Ex-Police Chief's Roommate Guilty Of Extortion In D.C.

WASHINGTON - A former District of Columbia police lieutenant and one-time roommate of the resigned police chief pleaded guilty to theft, fraud and extorting money from customers of a gay bar.

As part of his plea bargain yesterday, former Lt. Jeffrey Stowe agreed to help in an investigation of police corruption.

Police Chief Larry Soulsby resigned immediately after Stowe's arrest Nov. 25. The two roomed together in a $3,000-a-month luxury apartment for which they paid $650 a month.

The wire fraud charge against Stowe involved his cut-rate arrangement for the apartment.

Soulsby has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.

Stowe, 42, admitted stealing $55,000 in police money, including federal money set aside for the witness protection program. He also admitted two counts of extortion in connection with a scheme to shake down men who visited a gay bar.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan scheduled a pre-sentencing hearing for April 24. He agreed to let Stowe remain free on his own recognizance until then.

Stowe must still pay the remaining $25,000 for which he has not yet made restitution. He could be sentenced to 55 years in prison and $1 million in fines.

Teens charged in ax murders of Presbyterian minister, wife

INDIANAPOLIS - Two teenagers were charged today with the 1996 ax murders of a Presbyterian minister and his wife.

The Marion County Sheriff's office said Sean Rich, 16, of Indianapolis, and Paul Brightman, 18, of Carmel, Ind., had been arrested on drug charges. During interrogation, one suspect reportedly said the Rev. C. Frederick Mathias and his wife, Cleta, both 64, returned home and surprised them during a burglary.

Their bodies were found in their burning home not long after they had returned from a neighborhood pre-Christmas prayer service.

Contaminated polio vaccine absolved in cancer cases

CHICAGO - Polio vaccine contaminated with a monkey virus and administered to millions of people four decades ago does not appear to be causing some rare forms of cancer, a study said today.

The finding, based on a review of mortality statistics and other records, was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The investigation by the National Cancer Institute was prompted by the recent detection of DNA from the same monkey virus in several rare human tumors affecting the brain, bones and the lining of the lung and chest cavity.

"Our study failed to detect any significant increases in the risk of cancers reported to contain (monkey virus) DNA . . .," the study said. "In effect they have remained rare cancers."

Injections of the vaccine were given to tens of millions of people in the United States alone between 1955 and 1963. The virus, which can cause cancer in rodents, got into the vaccine because early preparations used kidney-cell cultures from Asian monkeys in making the vaccine.

Gene mutation slows HIV in children, scientists say

CHICAGO - A gene mutation present in about one in six white people slows the progress of AIDS in many HIV-infected newborns, raising the possibility of treatments exploiting the phenomenon, French researchers said today.

The researchers studied 512 white children born to mothers infected with the virus that causes AIDS, 276 of whom had contracted the virus from their mothers. Of those, 49 children had inherited the mutated gene CCR5 from a parent.

At the age of 3 years, 9 percent of the infected children with the gene mutation developed symptoms of AIDS, while 28 percent without the mutation had symptoms.

Studies on adults have found that having a copy of the gene slows the progression of the disease, and preliminary work is under way to explore this avenue into potential therapies, said Thomas O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Protester sprays courthouse with liquid chicken manure

ALBANY, N.Y. - Police said Charles Collins III parked a pickup outside the New York Supreme Court yesterday and hosed down the columned building with liquefied chicken manure.

Firemen hosed off the building and the area was sprayed with disinfectant, said Paul Browne, a court spokesman. But it was evident more cleanup work was needed.

Collins said he wanted to get arrested to publicize what he calls rampant corruption in the courts.

He got his wish.