LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Romney has to earn this. It’s not going to
be given to him.”
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich,
on rival Mitt Romney and the contest for their party’s nomination Article, this page
Colorado halts
controlled burns
CONIFER, Colo. - Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday suspended the use of state-prescribed burns like the one that may have caused a deadly wildfire near Denver.
The Colorado Forest Service said the 6-square-mile fire started after a controlled burn last week that was meant to reduce vegetation.
Instead, the blaze went out of control Monday when high winds’ gusts blew embers across a containment line and into unburned forest.
Hickenlooper said the ban on such fires on state lands, including state parks, would be in effect until a review of the wildfire is complete.
Also Wednesday, Colorado’s deputy state forester apologized for the fire.
A search team was using dogs to look for a woman missing in the fire zone.
Her home was among 27 destroyed or damaged in the blaze.
The bodies of Sam Lamar Lucas, 77, and Linda M. Lucas, 76, were found earlier this week at their destroyed home. A ruling on their cause of death was pending.
2 plead innocent in teacher killing
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. - A Vermont snowplow driver and his wife pleaded innocent Wednesday to seconddegree murder in the death of a schoolteacher.
Police said Allen Prue, 30, and Patricia Prue, 33, of Waterford lured Melissa Jenkins from her home by pretending their vehicle had broken down, then beat and strangled her before stripping her body naked and throwing it into the Connecticut River.
Police said Allen Prue was riding around on Sunday with his wife when he got the idea “to get a girl,” the affidavit said. “They didn’t plan to get one forcefully,” the police affidavit said.
Police gave no further details on a possible motive in the death of the 33-yearold teacher at the prestigious St. Johnsbury Academy. The Prues were ordered held without bail, and police said more charges were possible.
Police were called Sunday night after Jenkins’ 2-year-old son was found alone in her sport utility vehicle along a remote road near her St.
Johnsbury home.
Reject maid’s suit ex-IMF boss urges
NEW YORK - Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers tried to persuade a judge Wednesday to throw out a hotel maid’s civil lawsuit against the former International Monetary Fund leader.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers argued that their client has diplomatic immunity under a 1947 United Nations agreement that afforded the privilege to heads of “specialized agencies,” including the International Monetary Fund.
Although the United States didn’t sign that agreement, Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys say it has gained so much acceptance elsewhere that it has attained the status of what’s known as “customary international law.”
But housekeeper Nafissatou Diallo’s lawyers said Strauss-Kahn was stretching the rules of immunity to shield himself.
The 62-year-old diplomat was charged last year with attempted rape and other crimes after his May 14 encounter with Diallo, but the criminal case was dismissed after prosecutors lost faith in her credibility. She then sued Strauss-Kahn.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/29/2012