New York: Man charged in NYC subway plot pleads not guilty
NEW YORK (AP) — A man charged in a failed terror plot against the New York City subway system has pleaded not guilty.
Adis Medunjanin (ah-DEES’ may-DOON’-yah-neen) entered the plea Friday in federal court in Brooklyn.
He had previously pleaded not guilty to charges he sought to join two former high school classmates from Queens in what prosecutors called three “coordinated suicide bombing attacks” on Manhattan subway lines.
A revised indictment unsealed last month added new charges alleging a high-ranking al-Qaida operative had recruited Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee) and
Zarein Ahmedzay (zah-RAYN’ ah-MIHD’-zay) in 2008 to receive training from the terror network in Pakistan.
Zazi and Ahmedzay have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Texas: IRS to stay at new Austin site after plane crash
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An Internal Revenue Service office will not return to the Texas building where a tax protester killed himself by crashing his plane into the structure.
IRS spokeswoman Lea Crusberg said Thursday that the agency has signed a two-year lease on another office space in Austin. She declined to identify the location.
Andrew Joseph Stack III on Feb. 18 flew his single-engine plane into the four-story structure. IRS worker Vernon Hunter also was killed. About 200 IRS employees worked in the building at that time.
The manager of the property, Kevin Kimball, says cleanup of the 64,000-square-foot structure is nearly done and repairs should be finished within six months.
Montana: Brazen black bear enters houses
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A brazen black bear believed responsible for about 21 break-ins in Montana over the past few weeks has so far eluded capture.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Shawn Stewart says the Red Lodge area usually has three to five bear break-ins during a normal summer.
Red Lodge resident Marek Rosin says he woke at about 1:30 a.m. last Thursday to find a bear had pushed open the door to his back porch and was munching on a supreme pizza in his chest freezer. Rosin scared the bear off before it could do any more damage.
Stewart says most of the break-ins involve the bear climbing through a screened window or breaking through a screen door to access refrigerators or freezers.
Texas: Bodies of 2 kids, 1 man found in house fire
VIDOR, Texas (AP) — Authorities say the bodies of two children and one man have been found after an early morning house fire in Texas.
Sgt. Chad Hogan of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office says the bodies of the 59-year-old man, 6-year-old and 19-month-old were discovered Friday morning in the burned-out home in Vidor (VY’-dur).
Their identities were not immediately released, and authorities were investigating the fire.
The fire was reported around 2:15 a.m. Friday. Deputies arrived to find the house engulfed in flames, with a neighboring home also partly on fire.
Vidor is 85 miles northeast of Houston.
Connecticut: Man charged after referring to rampage
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut police say they arrested a man at a management company after he mentioned the shooting rampage across the state that killed nine people and said he understood the killer’s mindset.
Fifty-eight-year-old Francis Laskowski of Derby was charged with breach of peace Wednesday after making the comments while working at Fusco Management Co. in New Haven.
Nine people died in the shootings last Tuesday at Hartford Distributors in Manchester, including gunman Omar Thornton. Thornton told police in a 911 call that he wanted to avenge racial discrimination, allegations that company officials denied.
Laskowski told The Associated Press on Friday that his comments were blown out of proportion. He says his arrest was “ridiculous” and he didn’t make any threats.
Laskowski posted bail and is due in New Haven Superior Court on Tuesday.
Colorado: 3 dead in small plane crashes
CENTRAL CITY, Colo. (AP) — Authorities say a small plane crashed and burned in the northern Colorado mountains, killing all three people on board.
The Gilpin County sheriff’s office says the single-engine plane was flying from Boulder to California when it crashed last Wednesday near Rollins Pass. The victims’ names haven’t been released.
The sheriff’s office previously said it was believed only one person was in the plane. A spokeswoman says the plane was so severely burned and mangled that it was difficult to tell how many people were inside.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to return to the crash site Friday.
California: Man sentenced in crossbow slaying
LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) — An ex-convict has been sentenced to 64 years to life in prison for killing a man with a crossbow in California.
A jury convicted 39-year-old Curtis Scott of killing 62-year-old Angel Martinez in March 2008. Martinez’s body was found in Lancaster with an arrow sticking out of his chest. Scott was sentenced Thursday.
Prosecutors say the crime was a random attack that Scott intended to show his stepdaughter he was someone not to be messed with.
