Texas man put to death for murders
"I'm genuinely sorry for what I did," Larry Allen Hayes said before the lethal injection was administered. "I ask you to reach down in your heart and forgive me. There's no excuse for what I did."
Hayes was executed for fatally shooting his wife, Mary, 46, at their home the night of July 15, 1999. A few minutes later, he gunned down the 18-year-old clerk, Rosalyn Robinson, and drove off with her car.
Hayes, 54, was the 21st inmate executed this year in Texas.
FDA issues warning over star-anise tea
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to drink teas brewed from the herb star anise, as it investigates reports of people — including 15 infants — suffering seizures after ingesting them.
There are two types of star anise. Chinese star anise, a popular spice, is safe to consume. Japanese star anise is poisonous and used only decoratively.
The FDA said that in dried and ground form, the Chinese and Japanese star-anise leaves used to brew tea look identical. The agency is investigating whether importers or consumers got them mixed up.
Star-anise tea sometimes is used as a folk remedy for infants with colic, but the FDA said there's no scientific evidence that it treats any ailment.
The FDA's warning is only for star-anise tea, not the herb when used as a spice.
After 18 years in prison, DNA exonerates Wisconsin man
MADISON, Wis. — A man who spent 18 years in prison is expected to be released today after DNA tests cleared him of attacking a jogger in 1985.
Steven Avery, 43, was sentenced to 32 years in prison for sexual assault, attempted murder and false imprisonment. Judge Fred Hazlewood, who handled the case in 1985, ruled yesterday that Avery be released.
DNA taken from the woman was tested at the state crime lab and matched that of another man who is serving a 60-year sentence for another sexual assault.
AAA settles suit in slaying of woman awaiting road aid
BOSTON — AAA reached a settlement yesterday with the family of a young woman who was raped and murdered after she accepted a ride with a stranger rather than waiting several hours for a tow-truck driver.
Melissa Gosule's car broke down on Cape Cod in 1999, and her stepfather contacted AAA. A tow-truck driver for AAA arrived and told the 27-year-old elementary-school teacher he was busy and would not be able to take her or her car back to Boston for three or four hours. Rather than wait, she accepted a ride from a stranger, who raped her and stabbed her to death.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Alcohol-industry curbs urged to stem underage drinking
WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Sciences recommended yesterday that government officials combat underage drinking by raising alcohol taxes and sharply limiting liquor advertising on television and in magazines.
The report found that underage drinking kills 6.5 times more youths than all illicit drugs combined and that traffic fatalities and violent crime associated with underage drinking cost the country $53 billion a year.
The report received bipartisan support from lawmakers, who hailed it as the first substantial look at combating underage drinking since the 1984 legislation that raised the drinking age to 21.
But the recommendation to raise taxes and regulate advertising encountered immediate resistance from groups representing alcohol makers and distributors.
Two who fled with ill son to avoid treatment give up
SALT LAKE CITY — The couple charged with kidnapping their cancer-stricken son from Utah to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy treatments surrendered yesterday at the state courthouse.
Daren and Barbara Jensen, who fled to Idaho after a juvenile-court judge ordered them to get the treatment for the 12-year-old boy, did not bring the child with them. It was not immediately clear where he was.
The Jensens had agreed Friday to take their son, Parker, to a pediatric oncologist of their choice this week, and to follow the treatment the doctor recommends. Under the agreement, the boy, who has the deadly cancer Ewing's sarcoma, would remain in his parents' custody.
The couple asked Salt Lake County prosecutors to drop the first-degree felony charges against them, but the prosecutors demanded that the couple surrender and take a plea bargain.
Firetruck sets off blaze at its Alabama station
IDER, Ala. — A firetruck that had just returned from the scene of a blaze caught fire at its station, destroying the building and the vehicle.
The engine of the truck had been turned off, but some malfunction, possibly a gasoline leak, caused a fire under the hood, firefighter Brad Hannah said.
Ider, a town of about 670 people in the rural northeastern corner of Alabama, has two other firetrucks, Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Cloud said yesterday. Those trucks were out on calls during the fire.