Teen pleads guilty in death of skater

Teen pleads guiltyin death of skater
MIAMI -- Victoria Wagner is embraced by her daughter, Danielle, facing the camera, during an emotional hearing in which her 18-year-old daughter, Carla, pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and other felonies for running down another teen-ager last spring.
Wagner, who entered her plea Tuesday, will spend up to six years in a juvenile prison for the death of 16-year-old Helen Marie Witty while drunk.
Under a plea deal, Wagner's sentence will begin when she surrenders June 8, two days after she graduates with honors from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. She could be released in three years if Witty's parents agree. As part of her plea bargain, she will be required to address school assemblies on the dangers of drunken driving.
Last June 1, Wagner, then 17, spent the afternoon drinking tequila and smoking marijuana. She then climbed into her new Audi 2000 with two friends and sped down a two-lane road at 60 mph, hurrying home to get money from her parents, who were leaving on a trip.
On her way home, Wagner reached down for her cellular phone and lost control of her car. It jumped onto the bike path and barreled into Witty, who was skating on the path. Witty, a straight A student and vice president of her class at Palmetto High School, died instantly.
Mother of woman killedby dogs files lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO -- The mother of a woman fatally mauled at her apartment door by two large dogs filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the couple who were in charge of the animals.
Penny Whipple-Kelly's lawsuit names Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller, as well as the owner and manager of the apartment building where her 33-year-old daughter, Diane Whipple, lived.
Knoller faces charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for the Jan. 26 incident. Noel faces charges of involuntary manslaughter. Both are in jail but have denied wrongdoing, instead suggesting Whipple may have been to blame for her death.
"I hope that they're prosecuted to the full extent of the law because they killed my daughter," said Whipple-Kelly, who lives in Connecticut.
Twins spend night apart
SINGAPORE -- Twins born joined at the head made it through their first night in stable condition since a 96-hour operation to separate them ended successfully, a hospital statement said today.
Eleven-month-old sisters Jamuna and Ganga Shrestha left a Singapore General Hospital operating room Tuesday after the surgery aimed at helping them lead normal lives.
The hospital statement said that the girls were "still being sedated to keep them well rested and comfortable." They spent the night in separate beds for the first time.
Passover raids
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Hand over that hamburger -- it's a violation of the law.
That's the message from Israeli government inspectors, checking plates of food on restaurant tables and confiscating bread and other leavened products, enforcing a strict religious edict that is also an Israeli law.
Jewish law dictates that during the weeklong holiday of Passover, which began Saturday night, Jews must not possess, much less eat, bread or other products with leaven in them.
But in Tel Aviv, where the overwhelming majority of residents are nonobservant Jews, many restaurants continue serving the forbidden food.
They used to get away with it. Now they're facing the bread police.
With the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas party in charge of the Interior Ministry, the edict is being enforced in a way that angers even the lawmakers who wrote it.
Explaining the raids, ministry spokesman Itzik Sudri said, "This law exists to safeguard the Jewish character of the state, and we intend to enforce it."