National Round Up

California: Jury questioning begins in Anna Nicole Smith case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jury questioning is slated to begin Monday in Los Angeles in the drug conspiracy trial of Anna Nicole Smith’s doctors and her lawyer-boyfriend.

Superior Court Judge Robert Perry says questionnaires filled out by prospective jurors show most of them know something about the former Playboy model’s life and death. Jury questioning will help determine how much they know and what they think about the charges.

Perry hopes to have a panel seated in two days. Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday.

Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard K. Stern have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to illegally provide Smith with massive amounts of opiates and sedatives. They are not charged in her 2007 overdose death in Florida.

Colorado: Charlie Sheen expected to plead guilty in court
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Actor Charlie Sheen is due in court Monday and expected to plead guilty to a charge stemming from a Christmas Day dispute with his wife.

Yale Galanter, one of Sheen’s attorneys, has said that Sheen agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in exchange for prosecutors dropping more serious charges.

Galanter previously said the agreement calls for Sheen to serve 30 days in jail. Sheen had been scheduled to plead guilty at a hearing in June, but that hit a snag with a disagreement over terms of a proposed work release program.

Sheen, star of “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, is charged with felony menacing, criminal mischief and assault against his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen.

Missouri: Robbers steal millions in heist at St. Louis company
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis authorities are hunting for four men suspected of raiding an ATM company’s vault in a pre-dawn robbery, then hauling possibly millions of dollars away in one of the business’ armored vehicles.

Media outlets say the suspects took up to $5 million in the Monday heist. Police would not specify how much was taken.

Police say the armed suspects overpowered two ATM Solutions employees who then let them into the vault.

Police say the black-garbed robbers restrained the workers with duct tape before fleeing with the cash.

No one was injured in the raid.

Police say the robbers made off in an armored car, which was found abandoned nearby about 90 minutes later.

A message left Monday with Cincinnati-based ATM Solutions was not immediately returned.

California: Father chains teen to kitchen table for days
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Police say a 13-year-old Sacramento boy escaped and sought help after being locked in chains for days by his father and stepmother.

Investigators say the boy’s 41-year-old father John Vang and 34-year-old stepmother Thong Vue were arrested and booked for investigation of false imprisonment and child cruelty. They were released on bail Saturday. The teenager was placed in the custody of his biological mother.

Officer Konrad von Schoech says the boy was wrapped in chains from Wednesday until Friday night. He was chained to a kitchen table most of the time.

The boy managed to free himself Friday night when his father and stepmother left the house.

It’s unclear why the boy was being punished.

Ohio : Red Cross giving away new car, or Amish buggy
CLEVELAND (AP) — To spur blood donations, an Ohio Red Cross chapter is offering people who give a pint of blood the chance to win a car or a horse-drawn buggy.

Spokeswoman Christy Chapman in Cleveland says the Red Cross didn’t want to leave its many Amish donors out of the giveaway. The organization’s Northern Ohio blood services region includes three counties with one of the nation’s largest Amish populations.

The Red Cross regional operation has a board member who is Amish and who is arranging to have a buggy custom made for the contest, which wraps up Sept. 6.

Blood donors who prefer a more modern mode of transportation can win a 2010 Nissan Versa.

Nation: 20 most stressed, 20 least stressed counties in U.S.
Here are the 20 most economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their June 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:
1. Imperial County, Calif.,
  31.68
2. Yuma County, Ariz., 28.37
3. Lyon County, Nev., 26.81
4. Nye County, Nev., 24.78
5. Merced County, Calif.,
  24.3
6. Yuba County, Calif., 24.06
7. Sutter County, Calif., 23.72
8. Stanislaus County, Calif.,
  23.42
9. Clark County, Nev., 23.36
10. San Joaquin County,
  Calif., 22.74
11. Riverside County, Calif.,
  21.5
12. San Benito County, Calif.,
  21.28
13. Lake County, Calif., 21.2
14. Kern County, Calif., 21
15. San Bernardino County,
  Calif., 20.7
16. Pinal County, Ariz., 20.46
17. Madera County, Calif.,
  20.16
18. Santa Cruz County, Ariz.,
  20.14
19. Lapeer County, Mich.,
  20.13
20. Wayne County, Mich.,
  20.01

A list of the 20 least economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their June 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:
1. Ward County, N.D., 3.85
2. Brown County, S.D., 3.89
3. Ellis County, Kan., 4.13
4. Ford County, Kan., 4.32
5. Burleigh County, N.D.
6. Brookings County, S.D.,
  4.5
7. Codington County, S.D.,
  4.6
8. Pennington County, S.D.,
  4.88
9. Buffalo County, Neb., 4.89
10. Finney County, Kan., 4.98
11. Lincoln County, S.D.,
  4.99
12. Riley County, Kan., 5
13. Arlington County, Va.,
  5.08
14. Sioux County, Iowa, 5.08
15. Cass County, N.D., 5.10
16. Grand Forks County,
  N.D., 5.16
17. Platte County, Neb., 5.27
18. McPherson County, Kan.,
  5.29
19. Meade County, S.D., 5.36
20. Madison County, Neb.,
  5.37