LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He would be here just saying ‘I was doing my job up there.’”
Richard Etchberger,
son of Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. “Dick” Etchberger, who was posthumously honored with a Medal of Honor for saving three Air Force comrades in a Vietnam War attack in Laos Article, this pageBP’s rig workers fund sees few takers
NEW ORLEANS - Fewer people than expected have applied for money from a $100 million fund BP PLC set up to help deep-water rig workers after a federal moratorium on drilling prompted by the oil spill.
With nine days left to apply, a spokesman for the charity running the program told The Associated Press on Tuesday that only 356 people have come forward. As many as 9,000 people had been expected to seek grants of $3,000 to $30,000.
The charity said many rig workers are being kept on the job by their employers despite the moratorium.
Grants were expected to be limited to those who worked on the 33 rigs affected by the moratorium. But with so much money apparently left over, the charity plans to offer a second round of grants - this time to workers who support the deep-water rigs, such as people on supply boats and pilots who provide helicopter transportation to rigs.
Plea guilty in N.J. schoolyard killings
NEWARK, N.J. - A suspect in the execution-style killings of three college students in a New Jersey schoolyard in 2007 pleaded guilty Tuesday, days before his trial was set to begin.
Melvin Jovel, 21, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and weapons charges in the Newark attacks. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 4.
Prosecutors said Jovel and five other young men lined up Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel against a schoolyard wall and shot each of them in the back of the head.
A fourth victim, who survived, testified at the first trial in the case that she was sexually assaulted, slashed with a machete and shot in the head. She is not being identified by The Associated Press because of the sexual-assault charge.
Earlier this year, a jury convicted Rodolfo Godinez, a legal immigrant from Nicaragua, and sentenced him to three consecutive life sentences for the killings.
The other four defendants are in jail awaiting trial.
Killing by Army retiree investigated
FORT BLISS, Texas - The FBI is investigating why a retired Army sergeant walked into a Fort Bliss convenience store and shot two employees, one fatally, before he was gunned down by responding officers, the agency said Tuesday.
It was unclear whether Steven Kropf, 63, of El Paso had any relationship with either victim, the FBI said in a statement. The agency described the Monday shooting at the west Texas Army post as an isolated incident and said it was investigating a possible motive.
FBI officials did not return calls to The Associated Press.
Authorities believe that Kropf walked into the store about 3 p.m. and shot Bettina Maria Goins, 44, who was pronounced dead at the military hospital, and another woman, who remained hospitalized Tuesday, the FBI said in its statement. Both women were civilian employees of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, which runs merchandise operations for the military, including fast-food restaurants and convenience stores.
Fire displaces Utahans for third night
HERRIMAN, Utah - Police in Utah told hundreds of families Tuesday that they would be kept out of their homes for a third night while firefighters and the Army National Guard battled a wildfire ignited by guard members during weekend machine-gun training.
With the 6-square-mile fire just 25 percent contained and afternoon winds igniting flare-ups, police Lt. Dwayne Anjewierden said it was still too dangerous to let residents in the Salt Lake City suburb of Herriman return to about 450 homes closest to Camp Williams.
Three houses were destroyed, and a fourth was damaged after the fire started Sunday at the Utah National Guard training base. Authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 1,600 homes Sunday night.
Utah Army Guard Gen. Brian Tarbet has apologized for what he called a “systematic failure” that allowed guard members to conduct live-fire training exercises Sunday despite tinder-dry conditions and predictions of high winds at Camp Williams, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Tarbet said no one checked to see that the National Weather Service had posted a “red flag” fire warning before the machine-gun exercise was permitted to continue in the foothills of the Oquirrh mountains.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/22/2010