hTexas river overflows
hTexas river overflows
HOUSTON -- Heavy rain Monday in the San Antonio and Austin areas flooded streets, stranded cars and closed roads. Above, Edward Franz of the Bastrop Volunteer Fire Department helped to evacuate Christian Capps, 4, from his flooded home near the Colorado River. Rising creeks and streams also threatened some homes, forcing residents to move to higher ground. San Antonio police reported one death, after a vehicle was swept from a road. In New Braunfels, rescue crews evacuated 24 children from a day-care center. Flooding also shut down a large section of the city's downtown. Gov. Rick Perry authorized use of three Texas National Guard UH-60 helicopters for search and rescue operations. "We hope Texans will take all possible precautions during severe weather to keep them from dangerous situations," he said in a statement.
Baby's arms cut off;mother faces charges
PLANO, Texas -- A 10-month-old girl died Monday after her mother cut her arms off, police said. The 35-year-old woman, who has suffered from postpartum depression, was charged with capital murder. Dena Audre Schlosser sat calmly in the living room when officers arrived after receiving a 911 call just before noon. Her clothes were covered in blood and the baby lay in her crib in a back bedroom. The child, whose name was not released, was alive when police arrived and later died at nearby Medical Center of Plano. Schlosser told police she was responsible for the baby's injuries but declined to elaborate, police said. Police would not comment about why she may have killed the youngest of her three daughters.
Peterson is denied
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Judge Alfred Delucchi denied Monday a request to seat a new jury in the Scott Peterson case and to move the sentencing phase to another county, delaying the procedure until next week. While prosecutors had been expected to call their first witnesses to describe their loss of Laci Peterson, defense lawyers for the man convicted of killing the Modesto, Calif., woman were working to uproot the case.
Report criticizes Bayer
WASHINGTON -- Drug maker Bayer was slow to report the risks of its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol and to remove it from the market in 2001, according to an forthcoming report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings, based in part on internal company documents revealed in a recent court case, raise new questions about the Food and Drug Administration's effectiveness in monitoring the safety of drugs after it has approved them for sale. The report on Baycol appears in the journal's Dec. 1 issue, along with five other papers on problems with drugs after they have been approved for sale. An accompanying editorial in the influential journal recommends that a new federal regulatory office be established, independent of the FDA, to monitor drugs once they are on the market.
Food convoy in Libya
AL JAWI, Libya -- A convoy of food aid by the United Nations World Food Programme came together in the Libyan Desert on Monday. Some 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad will get U.N. aid for the first time after the creation of a 1,740-long relief corridor running through the desert.
Close race in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A court-ordered recount in Puerto Rico's gubernatorial election got under way Monday, with officials beginning a tedious process of going through about 2 million hand-marked paper ballots one by one. The move came as the two highest courts on the island sparred over what should happen to 28,000 disputed ballots that could determine the winner.
Combined dispatches