Kraft recalls Taco Bell shells containing biotech corn

WASHINGTON--Kraft Foods yesterday voluntarily recalled millions of taco shells sold in groceries after finding that some contained genetically modified corn approved only for farm animals.

The recall of shells sold under the name Taco Bell Home Originals is believed to be the first ever undertaken because a genetically engineered product was found in the food supply.

While federal authorities called the presence of the unapproved corn "very serious" and "unlawful," they also said there is little known health risk from the taco shells. The corn was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for animal feed in 1998, but the agency withheld approval for human use because of concerns that it might cause allergies in people.

The recall affects all varieties of Taco Bell shells sold in groceries. Consumers who purchased the shells should not eat them and could return the packages for a refund, Kraft said

U.S. likely to execute first inmate since 1963

HARRISBURG, Pa.--An inmate sentenced to death for strangling his cellmate has dropped all appeals, making him likely to become the first person to be executed by the federal government since 1963.

David Paul Hammer, 41, a con man so violent that Oklahoma built him a special isolation cell with steel doors and shatterproof glass, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 15 in Terre Haute, Ind., where he is being held.

A prisoner since age 19, Hammer killed Andrew Marti in 1996 by tying him to his bunk and strangling him with a braided bedsheet at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.

Hammer had built a reputation as one of Oklahoma's most troublesome prisoners. He was sentenced to more than 1,200 years for a spree of kidnapping and attempted murder that followed his escape from prison in the early 1980s.

FBI, LAPD investigate report of slaying by cops

LOS ANGELES--Members of a joint corruption task force of the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department are investigating a woman's allegation that former police officers Rafael Perez and David Mack killed two people in a "crash pad" apartment near the police station where Perez once worked, several law-enforcement sources confirmed yesterday.

Investigators armed with a federal search warrant Thursday night seized a 1986 BMW that the woman--one of Perez's ex-lovers--said was used to dispose of the bodies, according to one source.

"There is some corroboration," the source said. "We feel compelled to look at it."

Others sources added, however, that there are concerns about the woman's credibility. As one source put it, "If she saw what she said she saw, she'd be dead."

Details of the woman's allegations against Perez, the convicted drug thief at the heart of the LAPD's corruption scandal, and Mack, a convicted bank robber, are scant. Federal authorities and LAPD officials declined to comment publicly.

Internet marijuana seller gets 10-month sentence

NEW ORLEANS--A man who sold marijuana over the Internet to customers in 35 states was fined $200,000 yesterday and sentenced to five months in a halfway house and five months under house arrest.

Michael David Aronov, 48, of Anaheim, Calif., said he sold the marijuana for medicinal use only. He was arrested after selling the drug to undercover federal agents in Louisiana.

Prosecutors had asked for up to two years in prison.

Aronov started taking orders over the Internet in 1996, receiving payments by mail. Over three years, he mailed 994 packages of marijuana to 149 customers, receiving about $227,000 for more than 800 pounds of the drug, prosecutors said.

Airport facility charges may increase in April

WASHINGTON--The fees airports charge airline passengers will go up starting in the spring.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced yesterday that airports will be allowed to increase passenger facility charges starting April 1.

Under current law, the charge is limited to a $3 maximum, but the Aviation Investment and Reform Act that became law this year allows an increase to $4 or $4.50.

Under the law, a passenger can be charged a maximum of two airport fees per one-way flight and four per round-trip flight, regardless of the number of intermediate stops an airplane may make.