The Record, Bergen County, NJ

Six Months Behind Bars for Stadium Bomb Hoax

The warning said that dirty bombs would explode during football games simultaneously at seven stadiums around the country including Giants Stadium. The immediate impact would be 100,000 dead. Radioactive fallout would kill many more. Osama bin Laden would hail the explosion as "America's Hiroshima."

Gilda's Club to Suspend Operations ; Haven for Cancer Patients Runs Out of Cash

Gilda's Club Northern New Jersey, a social refuge for cancer patients and their families, said Thursday it would have to suspend operations at its Hackensack clubhouse after business today because it had run out of money. The club provided services for free, and the sluggish economy hurt fund-raising so much that it could not meet its $811,000 annual budget, said chief executive officer Mary Connolly.

Teens Have Their Say On Smoking Bill

N.J. County Tops Gas Survey

AAA Mid-Atlantic says Hunterdon County residents pay the smallest percentage of monthly income for gasoline nationwide. Residents are spending little more than 2 percent of their monthly incomes of nearly $7,185.

Casino Riches Restoring a Lost Prairie ; Tribe Re-Creates Land As Ancestors Revered It

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. A 30-acre field where corn and soybeans were once grown is now covered with Canada wild rye, big bluestem, golden Alexander and compass plant the same grasses and flowers the pioneers saw as they pushed westward across the American prairie in the 1800s. This small patch of prairie next to a condominium complex in suburban Minneapolis did not suddenly appear on its own. Instead, it was painstakingly restored at great cost by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe.

People in the News

TV host owes N.Y. MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann, who spotlights misbehavior nightly with his "Worst Person in the World" recognition, owes New York State for unpaid business taxes, according to a tax warrant notice.

N.Y.C. Trial Opens for Suspect in Grad Student's Rape, Torture

NEW YORK An ex-convict went on trial Thursday on charges of raping, torturing and burning a Columbia University graduate student in a 19-hour attack during which her eyelids were slit and she was forced to ingest a massive dose of painkillers that caused liver failure. Robert Williams, 31, sat with chained arms and legs, his head lowered, as the prosecutor delivered an opening statement that left several people in the courtroom weeping.

Bush's Push Toward War Condemned ; Panel Finds Inaccuracies

WASHINGTON President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting. Committee chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the administration's actions went far beyond simply being misled by bad intelligence.

Lesbians Targeted for Kissing ; Ballpark Says Couple Were Groping in Stands

SEATTLE Most of the time, a kiss is just a kiss in the stands at Seattle Mariners games. The crowd hardly even pays attention when fans smooch. But then last week, a lesbian complained that an usher at Safeco Field asked her to stop kissing her date because it was making another fan uncomfortable.

Top Air Force Leaders Ousted ; Gates Cites Nuclear Blunders, Lax Standards

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Robert Gates ousted the Air Force's top military and civilian leaders Thursday, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after embarrassing nuclear mix-ups. Gates announced at a news conference that he had accepted the resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne a highly unusual double firing.

9/11 Plotter Welcomes Death ; Tells Gitmo Tribunal He'll Be Martyr

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the reputed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, told a military judge at his arraignment Thursday that he welcomes the death penalty as a way to martyrdom and ridiculed the proceedings as an "inquisition." In his first public appearance since his capture five years ago, Mohammed wore thick glasses, a turban and a bushy, gray beard, and he was noticeably thinner a stark change from the slovenly man with disheveled hair, unshaven face and T-...

Clinton, Obama Meet in Private to Discuss Unity ; Vice Presidential Spot Not On Agenda

WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton and likely Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama met privately Thursday night to talk about uniting the Democratic Party, an Obama spokesman said. "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to suceed in November," their campaigns said in joint statement.

Obama Tells Dnc Not to Accept Money From Lobbyists

WASHINGTON Barack Obama, trying to quickly unify his fractured party, Thursday made a series of symbolic but significant changes aimed at showing him as an agent of change and in control of the Democratic machinery. Less than 36 hours after claiming his party's presidential nomination, the Illinois senator said the Democratic National Committee will stop accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, just as Obama's campaign has done.

Obama in Virginia to Launch Campaign ; Contenders for No. 2 Role Are at His Side

BRISTOW, Va. Barack Obama kicked off his general election campaign Thursday in Virginia, a once-reliably Republican state in presidential elections that's changing fast and could be a battleground this fall. Obama closed the day with a big rally in the Washington suburbs of northern Virginia. "The American people are ready for change and that's why I stand before you as the Democratic nominee," Obama told a crowd estimated at 10,000. He praised his former rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and sai...

Clinton Disowns Push to Put Her On Obama Ticket ; but Allies Insist She Wants Vp Job

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton said Thursday that she's not actively seeking to be running mate to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and suggested that people who are pushing her for vice president are acting on their own. Two days after several top Clinton loyalists flooded the airwaves and the Internet pushing a so-called Obama-Clinton "Dream Team," Clinton's campaign issued a statement that said "she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her."

Id'd Body Left in Morgue for Seven Years

TRENTON Police say errors in paperwork caused a body to be left in a morgue for seven years after police knew who it was. Terisenne Hearren's body was found in a burned out building in 1999. Trenton police identified the 37-year-old and called her family in 2001.

Egyptians Rediscover 'Missing Pyramid' ; Desert Sand Hid Tomb for Centuries

SAQQARA, Egypt Egyptian archaeologists Thursday unveiled a 4,000- year-old "missing pyramid" that is believed to have been discovered by an archaeologist almost 200 years ago and never seen again. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, said the pyramid appears to have been built by King Menkauhor, an obscure pharaoh who ruled for only eight years.

Ritual Celebration for a New Torah Scroll

'Che' Brand Rankles Guevara's Children ; 'We Don't Want Money, We Demand Respect'

HAVANA Two of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's children said Thursday that they are tired of seeing their father's image used to sell everything from T-shirts to vodka, calling the growth of the revolutionary as a global super-brand "embarrassing." Aleida Guevara, the eldest of Guevara's four children by his second wife, Cuban revolutionary Aleida March, said the commercialization of her father's image contributed to tension between rich and poor in some countries.

No One Really Knows How N.Y. Will Celebrate 400th ; Remembering Hudson, Champlain Is Hitting Some Snags

ALBANY, N.Y. When Virginia commemorated the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, the state spent about $15 million and welcomed the queen of England and President Bush to the celebration. When New York State marks a pair of its own 400th anniversaries next year, it will have $4 million to spend. The guests may include a member of the Dutch royal family and a French or Canadian dignitary to be named later.