LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We thought we were going to die.We were just so scared.”
Jessica Vargas,
an 18-year-old whose home in North Carolina was torn apart by a severe storm as she and her family huddled in a back room Article, this pageMissouri slayings
set off manhunt
FULTON, Mo. - Police were scouring central Missouri on Wednesday for a man they called a person of interest in overnight shootings that left three people dead and one wounded.
Police said they were seeking Joshua William Maylee, who was believed to be armed, possibly with a high-powered rifle. Authorities warned that anyone who has had “negative” contact with Maylee to call police.
Authorities did not have an age for Maylee.
Sgt. Robert Bruchsaler, a spokesman for the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad, said Wednesday that the gunman used a high-powered rifle and a handgun. He said authorities believe the gunman acted alone.
Bruchsaler did not discuss a specific motive but said police believe that the shootings were not random, and that the victims were targeted.
Maylee is being sought in the shooting deaths of 46-year-old Jeffrey Werdehausen of Holts Summit, 48-year-old Eugene Pinet and 57-year-old Jackie Pinet.
Werdehausen’s wife, Gina Werdehausen, 41, was also shot and was in critical condition at University Hospital in Columbia.
The University of Missouri-Columbia said the hospital was on lockdown out of fear that the gunman could show up. No other buildings on campus were affected.
Obama hopes party favored in election
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said he hopes Democrats will be rewarded on election night Tuesday for taking tough votes in Congress.
Interviewed Wednesday on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Obama lauded several members of Congress for taking votes that he said they knew would be bad politically but who did so because it was the right thing to do.
He named Rep. Tom Perriello, a Virginia Democrat who voted for the president’s health-care bill and is in a tight race against Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt.
Obama plans to be in Charlottesville, Va., on Friday to campaign with Perriello.
Obama said if lawmakers like Perriello are applauded for taking tough votes, “then Democrats will be rewarded on election night.”
Christie defends rail tunnel decision
TRENTON, N.J. - Gov.
Chris Christie cited New Jersey’s lack of money Wednesday in standing by his decision earlier this month to kill a train tunnel connecting his state to New York City.
The move will force the state to repay up to $350 million of the $600 million it was given to start the nation’s biggest public-works project.
Christie has argued that his cash-strapped state can’t afford to pay for any overruns on the $9 billion-plus rail tunnel under the Hudson River. The state is on the hook for $2.7 billion plus overruns.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the decision “a devastating blow” to New Jersey commuters, construction workers and engineers, and the state’s economy.
The federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were each set to contribute $3 billion to the project.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/28/2010