McDonnell fields
prosecutor queries
RICHMOND, Va. -- Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell faced sharp questions Monday from prosecutors at his public corruption trial about details of his personal finances.
As the trial entered its fifth week, prosecutors began their cross-examination of McDonnell. He and his wife, Maureen, are charged with providing special favors to a wealthy businessman, former Star Scientific Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jonnie Williams, in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans while McDonnell was in office.
The questions prompted long pauses and lengthy explanations from McDonnell, who was admonished by the judge to just "answer the question" when he tried to offer a detailed response of why he disagreed with a question that implied that a joint real-estate venture he owned with his sister was in financial trouble.
The money issues are key because prosecutors have said McDonnell's financial desperation prompted him to accept cash and gifts from Williams.
McDonnell acknowledged that he knew Williams had loaned him and his wife $120,000 and provided expensive gifts, including $15,000 to pay for catering at the wedding of the McDonnells' daughter, personal vacations in Cape Cod and Smith Mountain Lake, and golf outings.
But last week McDonnell downplayed his knowledge about some of the gifts, saying he did not learn about them until after the fact or that they had been arranged by his wife.
Test-armed rocket
lifts off, explodes
KODIAK, Alaska -- A rocket carrying an experimental Army strike weapon exploded early Monday after taking off from a launchpad in Alaska, the Defense Department said.
The rocket carrying the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon was terminated near a pad of the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island shortly after liftoff, spokesman Maureen Schumann said.
After an anomaly was detected, testers made the decision to destroy the rocket to ensure public safety, Schumann said.
"It came back down on the range complex," she said. "Fortunately, no people on the ground were injured. There was damage, but I'm not sure of the extent of it at this time."
The launch complex is about 25 miles from the city of Kodiak.
The rocket was the booster for the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, a glide vehicle designed to quickly reach a target. The design is one of several being tested by the Army under the umbrella of the Conventional Prompt Global Strike program, Schumann said.
"It's a concept that will allow the Department of Defense to engage any target anywhere in the world in less than an hour," she said.
In LA killings, dogs
now arrest's focus
LOS ANGELES -- A man who was detained late Sunday as a person of interest in a series of apparently random shootings that killed three people in suburban Los Angeles was booked on animal-cruelty charges Monday, a police spokesman said.
Alexander Hernandez, 34, of Sylmar was being held in lieu of $1 million bond in the animal-cruelty case, but he has not been charged with the shootings Sunday that killed two women and one man and injured four others, Los Angeles police spokesman Bruce Borihanh said.
The dogs were killed Saturday, and the person who shot them drove a vehicle similar to the one witnesses described at two of the three crime scenes Sunday. The weapon used -- a shotgun -- was also the same, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.
Police are not seeking a second suspect despite statements Sunday they were seeking two Hispanic men in the case, Smith said.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette Staff from wire reports
A Section on 08/26/2014