The Record, Bergen County, NJ

U.S., Iraqis Differ Sharply On New Leader

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Governing Council members accused American officials Monday of pressuring them to accept Washington's choice for Iraq's new president, prompting a delay in the announcement of a new government to take power from the U.S.-led coalition June 30. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had hoped to complete the selection of the 26-member Cabinet by Monday. However, a Governing Council session that was to have chosen a president was postponed until at least today, with sharp differences ...

Driver Improves After 'Devastating' N.C. Crash ; Paterson Woman's 2 Children Among 5 Dead

The condition of a Paterson woman involved in a gruesome, alcohol- related car accident in North Carolina that killed five of her passengers, including her two teenage children, was upgraded Monday from serious to stable, authorities said. Driver Judith Lynn Vailes, 46, of Edmund Avenue was rushed to the intensive care unit of Loris Community Hospital in Loris, S.C., after her Mercury Villager minivan collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee at 6 p.m. Saturday, five miles north of the South Caroli...

Governor Considers Deal for Highlands ; Would Funnel Millions to Pinelands Towns

The road to preserving North Jersey's Highlands - and pure drinking water for 4 million state residents - now runs through South Jersey's Pinelands. At least that's what the McGreevey administration thinks.

Hometowns Remember ; Neighbors Honor Neighbors Who Sacrificed All

A week before Memorial Day last year, Ron and Robin Griffin liked their small town well enough, but not enough to spend the rest of their lives there. "Emerson's got high taxes and everything seems so political," Robin complained. "It's so tiny that everybody knows your business."

Father's Book Details Ordeal of Children's Mental Disorders

When Paul Raeburn looks around the pretty, manicured streets of Ridgewood, he sees much more than the young mothers pushing strollers past quaint brick storefronts. He sees the worst moments of his family's tortuous past.

People in the News

Heck of a Shrek The end of the world ran a close second to a cartoon ogre at the Memorial Day weekend box office.

Goose Problem Is Home to Roost ; Debate Swirls Around Control Methods

There didn't used to be resident Canada geese in New Jersey, fouling parks, ponds, and the soles of golf shoes with their cylindrical green calling cards. In fact, before the 1930s, officials say there was no such species as the resident Canada goose, only the migratory cousins from which they evolved with humans' help.

New Jersey Briefs

Casino bus crash leaves 42 injured BERKELEY TOWNSHIP - More than 40 people suffered injuries Monday when a bus bound from New York to Atlantic City crashed into trees off the Garden State Parkway, state police said.

Bush Ran 3 Times More Negative Ads Than Kerry ; President's Campaign Also Leads Democrat in Untruths

WASHINGTON - It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine. A week ago Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Dick Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry "has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all" and said the senator from Massachusetts "promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office."

Peterson Defense Focus: Two Strange Men in Van ; As Trial Opens, an Attempt to Shift Blame for Slayings

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The state attorney general once called the case against Scott Peterson a "slam dunk." But when the notorious double-murder trial begins today, Peterson's defense team will be armed with a powerful strategy to get him acquitted. It's becoming clear that defense lawyer Mark Geragos plans to shift blame for the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn son to a pair of strange men in a van, accuse Modesto police of railroading Peterson, and, perhaps most importantly, explain away...

Bad Guys Can Spot Good Guys Too Easily ; Air Marshals Losing Element of Surprise

WASHINGTON - As they settled into first class on American Airlines Flight 1438 from Chicago to Miami, they were supposed to be the last line of defense against terrorists - two highly trained U.S. air marshals who would sit unnoticed among the ordinary travelers but spring into action at the first sign of trouble. Imagine their chagrin when a fellow passenger coming down the aisle suddenly boomed out, "Oh, I see we have air marshals on board!"

Last Civil War Widow, a Link to Confederacy, Dies at 97 ; Was 21 When She Married Octogenarian Veteran in Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died on Memorial Day, ending an unlikely ascent from sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. She was 97. Martin died at a nursing home in Enterprise of complications from a heart attack she suffered May 7, said her caretaker, Dr. Kenneth Chancey. She died nearly 140 years after the Civil War ended.

Mexican Woman Tells About Giving Herself a C-Section ; Her Son Is Now 4, and Few Doubt Her Story

RIO TALEA, Mexico - Alone in her one-room cabin high in the mountains of southern Mexico, Ines Ramirez Perez felt the pounding pains of a child insistent on entering the world. Three years earlier, she had given birth to a dead baby girl. As her labor intensified, so did her concern for this unborn child.

Saudis Hunt for 3 Terror Suspects ; They Escaped by Using Hostages As Shields

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities hunted Monday for three suspected al-Qaeda militants who used hostages as human shields to escape after a weekend assault on a residential complex that killed 22 people, mostly foreign oil industry workers. The attackers fled Khobar to nearby Dammam, where they abandoned their truck for a car commandeered at gunpoint from an unidentified driver and drove off with police in pursuit, a police official said Monday.

Mosque Blast Kills 16 ; Revenge for Pakistani Cleric's Slaying Eyed As Motive

KARACHI, Pakistan - An explosion ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in Karachi during evening prayers Monday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 38 others. A top Pakistani official said the bomb could be in revenge for the assassination of a senior Sunni cleric. Hundreds of Shiite youths rioted after the explosion at the Imam Bargah Ali Raza mosque, which came a day after unidentified gunmen killed Nazamuddin Shamzai.

Bush, at Arlington Cemetery, Lauds Troops' 'Fierce Courage'

ARLINGTON, Va. - President Bush observed Memorial Day on Monday with praise for the "fierce courage" of U.S. service members in Afghanistan and Iraq and said "two terror regimes" are gone and America is safer because of their bravery. Bush, joined by Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. First lady Laura Bush also attended.

Kerry, Visiting Navy Stronghold, Reaches Out to Military Families

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Democrat John Kerry ventured into Republican- leaning Virginia on Monday with a Memorial Day pitch targeting military families and a charge that President Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam." Kerry joined Virginia Gov. Mark Warner for a Memorial Day parade in Portsmouth, home to naval shipyards and other big military installations, and later promised he could get American troops home from Iraq sooner than Bush would.

Car Bomb Kills 4 in Baghdad ; Four U.S. Soldiers Die in 2 Other Attacks

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded Monday near coalition headquarters, killing four people and wounding 25 in violence that U.S. authorities believe was aimed at blocking the coming transfer of power. Four American soldiers were reported killed in other attacks. Shiite leaders also urged U.S. troops to halt "aggressive patrolling" in a bid to save a tattered truce with a radical cleric's militia around Shiite holy cities south of the capital.

Pulitzers Jazzing Up the Prize for Music ; Board Seeks Broader Range of Entries

NEW YORK - The Pulitzer Prize music judges, hoping to encourage a broader range of entries from American composers, may soon be saying hooray for Hollywood - and all that jazz. Administrators of the prestigious awards announced Monday that they have decided to expand the criteria for the music prize, starting with entries for 2004.

Legislators Blast Sharon Over Revised Gaza Plan

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday asked rebellious Likud Party legislators to accept a revised Gaza withdrawal plan, but the meeting was cut short after he came under sharp verbal attack. "You have no majority in any party forum," Likud legislator Naomi Blumenthal told Sharon, accusing him of ignoring the party's wishes.