LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“What I’m saying to President Obama very clearly is, I’ll wear as a badge of honor and a badge of courage that he doesn’t want to endorse me as a Democrat, because I am a different kind of Democrat.”
Frank Caprio,
Rhode Island’s general treasurer and the Democratic nominee in the state’s gubernatorial election, on the announcement that President Barack Obama would not endorse him Article, 2A
Tornadoes hit north Texas; 4 injured
RICE, Texas - Four people suffered minor injuries as tornadoes spun through parts of north Texas, overturning vehicles and damaging a school complex.
A school district advisory said classes were canceled Monday in Rice, a town of about 950 located 45 miles south of Dallas.
Navarro County Chief Deputy Mike Cox said Rice Elementary School and five homes were damaged during a tornado late Sunday afternoon.
Cox said a truck traveling on Interstate 45 overturned, striking a car, leaving four people with injuries that weren’t life-threatening. Cox also said some freight-train cars derailed.
Sheriff’s dispatcher Alyssa Wilchar said early Monday that no other reports of injuries have been received.
The National Weather Service said another tornado damaged some homes in Hunt County, in the Lone Oak area.
Noted hiccuper charged with murder
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A woman who became famous as a teenager after hiccuping uncontrollably for weeks has been accused of luring a man to a house where he was robbed and fatally shot.
Jennifer Mee, 19, of St. Petersburg and two others are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shannon Griffin, 22, on Saturday.
Mee’s unusual condition landed her on NBC’s Today Show in 2007 and got her a hug from country star Keith Urban.
But her life fell into disarray when the hiccups finally stopped five weeks after they started. She ran away from home twice, and her family has sued a hiccup-cure company over allegations they used her image for profit without permission.
Sgt. T.A. Skinner of the St. Petersburg Police Department said in a news release that Mee lured Griffin to a home where the others robbed him at gunpoint. Griffin struggled with the suspects and was shot several times, police said.
Skinner said Mee and the others admitted their involvement.
Killer, 2 others escape Missouri jail
PATTONSBURG, Mo. - Three inmates, including a convicted murderer, escaped from a northwest Missouri jail by crawling under a fence, leading authorities to lock down the surrounding community’s school and to go door-to-door warning residents.
The inmates made their break Sunday night from the Daviess/DeKalp County jail in Pattonsburg wearing orange prison jumpsuits and no shoes, authorities said Monday.
In Pattonsburg, a city of 260 residents 75 miles north of Kansas City, the lone school was locked down Monday, and members of the Fire Department were sent door-to-door to tell residents to be vigilant.
The school, which serves 170 students from kindergarten through high school, locked its doors Monday, canceled recess and was only allowing students outside if accompanied by an adult.
Among the escaped convicts was 57-year-old Carlos Sarmiento, who was awaiting sentencing after being convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of his roommate, Lance L. Davis.
The other escaped convicts were 26-year-old Nicholas D.
McCleary and 34-year-old Timothy J. Baudour.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA has cleared space shuttle Discovery for one last flight after fixing a leaky fuel line.
NASA’s senior managers met Monday and set Discovery’s last liftoff for next Monday. Launch time is 4:40 p.m.
This will be Discovery’s 39th and final mission as NASA retires its three remaining shuttles. The White House wants NASA to focus on developing spaceships that can take astronauts out of orbit and into deep space.
As the launch team prepped Discovery for its flight to the International Space Station, Mission Control kept a wary eye on a piece of junk that was threatening to come dangerously close to the orbiting lab and its six inhabitants.
The unidentified object was projected to pass within one tenth of a mile of the space station this morning. If necessary, flight controllers could move the space station out of harm’s way two hours beforehand.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/26/2010