TWO STATES TO PROSECUTE POLYGAMIST LEADER JEFFS

Two states to prosecutepolygamist leader Jeffs
SALT LAKE CITY -- Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs will be prosecuted first in Utah, then in Arizona, on charges that he arranged marriages of underage girls to older men, authorities said Wednesday. Arizona officials filed charges first, but Utah prosecutors agreed to try Jeffs first because they believe they have a stronger case and more serious charges, including two counts of rape by accomplice, which accuse Jeffs of forcing a girl to marry an older man and submit to him sexually. Prosecutor Brook Belnap said the decision came after state and federal prosecutors in both states discussed the case in a conference call. "We have the gravity of the charges here," said Belnap, the prosecuting attorney in Washington County, in southwestern Utah, where many of Jeffs' congregants live. Jeffs, 50, is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a group that broke away from the Mormon church a century ago when the Mormons disavowed polygamy. He was captured late Monday after a traffic stop north of Las Vegas. Jeffs, who is said to have at least 40 wives and nearly 60 children, had been on the run for more than a year and on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list since May.
Lawyer is accusedof slaying neighbor
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- A lawyer climbed through a neighbor's bedroom window and stabbed him to death after being told by a family member that the man had molested his 2-year-old daughter, authorities say. Barry James, 58, was stabbed in the chest nearly a dozen times Monday. The lawyer, Jonathon Edington, 29, was charged with murder and burglary and was released on $1 million bail Wednesday. Capt. Gary MacNamara said that police had not received a complaint about the child being assaulted before the killing, and "we have no indication it's true or not true." Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman, said the information came from Edington's wife. "The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," Sherman said. James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When officers went to Edington's home, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with what appeared to be blood on him, and a large kitchen knife next to him on a counter, authorities said.
Sept. 11 ad campaign
NEW YORK -- Where were you when you heard about Sept. 11? Kiara Bradley was driving a bus. Gary Robertson was on his farm in California. Fire Department Lt. Mickey Kross was at New York's Engine Company 16, before he went to the burning World Trade Center and survived the north tower's collapse. A national ad campaign being launched today features the stories of people who remember where they were when they heard of the 2001 terrorist attacks. "I was in the shower. ... I was in a dentist's office in Bulgaria. ... I was on the Q train," says a radio spot for the campaign, which seeks donations for the Sept. 11 memorial at the trade center site. A historian says the event will be remembered for life by the people who experienced it, in the same way that people recall the assassinations of President Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Pakistan building falls
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A residential apartment building collapsed in a mountain resort area near the Pakistani capital today, but it was unclear if there were any casualties, police said. The building was at least six stories high and collapsed in the town of Muree, said police official Raja Akram. The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear. "The entire building has sunk to the ground. We can see only the top story," Akram said. A woman trapped in the rubble used her mobile phone to call police for help, but did not know how many other people might be in the building, Akram said. Police and army rescuers are at the site trying to remove rubble and find any survivors.
Divers' deaths probed
SEATTLE -- The captain of a Coast Guard cutter was temporarily relieved of duty after the deaths of two crew members during a dive in the Arctic Ocean, officials said Wednesday. Capt. Douglas G. Russell will be replaced by Capt. Daniel K. Oliver, a previous commanding officer of the Seattle-based cutter the Healy, as the investigation into the deaths continues, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Russell had been in charge of the ship since June; before that, Oliver commanded the Healy for a two-year tour of duty. The Coast Guard has released few details about the Aug. 17 tragedy 500 miles north of Barrow, Alaska. Lt. Jessica Hill, 31, of St. Augustine, Fla., and Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Duque, 22, of Miami died after they entered the water to examine the ship's rudder -- a common procedure as the ship operates in Arctic ice.
Associated Press