New 10-point plan targets gun violence in U.S. capital
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. officials said Monday that they have initiated a 10-point plan to curb gun violence in the nation's capital."Enough is enough," Wilma Lewis, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a press briefing to announce "Operation Cease-fire."
"Although crime is down in our city, thousands of illegal firearms continue to be present in the District every day (exacting) a terrible toll on not only the approximately 520,000 people who live in the city but millions who come to work and visit," Lewis added.
Of the District's 200 homicides in 1999 so far, 79 percent were committed with a firearm, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey told reporters.
The program, which includes a crackdown on illegal trafficking of guns, builds on a firearms reduction plan launched in 1995.
License suspension urged for 'reckless' Boeing pilot
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- An American Airlines pilot who buzzed his neighborhood in a Boeing jet earlier this year should have his pilot's license suspended for six months, federal investigators said.
In making the recommendation, Federal Aviation Administration investigators said the agency should cite Capt. Clifford Johnson for violating minimum altitude restrictions and "operating an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner," according to documents released Monday.
Johnson, 59, a pilot with American for 33 years, was delivering the new model Boeing 777 to Miami from Dallas on Feb. 16. On the way, he swooped down several times for his neighbors at Spruce Creek Fly-In, an aviation community with a private runway. The neighbors had gathered along the runway to watch.
People outside the neighborhood and others driving by thought the plane was crashing.
Will trial shed new light on King's assassination?
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Family members of Martin Luther King Jr. hope a trial stemming from a lawsuit they filed will bring out new details about the civil rights leader's assassination.
The family filed the wrongful death lawsuit last year against Lloyd Jowers, who claimed on national television in 1993 that he hired King's killer -- and it wasn't James Earl Ray. Jowers has since refused to discuss his claim.
A jury was selected to hear the case Monday.
"We just want all the evidence to be presented and speak for itself," Dexter King, son of the slain civil rights leader, said told The Commercial Appeal on Monday. "And hopefully (it will) bring our final, legal remedy to an end."
The jury was scheduled to begin hearing testimony Tuesday. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
Tripp seeks defense funds via Internet, newspaper ads
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) -- With her legal bills mounting, Linda Tripp has launched an Internet site and taken out newspaper ads soliciting donations for her legal defense against charges of illegally recording telephone conversations with Monica Lewinsky.
Tripp previously had started a direct-mail campaign to raise money for her defense, which she has estimated could run as high as $1 million.
W. Peyton George, a trustee of Tripp's defense fund, declined to say how much money was in the fund. But The (Baltimore) Sun, citing others familiar with the fund, reported Tuesday that the effort has collected more than $100,000.
Spokane police arrest man in death, burial of daughter
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Police have arrested a man after finding what they suspect are the remains of his 9-year-old daughter on a remote hillside.
William Jackson, 33, was jailed without bail Monday for investigation of second-degree murder.
Sheriff's officials say constant surveillance of the former truck driver since his daughter Valiree's Oct. 18 disappearance eventually led investigators to the remains. The body was unearthed from a shallow grave about 40 miles northwest of Spokane, the state's second largest city.
Detectives believe the body had been moved from a site closer to the home the girl shared with her father and paternal grandparents in suburban Spokane Valley.
Broadcasting 'David' outbids media giants for S.F. station
SAN FRANCISCO (San Francisco Chronicle) In a surprising move, little-known Young Broadcasting Inc. has bought San Francisco's NBC television station KRON (Channel 4) for $823 million.
In buying the station from San Francisco's Chronicle Publishing, Young, a New York firm, outbid such media heavyweights as NBC's parent, General Electric; Gannett Co.; and News Corp., the owner of the Fox television network.
Father who abducted son now seeking visitation rights
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A man who abducted his infant son and hid out with the boy for 12 years is seeking visitation rights.
Leonard A. Cammalleri was released in April after 21/2 years in prison. He has not seen his son because a condition of his probation is that he obey a judge's order granting sole custody to his ex-wife.
The boy, 16-year-old Leonard Joseph Cammalleri, is living at a boarding school in Nyack, N.Y., said Cammalleri's lawyer, Christopher Goulden. His mother, Sally Cammalleri, lives in Michigan.
Suspect pleads not guilty in Honolulu shooting deaths
HONOLULU (AP) -- The copier repairman charged with killing seven of his Xerox co-workers has pleaded not guilty to all nine counts of a grand jury indictment.
A Circuit Court judge on Monday then revoked Byran Uyesugi's $7 million bail and set a Jan. 18 trial date.
The 40-year-old Uyesugi is accused of going on a shooting spree Nov. 2 at a Xerox Corp. parts warehouse. Six of his fellow technicians and a supervisor were killed.
No motive has been released, but prosecutors have said the victims were gathering for a morning meeting to discuss Uyesugi's light workload, among other things.