Trooper shooting case

Trooper shooting case
MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. -- Authorities recovered a body Wednesday night from the shell of a house destroyed by fire after police raided it in search of a man suspected of shooting three New York state troopers, one fatally. Police could not immediately confirm the body was that of Travis D. Trim, a 23-year-old from northern New York whom police had been looking for since a trooper was shot during a routine traffic stop Tuesday in rural upstate New York. The fire broke out roughly nine hours after two troopers were shot, one fatally, while searching the home for Trim, a suspect in the shooting Tuesday of another trooper. Police thought he was inside at the time of the fire, New York State Police Acting Superintendent Preston L. Felton said. Just before the flames erupted, police fired a device containing tear gas into the home, Felton said. Police believed Trim holed up in the vacant home during the manhunt.
Officer arrested over sex
AUSTIN, Texas -- A corrections officer from a juvenile halfway house was arrested Wednesday, accused of having sex with an 18-year-old female resident during a group trip to a park. Andrel Waddle, 30, was charged with improper sexual activity with a person in custody, Texas Youth Commission spokesman Jim Hurley said. Waddle took nine Willoughby Halfway House residents to park in Benbrook, near Fort Worth, on April 18, Hurley said. He and three residents stayed in the van, where he and the teen engaged in a sexual act, witnesses said.
36 counts dropped
NEW ORLEANS -- The state on Wednesday dropped 36 counts of cruelty to the infirm against the owners of a nursing home where 35 people died in the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. Salvador Mangano and his wife, Mabel, still face 28 counts of cruelty to the infirm and 35 counts of negligent homicide. State prosecutors said the Manganos, who own St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard Parish, should have taken steps to evacuate patients before flood waters rose because of the Aug. 29, 2005, storm.
Bill seeks record sharing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Since 1968, federal law has prohibited the sale of guns to anyone adjudged mentally ill. But more than half the states cannot -- or will not -- supply the necessary mental health records to the FBI database that is used to conduct background checks on would-be gun buyers. That could change after last week's massacre at Virginia Tech. The U.S. House is considering a bill that would encourage states to share mental health records with the federal government by giving them more than 1 billion in grants to help cover the costs. Privacy laws and lack of technical ability now prevent 28 states from sharing such information with the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System based in Clarksburg, W.Va., according to a Justice Department report.
Bush says he didn't know
WASHINGTON -- President Bush hopes that someone is held responsible for the U.S. military's mishandling of information about the death of former football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, the White House said Wednesday. Bush did not learn about the unusual circumstances of the Army ranger's death until after the soldier's memorial service on May 3, 2004, said deputy press secretary Dana Perino. U.S. military officers at first reported that Tillman had died in an ambush, when he actually was killed by fellow U.S. troops. Tillman's death received worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His family initially was misled by the Pentagon about how he died April 22, 2004, and did not learn the truth for more than a month.
Probes of White House
WASHINGTON -- In rapid succession, congressional committees Wednesday ramped up their investigations of the Bush administration by approving a subpoena for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and granting immunity to a former key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration's claim, now discredited, that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. Moments earlier in the committee chamber next door, the House Judiciary Committee voted 32-6 to grant immunity to Monica Goodling, Gonzales' White House liaison, for her testimony on why the administration fired eight federal prosecutors. The panel also unanimously approved -- but did not issue -- a subpoena to compel her to appear. Simultaneously across Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved -- but did not issue -- a subpoena on the prosecutors' matter to Sara Taylor, deputy to presidential adviser Karl Rove. The House oversight committee also issued subpoenas for the Republican National Committee for testimony and documents about White House e-mails on RNC accounts that have apparently gone missing.
Associated Press