers of people who spoke to Blumenthal, or they believed spoke to him -- with yours truly designated as public enemy No. 1.

For example, Coombs maliciously asserted that I was a "disgruntled employee" who had become detached from "reality" and claimed that I had "resigned under pressure from The Times in August 2005," after which he claimed I had "engaged in an increasingly vicious and fictitious cyber-campaign against The Washington Times and me in particular."

This is false. As Coombs well knows, I retired in September 2005, not under pressure from the Times, but because I had another challenge offered to me in Arizona. I had built up a considerable retirement nest egg which enabled me to begin writing my memoir of my 20-plus years at the Times, entitled "Journalism is War."

I also had an ailing mother dying of lung cancer to take care of. The notion that I somehow left the paper "under pressure" is complete fiction invented by Coombs in his attempt to manufacture a false impression that I had some kind of ulterior motive for speaking out against the racist ideology and abusive management of Coombs and Pruden.

I was able to speak truthfully when Blumenthal first called last spring while reporting for his Nation article because I am financially secure and no longer dependent on a paycheck from the Times. Even if Coombs and Pruden had asked me to return to my old job atmy previous salary, with just a handshake and no contract as before, I would have turned down their offer in a heartbeat. Why would I want to return to their distasteful bigotry and iron editorial grip?

Moreover, if I supposedly left under pressure, why did Coombs lavish praise upon me at a going-away luncheon on Sept. 2, 2005, attended by Virginia's retired Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., leading D.C.-area politicos, policy leaders, and journalists?

Coombs said in response to The Nation and FishbowlDC.com pieces that I was somehow detached from "reality." But why did Times senior editors over the years, including Coombs and Pruden, nominate me four times for the Pulitzer Prize? Why did Coombs and Kenneth Hanner, his dutiful successor as national editor, consistently write laudatory annual reviews of me during my 21-year tenure at the paper?

Coombs has unfairly smeared my character, questioned my mental stability, and now has lashed out at others who he believes spoke to Blumenthal. Many sources at the paper tell me there are growing concerns that Coombs, Pruden and Washington Times Corp. president Joo are preparing to retaliate against those whom they believe spoke. I assure them, however, that I shall keep a vigilant eye on the next series of events at the Times in order to help protect former colleagues who have been sources in this unfolding story.

If Coombs, Pruden and Joo are really serious about trying to restore the credibility of the Times, why don't they issue a legal document that offers protection from being fired to any employee who wishes to reveal his identity? And why don't the paper's owners come forward to ensure that no employee is bullied and intimidated?

Surely the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the paper's founder, cares about the people who work for The Times? Why has he or his son, Preston Moon, CEO of parent company News World Communications who has a Harvard MBA, not made a statement ensuring they willaddress the situation? Why have they not come forward at all? Is their silence a clear sign that they do not wish to defend senior editors whom their own internal reports confirm are guilty of racist ideology and abusive management?

There is even more evidence to confirm the veracity of Blumenthal's story. Sources at the paper told me that once Joo was informed The Nation piece would appear, he immediately hired a law firm, Covington Burling, to defend himself, Pruden, and Coombs. But once Covington Burling's attorneys conducted their initial internal investigation, they were so appalled and outraged that they refused to defend the Times and be linked with the editors' racist ideology. Imagine: Even lawyers who defend almost anyone could not stomach the atmosphere at the Times. And my sources confirmed that Joo was absolutely livid when rebuffed by the law firm.

The behavior of Coombs and Pruden has deteriorated further since The Nation piece emerged. Newsroom sources told me that Coombs and Pruden circulated an internal e-mail to reporters and editors mocking me as a deranged alcoholic. My sources said Coombs vowed to "take a baseball bat to Archibald's head." The sources said their stance has the full knowledge and support of Joo.

"Joo, Pruden and Coombs are like cornered animals right now," said a senior official at the paper. "They know they've been exposed; they know they are despised by most of the newsroom and corporate management. But they refuse to let go of power and are willing to do absolutely anything to hang on."

However, I believe they are living on borrowed time. The question remains: How long must The Washington Times continue to bleed in its public reputation and media credibility before Coombs and Pruden are replaced by a new regime of editors who will take the paper back to sensible, complete, and honest daily coverage of the news?

Only the owners know the answer, and whether they have the sense in the face of published facts to clean house sooner rather than later.

- George Archibald was the first reporter hired in early 1982 by founders of The Washington Times in the newspaper's pre-publication days. He went on to win four Pulitzer Prize nominations from Times editors and awards from national and state newspaper associations as a national investigative reporter for the paper over two decades. His forthcoming book, "Journalism is War: Power Politics, Sexual Dalliance, and Corruption in the Nation's Capital," tells stories behind the breaking of his big-hit stories over a quarter century and is set to come out early next year.

Send to a friendPrint PostPost a CommentHuffingtonPost.com Home]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2006 15:42:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44971 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44717
Four years later, Widman told police that on March 9, 1982, he slapped Nicole when he became angry after she bit his toe, according to the police criminal complaint. He said she fell backward and struck her head, police said.

Widman told the mother what happened and they put her to bed, according to police. They later realized she was dead and put her body in a plastic bag, and Widman buried it in a wooded area, police said.

In 1987, then-Allegheny County District Attorney Bob Colville said charges were dropped because prosecutors couldn't prove a crime occurred. Investigators have been unable to find any independent evidence to support Widman's confession, he said.

State law required corroborating evidence, even when there was a confession, to guard against the prosecution of a mentally ill person making a false confession, Colville had said.

At the time, Widman was imprisoned for burglary and receiving stolen property.

It was not immediately clear if Widman has an attorney.

W. Christopher Conrad, who had been head of the county's homicide unit at the time, said Wednesday he believed Widman wanted to ease his conscience and bargain the case by implicating the mother. But she refused to admit culpability and Widman refused to testify against her.

She was charged with hindering apprehension and giving false reports, but the charges were withdrawn in 1987, police said. She died in 2001.

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A team from the Oregon Health and Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital plan to treat six children suffering from the inherited neurodegenerative condition, Batten’s disease – also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL). There is currently no alternative treatment for the disease.

The team expect to treat the first child before the end of 2006. The children will receive injections of neural stem cells that have been purified – isolated from other cell types – and grown from donated human fetal tissue. The stem cell product and isolation technique was developed by StemCells Inc, of Palo Alto, California, which is sponsoring the trial.

Children with Batten’s disease suffer seizures, motor control disturbances, blindness and communication problems. As many as 600 children in the US are currently diagnosed with the condition – death can occur in children as young as 8 years old.

The children lack an enzyme for breaking down complex fat and protein compounds in the brain, explains Robert Steiner, vice chair of paediatric research at the hospital. The material accumulates and interferes with tissue function, ultimately causing brain cells to die.

Neuron support
Previous tests on animals demonstrated that stem cells injected into the brain secreted the missing enzyme. And the stem cells were found to survive well in the rodent brain.

Once injected, the purified neural cells may develop into neurons or other nervous system tissue, including oligodendrocytes, or glial cells, which support the neurons, say the researchers. Steiner is hopeful that the treatment will work for the 25 or so other hereditary brain diseases related to Batten’s disease.

In addition to secreting enzymes, Steiner says these cells can become the type of nerve cells found in spinal cord, and so they could potentially help after spinal cord injury. The stem cells can form into neural cells found in the brain or nerve cells found elsewhere in the central nervous system, he explains.

However, Stephen Minger, director of the stem cell biology laboratory at Kings’ College London, believes that despite Steiner’s claims about the versatility of the new purified cells, their use is limited to Batten’s disease. “The cells in question have little clinical relevance to other neurological disorders,” he says.

"Groundbreaking process"
The researchers hope that the treatment will offer some clinical benefit to the children suffering from Batten's disease, but they stress that the primary purpose of the trial is to assess the safety of the product. It is the first such safety trial to be approved by the FDA.

“This is a very important first step – a groundbreaking process to bring this technology to patients,” says Nathan Selden, head of the Division of Paediatric Neurological Surgery at the hospital, who will perform the transplants.

Human fetal stem cell transplants have been performed before on adult patients with neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, and also for spinal cord injury. But these used mixtures of various, unpurified fetal stem cells. Results have been mixed.

The researchers plan to follow the children’s progress over the course of a year.

]]> Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:23:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44631 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44627
According to court documents obtained by NBC 5, the girl was the victim of a sexual assault by a relative of the family that adopted her.


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Back in 2001, the girl's story shocked North Texans. At 8 years old, she weighed just 25 pounds when she was rescued from her birth parents' home.

Police rescued the girl and arrested her parents.

A family in rural Van Zandt County, who had cared for the girl when she was a baby, adopted her and hoped to give her a better life.

Now 13 years old, the same girl has been victimized again.

Jesse Lee Bass, the husband of the adoptive mother's niece, pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting the girl last year. Bass was sentenced to 13 years behind bars in connection with the girl's assault. Bass and his wife have also been charged with possession of child pornography.

"Of course most of the time, we don't see repeat victims. We see repeat offenders," said Pat Burnett, Van Zandt County Sheriff.

The Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office investigated the sexual assault after the girl reported the incident to her counselor.

The girl is once again living near Canton with her adoptive mother.]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:42:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44627 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44625
Ronald Whigman was fatally injured at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Stoneridge apartment complex at 3750 Willow Pass Road, according to police and the Contra Costa County coroner's office.

The incident began when Ronald's mother began arguing with her brother, Michael Newton, 28, outside her apartment, said a resident of the complex who witnessed the incident but declined to be named.

The resident said she didn't know what the siblings were arguing about. The two began hitting each other, the witness said. During the altercation, two of their friends tried to break up the fight, she said. As that was going on, Ronald came out of the apartment.

"The baby got entangled in the middle of it, and we all jumped up and started screaming, "The baby! The baby!" the witness said Monday.

Police arrested Newton on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, willful cruelty to a child and inflicting injury on a child. Newton was being held at Contra Costa County jail in Martinez in lieu of $185,000 bail.

The Chronicle is not naming Ronald's mother because she hasn't been arrested pending an ongoing investigation.

"The whole apartment complex is just devastated," the witness said. "Most of the people here couldn't go to work today."
]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:41:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44625 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44519
Preliminary autopsies on the children appeared to show they were drowned, said Ace Hart, a deputy St. Clair County coroner.

As of Sunday, Tiffany Hall, 24, had not been charged in the children's deaths, but prosecutors on Saturday accused Hall of killing their mother, Jimella Tunstall, 23, and her fetus. The fetus had been cut from her womb, authorities said.

Police have not said what the motive was.

Hall remained jailed Sunday on $5 million bond, charged with first-degree murder in Tunstall's death and with intentional homicide of an unborn child.

Story continues



She likely will be arraigned Monday on the two charges, each carrying a penalty of 20 to 60 years or life in prison, prosecutors said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.

According to the autopsies, there were no signs of physical abuse or trauma on the children -- ages 7, 2, and 1 -- and toxicology tests were pending "to see if they were poisoned or possibly drugged," Hart said.

The community turned to prayer Sunday to understand the slayings at a service for the family.

"This is an opportunity for people to turn to God," said Debra Kenton, a member of the New Life Community Church. "Who else can explain things like this?"

In the days after authorities say she killed Tunstall and her fetus, Hall went about everyday life, chatting with her daughter's elementary school teacher and helping her daughter with homework, Hall's mother, Beverly Cruise, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Monday's editions.

Authorities suspect Tunstall was slain on or about Sept. 15.

That day, Hall summoned police to a park, saying she had given birth to a stillborn child, Hart said. She was arrested after she told her boyfriend during the baby's funeral that the baby wasn't his and that she had killed the mother to get it, authorities said.

Tunstall's body was found Thursday, and authorities began a furious search for her children. Police said the children were last seen with Hall on Monday.

Authorities had visited Tunstall's apartment Friday but noticed nothing amiss while looking for photographs of the children for media outlets to publicize in their search, Hart said.

While in custody, Hart says, Hall told investigators she killed the children and hid them in the washer and dryer.

Hart said he understood why investigators may have overlooked the children during their previous trip to the apartment. "Who would be looking in the washer and dryer?"

By Saturday night, Hart said, "you could find them by the smell."

The oldest, 7-year-old DeMond Tunstall, was found in the dryer and the younger two children -- 2-year-old Ivan Tunstall-Collins and 1-year-old Jinela Tunstall -- in the washer. Two of the children were found nude, the third wearing only underpants, Hart said.

Mourners left stuffed animals outside Tunstall's apartment, its door crisscrossed with white evidence tape. There was a white teddy bear, and a stuffed race car with DeMond's name.

An autopsy showed that Jimella Tunstall bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, Hart has said. Authorities believe her womb was cut open after she was knocked unconscious.

Relatives say Tunstall grew up with Hall and had let her baby-sit her children. Hall has two children of her own. Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler said they are "safe and sound."

DNA tests should determine definitively whether the baby was the one Tunstall was carrying, Hart said.

Funerals for Tunstall and her children were scheduled for Friday.
]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:08:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44519 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44517
Cashae Rivers died Sunday morning after being struck in the chest while riding in a vehicle driven by her mother.

"All this attention, I really don't want. I just want to find out who did this to my child," the 22-year-old mother, Alisha Corley, said Monday morning as anti-violence activists rallied outside a relative's home.

Many different shell casings were found near the site and at a location two blocks away in the city's Strawberry Mansion section. That, along with statements from residents, led detectives to theorize that the car may have been caught in a shootout between people in other vehicles.

No arrests had been made as of Monday morning.

Story continues



Three other people were in the car, including Cashae's 1-year-old brother.

Corley agreed to go to Harrisburg, the state capital, on Tuesday to help the NAACP lobby for stricter gun-control laws.

"I'm tired of being in places like this," said J. Whyatt Mondesire, local chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The group is raising money to pay for Cashae's funeral and to offer a reward for information about her killer.

Residents said the violence carried over from a fight that erupted earlier in the weekend.

"But it's been going on a lot longer than that," said Kevin Gooden, 36, a plumber who lives nearby. "There are people here who know what happened, and they need to step up, speak out and help stop this killing."

]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:07:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44517 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44513
Images

After a preliminary hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Ronald Rose rejected defense attorney Mark Geragos' request to dismiss the case against Holly Ashcraft.


The commissioner said the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence that the baby was born alive, apparently outside of a hospital, with a fire station less than a half-mile away.

The woman -- who is free on $200,000 bond -- will be subject to electronic monitoring, but the commissioner said Ashcraft can have two hours of free time a day.

Ashcraft, who is from Billings, Mont., is due back in court for arraignment Oct. 10.

In testimony Monday, Dr. David Whiteman with the coroner's office said the death of the baby known as John Doe No. 171 was classified as a homicide and caused by "peripartum demise" -- near the time of birth -- due to prematurity and other factors.

The deputy medical examiner testified that he concluded that the baby had been born alive at about 32 weeks gestation.

"I do believe that the child lived for a period of time," he said.

An autopsy report determined that the baby's death was due to "caretaker neglect," according to Whiteman, who said intentional asphyxia could not be ruled out.

Ashcraft's attorney told reporters outside the courtroom that there will be a "huge issue" over whether the baby was born alive or stillborn.

"I don't think there's any evidence the baby was born alive," Geragos said.

The defense attorney -- who had argued that the case was one of involuntary manslaughter at best -- said he will ask a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to dismiss the murder charge before the case gets to trial.

As for his client's status as a third-year architecture student at USC, the lawyer said Ashcraft is in a "state of limbo" pending the criminal proceedings against her.

Ashcraft was first investigated by police in April 2004, when she arrived bleeding at a downtown hospital and doctors determined she had given birth.

She claimed she had given birth to a stillborn, but the baby's body was never found and she was never arrested or charged in connection with that infant.

Ashcraft was advised at that time by an LAPD detective that it was a crime to dispose of a baby in the trash and told about the state's Safe Haven law, which allows newborns to be dropped off at a hospital or fire department without fear of prosecution, another detective testified.

Last October, officers found the newborn boy's body behind The Two Nine at 2827 S. Hoover St. last October, after they were alerted by a homeless man, who called 911 and said he had discovered the baby. The bar-restaurant, which was closed at the time, is a popular hangout for USC students.

The body was inside a white box, along with some paper trash, according to police.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Ashcraft faces 25 years to life in prison.
Copyright 2006 by NBC4.tv. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights
]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 03:44:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44513 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44511
That information has helped investigators tracing the source of the tainted greens narrow their search at nine farms in three California counties, said Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.

The tainted bags, which were found in Utah over the weekend and in New Mexico last week, were processed at the San Juan Bautista plant of Natural Selection Foods LLC during the same shift on Aug. 15, according to Reilly.

Reilly said it was too soon to say whether any other brands besides Dole would turn out to have been contaminated. Inspectors are focusing exclusively on Natural Selection at this point, he added.

"We are looking very aggressively at what was produced on that date," Reilly said. "Much of the feedback we got from patients right now was related to Dole packaging."

Calls to Dole's headquarters in Westlake Village were not immediately returned Monday.

Ninety-three people who were sickened by eating spinach were hospitalized, including a 77-year-old Wisconsin woman who died, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

More than two dozen suspected cases that have yet to be confirmed, said Howard Backer, California's acting public health officer, who added does not expect to see many new E. coli cases reported.

Meanwhile, two companies in the Pacific Northwest voluntarily recalled some of their products over the weekend because they may contain spinach supplied by Natural Selection Foods.

Seattle-based Triple B Corp. recalled salad products distributed to retail stores and delis in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana that had "use by" dates of Aug. 22 through Sept. 20.

Pacific Coast Fruit Company, based in Portland, Ore., recalled salad and pizza that may have been made with spinach supplied by Natural Selections Foods. The products were distributed in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The 25 states that have reported E. coli infections since the spinach-linked outbreak was identified last month are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 03:43:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44511 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44391
Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf by the judge. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.

Underwood is accused of smothering Jamie Rose Bolin, his upstairs neighbor in an apartment complex in Purcell, a suburb 40 miles south of Oklahoma City.

The girl was struck in the head, her neck was cut to the bone from ear-to-ear and she was sexually assaulted, according to an autopsy report.

She was reported missing April 12 after failing to return home from a trip to the library. Her nude body was found inside a plastic tub in Underwood's bedroom closet two days later after Underwood raised the suspicions of officers at a police checkpoint and let them search his apartment.

Story continues



Underwood reportedly confessed that he killed the girl, telling FBI agents: "Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up," according to a police affidavit.

After his arrest, police and prosecutors revealed grisly details of the crime, saying Underwood raped the girl's corpse and planned to eat her flesh.

A judge later granted Underwood's defense attorney's request for a gag order that prohibits attorneys and law enforcement from discussing the case publicly.


]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:13:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44391 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44389
An estimated report from the UNICEF states that nearly 29,000 children die every day. Don’t be surprised to know that majority of the children, which is almost close to 94%, embraces death in 60 of the poorest countries across the world.

Many factors attribute to such a huge number deaths in those nations. It is the unavailability of hospitals and good doctors and mainly because they can’t access any facilities like medicines, proper medical care and hygiene, which leads to untimely deaths.

One pertinent point that needs to be highlighted is the deadly attacks of HIV/AIDS and armed conflicts, which have increased the child mortality ratio
]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:12:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44389 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44387
Despite the fact that every year the GCSE and the A-Level results are getting better than ever, the truth remains that the children today cannot provide an accurate answer to the questions that their predecessor 30-years ago could have easily solved.

A study was conducted, taking into account nearly 25,000 children, both in the government schools as well as in the private schools. According to the data collected by Philip Adey, from London’s King College, this is a rather shocking reality, which has come to surface.

These unbelievable results have put a question mark on the examination procedure and the educational system of the schools and have raised debatable discussion among the experts.
]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:11:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44387 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44385
In an effort to spread a peace message to the nation, nearly 500 children took part in the ‘group mural painting event‘, which was organized by the Bikalpa Gyan Tatha Bikas Kendra.

While one kid made paintings on a ‘Crying Buddha‘ others on a ‘Bleeding Mountain‘…this depicts clearly, what these poor kids are going through from the last ten years.

]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:10:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44385 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44383
All of a sudden, the targets of the Islamic militant groups have shifted from Iraqi women and armed forces to the gay men and underage children who are employed in the same-sex business.

The powers of Shia militias are growing forcibly and since then the brutal murder of the innocent children are increasing too.

Any children who are held by the criminal gangs for sexual pleasures are the new category of hit-listed targets for the militants. The situation is becoming so scary that large numbers of homosexual kids are appealing for shelter at the asylums based in UK.

Even the government has failed to protect its citizen because the law of Iraq itself states that under section 111 of the Penal Code, anyone who is found violating the rules of Islam will be severely punished.
]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:07:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44383 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44381 (CBS) BALDWIN HILLS, Calif. A 3-year-old girl was killed and her father was critically wounded Sunday in a shooting in Baldwin Hills.

The two were shot just before 3 p.m. in the 4500 block of Pinafore Street, said Sgt. Paul Lawson of the LAPD's Southwest division.

Two males walked up to the victims' vehicle and started shooting.

The girl was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said LAPD Officer Mike Lopez.

The father, 25, was taken to UCLA Medical Center in critical condition, he said.

No arrests were made, Lawson said

]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 04:07:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44381 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44353 Search For Missing Children Of Dead Pregnant Mom Ends Tragically
(AP) EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. Authorities on Sunday were trying to pinpoint the cause of death for three children an investigator says were found decomposing inside the washer and dryer of their apartment, hours after a woman was accused of killing their pregnant mother and her fetus.

Saturday night's discovery inside apartment 28J at the John DeShields public housing complex came two days after the mother of the children — ages 7, 2 and 1 — was found in a weedy lot, her abdomen torn open and the fetus missing.

Investigators carried out a furious two-day search, including scouring an 1,100-acre state park, for the children they said were last seen Monday with 24-year-old Tiffany Hall, a family friend prosecutors charged Saturday afternoon with killing Jimella Tunstall and her fetus.

Hours later, Hall pointed authorities to Tunstall's apartment that investigators had briefly visited earlier in search of photographs of the children for media outlets to publicize as the search pressed on, said Ace Hart, a deputy St. Clair County coroner.

Hall "fessed up where the kids were. She didn't say she killed them," Hart said Sunday, saying he understood why investigators may have overlooked the children during their previous trip to the apartment. "Who would be looking in the washer and dryer?"

But by Saturday night, Hart said, "you could find them by the smell."

Two of the children were nude, the third wearing only underpants, Hart said. The oldest, 7-year-old DeMond Tunstall, was found in the dryer, the younger two children — 2-year-old Ivan Tunstall-Collins and 1-year-old Jinela Tunstall — in the washer.

Hall remained jailed Sunday in nearby Belleville on $5 million bond, charged with first-degree murder in Tunstall's death and with intentional homicide of an unborn child.

Autopsies on the children were scheduled for Sunday, Hart said.

Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler declined to say late Saturday whether Hall was suspected in the children's deaths. The cause of their deaths had not been determined, he said.

"Any time you have three deceased children, it's a very emotional time," Koehler said, fighting back tears. "All these investigators have worked tirelessly with one outcome in mind — to find these children alive."

An autopsy showed that Jimella Tunstall, 23, whose body was found Thursday, bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, Hart has said. Authorities believe her womb was cut open after she was knocked unconscious.

Relatives say Tunstall grew up with Hall and had let her baby-sit her children.

Officials suspect Tunstall, who was seven months pregnant, was slain on or about Sept. 15, said Robert Haida, St. Clair County's prosecutor. The same day, Hall summoned police to a park, saying she had given birth to a stillborn child, Hart said.

Hall and the baby were taken to a hospital, where she would not let doctors examine her and offered conflicting reasons for why she went into labor, alternately saying she had consensual sex and was raped, Hart said. The dead baby showed no signs of trauma, and an autopsy the next day failed to pinpoint a cause of death, Hart said.

Authorities say Hall acknowledged to her boyfriend during the baby's funeral Thursday that the child wasn't his, and that she had killed the mother to get it. The boyfriend, reportedly a sailor home on leave, told police, who arrested his girlfriend hours later, investigators said.

Hall has two children of her own. Koehler said they are "safe and sound."

Hall likely will be arraigned Monday on the two charges, each carrying a 20 to 60 years or life in prison, Haida said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.

DNA tests should determine definitively whether the baby was the one Tunstall was carrying, Hart said
]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2006 15:22:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44353 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44309 POSTED: 1:24 pm PDT September 23, 2006
UPDATED: 9:48 pm PDT September 23, 2006

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EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- Three young children were found dead Saturday, hours after a woman was charged with killing their pregnant mother and her fetus in a grisly attack in which authorities believe her womb was cut open after she was knocked unconscious.

The two boys, ages 7 and 2, and their 1-year-old sister were found together in an apartment in the East St. Louis public housing complex where their mother lived, Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler said.

The kids were last seen Monday with family friend Tiffany Hall, 24, now charged with first-degree murder in the death of their mother, who is believed to have been slain days before her children disappeared. Hall is also charged with intentional homicide of an unborn child, prosecutor Robert Haida said.


Koehler declined to say whether Hall was suspected in the children's deaths. The cause of their deaths had not been determined and autopsies would be performed Sunday, he said.

The bodies of DeMond Tunstall, 7, Ivan Tunstall-Collins, 2, and Jinela Tunstall, 1, were found in an apartment at the John DeShields public housing complex.

Authorities said a lead directed them to check the apartment, which had not been searched previously. They declined to release more information.

"Anytime you have three deceased children, it's a very emotional time," Koehler said late Saturday as he fought back tears. "All these investigators have worked tirelessly with one outcome in mind - to find these children alive."

The body of their mother, Jimella Tunstall, 23, was found Thursday in a weedy East St. Louis lot.

An autopsy showed Tunstall, who was seven months pregnant, bled to death after sustaining an abdominal wound caused by a sharp object, believed to be scissors, said Ace Hart, a deputy St. Clair County coroner. He called the slaying "very graphic and very brutal."

Relatives say Tunstall grew up with Hall and had let her baby-sit her children.

"She said (Hall) was looking out for her," Tunstall's brother, Ernest Myers, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Family members told the paper Tunstall had lost custody of her children at one point but was trying to get her life back on track. "She had a heart of gold," Myers said.

Officials suspect Tunstall was slain on or about Sept. 15, Haida said. The same day, Hall summoned police to a park, saying she had given birth to a stillborn child, Hart said.

Hall and the fetus were taken to a hospital, where she would not let doctors examine her and offered conflicting reasons for why she went into labor, alternately saying she had consensual sex and was raped, Hart said. The dead baby showed no signs of trauma, and an autopsy the next day failed to pinpoint a cause of death, Hart said.

Hall has two children of her own. Koehler said they are "safe and sound."

Authorities say Hall acknowledged to her boyfriend during the baby's funeral Thursday that the child wasn't his, and that she had killed the mother to get it. The boyfriend, reportedly a sailor home on leave, told police, who arrested his girlfriend hours later, investigators said.

Hall, jailed on $5 million bond, will likely be arraigned Monday on the two charges, each carrying a 20 to 60 years or life in prison, Haida said. The murder count could be punishable by the death penalty.

DNA tests should determine definitively whether the baby was the one Tunstall was carrying, Hart said.

The baby was buried Thursday as Taylor Horn after a funeral arranged by L. King Funeral Chapel, whose president said Hall called minutes after the service was to start, asking if she could reschedule for a different day so more relatives could attend. At the time, Levi King said, only two relatives were there.

The woman showed up two hours late, ultimately signing an affidavit for the funeral home stating that the child was hers, King said.

The East St. Louis case is the second recent case in the area involving babies.

Shannon Torrez, 36, of Lonedell, Mo. - south of St. Louis, about an hour's drive from here - is accused of slashing a young mother's throat and kidnapping her baby on Sept. 15. The baby was returned unharmed Tuesday, the same day Torrez was arrested.

Also in Missouri, Lisa Montgomery is to stand trial April 30 on charges of snatching a baby from the womb of Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her Skidmore, Mo., home in 2004. The baby survived.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be publishe
]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:44:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44309 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44307 (AP) BATON ROUGE, La. A man repeatedly stabbed his toddler and estranged wife along an interstate while horrified people watched from their cars in rush-hour traffic Friday night, police and witnesses said.

The 2-year-old girl was in a car with her parents when her father started stabbing his wife with a kitchen knife along Interstate 110 near the Governor's Mansion, said Cpl. L'Jean McKneely, a Baton Rouge Police spokesman.

When the 26-year-old woman got out and ran for help from an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy in squad car just ahead of them, her husband stabbed his daughter, McKneely said.

"He kept stabbing her until the knife was stuck in her head," witness Gloria Spears told WAFB-TV.

The man then put the girl on the highway and drove off, side-swiping the deputy's car and striking his wife, police said. He sped into downtown Baton Rouge and knocked down at least three utility poles before his car hurtled through the air and overturned on top of another vehicle.

All three were taken to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center. The child was in "extremely critical" condition, with a cut "along her midsection and a kitchen knife lodged in her head," McKneely said.

Her mother, who was thrown 20 to 40 feet by the impact of the car, also had numerous stab wounds, he said. She was expected to live. The man was being treated for minor injuries, McKneely said.

He said police will not release the man's name until he is released from the hospital and booked into jail; the woman's and child's names were withheld because they are victims, he said.

McKneely said the couple, who was not identified, has been married for about six years but were currently living apart. It was not immediately clear what led to the stabbings.
]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:41:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44307 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333 http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44177 (CBS) LOS ANGELES First spinach and now tainted milk has infected people with E. coli bacteria, prompting a recall of some milk products, health officials said Friday.

Those infected got sick after drinking unpasteurized milk produced by Organic Pastures, a Fresno County dairy, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

An 8-year-old San Diego County girl, a Riverside County boy, 7, and a 10-year-old girl in San Bernardino County got sick after drinking the contaminated milk.

The state has ordered all Organic Pastures whole and skim raw milk to be pulled immediately from stores and consumers were encouraged to throw away any of the milk in their refrigerators. The recall order also affects raw cream and raw colostrum made by the dairy.

Organic Pastures has been prohibited from producing raw milk for the retail market until further notice, officials said.

The E. coli outbreak was limited to raw, or unpasteurized milk, county health officials said. Most milk consumed in California is pasteurized, which reduces the risk of getting a bacterial illness.

Symptoms of an E. coli infection include abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea, according to the HHSA. There is usually little or no fever, and the illness typically goes away in five to 10 days.

A small percentage of those infected with the bacteria may also develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition in which red blood cells are destroyed and kidney failure may occur, officials said.

Those most at risk for serious complications of the food-borne illness include young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

Recently, more than 100 people got sick -- and one person died -- of E. coli infections they caught from bags of fresh spinach, which have also been recalled.

People are being urged not to eat fresh spinach until further notice
]]> Sat, 23 Sep 2006 00:50:00 EDT http://myhopes.tigblog.org/post/44177 33.7669444 -118.188333333.7669444-118.1883333