LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The federal government is not supposed to be a government that has all powers. It’s
supposed to be a government of limited powers.”
Justice Antonin Scalia,
as the Supreme Court continued to hear arguments over President Barack Obama’s health-care law Article, 1ACouple’s bodies found in wildfire area
CONIFER, Colo. - Two people were found dead in an area ravaged by a wildfire that has destroyed 23 homes and forced hundreds to flee the mountainous area southwest of Denver, authorities said Tuesday.
The Jefferson County coroner identified the couple as 77-year-old Sam Lamar Lucas and 76-year-old Linda M.
Lucas.
The wife was found outside the burned home on Monday evening and the husband was found inside on Tuesday.
Authorities haven’t concluded whether they died because of the fire, which has grown to about 7 square miles in a sparsely populated area about 25 miles southwest of Denver. Jefferson County coroner John M. Graham said a final report on their deaths wasn’t expected for several weeks.
A third person is missing from the same area where the bodies of the Lucases were found.
No part of the fire has been contained, and authorities focused on defending homes rather than creating firebreaks.
Lawmakers honor slain Florida teen
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers paid respects to a slain black Florida teenager as a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus offered his “heartfelt condolences” to his parents for “the shock, the tragedy” of their loss.
In a packed Capitol Hill hearing room Tuesday, Rep.
John Conyers recognized Trayvon Martin’s parents in the front row of a session called to bring attention to a U.S.
Justice Department inquiry of the 17-year-old’s Feb. 26 shooting death in Sanford, Fla.
Conyers, D-Mich., asked Martin’s parents to stand while attendees bowed their heads in a moment of silence to honor their son.
“He’s sadly missed, and we’ll continue to fight for justice for him,” Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, told the group of Judiciary Committee and Congressional Black Caucus Democrats who organized the informal hearing.
George Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, told police he shot the teenager in selfdefense after being punched in the nose and having his head slammed into the sidewalk, said City Manager Nolan Bonaparte Jr.
Obama’s uncle admits facts in case
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. - A Massachusetts drunkendriving charge against President Barack Obama’s uncle will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble for a year, officials said Tuesday.
Onyango Obama, 67, on Tuesday admitted to sufficient facts, meaning he didn’t plead guilty but acknowledged Massachusetts prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
Onyango Obama is the half brother of the president’s late father. He was arrested in Framingham in August after a police officer said he made a rolling stop at a stop sign and nearly caused the officer’s cruiser to crash into Obama’s sport utility vehicle. Police said Obama registered 0.14 on a blood-alcohol test, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08.
Onyango Obama, who is from Kenya, is also appealing a deportation order that dates to 1992, when he failed to renew his application to remain in the U.S.
Vermont teacher confirmed slain
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. - The Vermont school teacher whose toddler was found alone in her idling sport utility vehicle over the weekend was killed, a medical examiner ruled Tuesday as an autopsy confirmed a body found along an isolated stretch of road was indeed hers.
Melissa Jenkins’ exact cause of death was not released so as not to inhibit the investigation, authorities said.
Police did not say whether they had a suspect, and detectives returned Tuesday to the area where the body was found to collect more evidence.
A shrine to the 33-year-old science teacher at the prestigious St. Johnsbury Academy was set up in the entry to a main building at the school, a boarding school that also serves as the public high school for St. Johnsbury, a town of about 6,200 about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/28/2012