Crumbs lead to arrest

Crumbs lead to arrest

LEXINGTON, Ky. — An eighth-grader in Kentucky is accused of putting peanut butter cookie crumbs in the lunchbox of a classmate with a severe peanut allergy.

The allergic student did not eat the cookies Thursday at Morton Middle School in Lexington.

Fayette County schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall says the accused student was arrested on a felony wanton endangerment charge. The student will face charges in the juvenile court system.

Deffendall says it was well-known that the other student suffered allergies. There was no known history of problems between the two 13-year-olds.

For those allergic to peanuts, trace amounts of peanut oil can cause severe reactions and even death.

Mayor ‘punished by God’

DETROIT — Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says God is punishing him for his “disobedience.”

The mayor addressed a crowd Saturday at Fellowship Chapel Church in Detroit. He and his former chief of staff face perjury and other charges stemming from their testimony during a whistle-blower trial last year.

Kilpatrick told the crowd: “I’m not being whupped by the devil; I am being punished by my God. I know that my disobedience put me in the situation I am in.”

Remembering ’95 bombing

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahomans and victims’ relatives paused Saturday at the Oklahoma City National Memorial for a simple, poignant ceremony to remember the 168 people killed 13 years ago in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The attack on April 19, 1995, is the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

At 9:02 a.m., the moment of the bombing, people attending the service observed 168 seconds of silence for each of the bombing’s victims. Victims’ names also were read aloud.

Rough landing for Soyuz

MOSCOW — A Russian capsule carrying South Korea’s first astronaut touched down 260 miles off target in northern Kazakhstan on Saturday after hurtling through the atmosphere in a bone-jarring descent from the international space station.

It was the second time in a row — and the third since 2003 — that the Soyuz landing went awry.

Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the condition of the crew — South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko — was satisfactory, though the three had been subjected to severe gravitational forces during the re-entry.

Al-Qaida threat on tape

CAIRO, Egypt — A man claiming to be the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq vowed in an audiotape released Saturday to launch a monthlong offensive against U.S. troops.

There was no independent confirmation that the voice belonged to Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, but it sounded exactly like the one heard on previous audiotapes.

Al-Muhajir has been the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq since his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad in 2006.

Titanic ticket sold

LONDON — A ticket for the Titanic’s ill-fated voyage that belonged to the last survivor with memories of the disaster sold to a collector from the United States at a British auction Saturday.

Lillian Asplund, who died in 2006 at age 99, was 5 years old when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank during its maiden voyage from England to New York. Her father and three siblings were among the 1,500 people who died.

She was the last American survivor of the disaster and the last with memories of it. Others had been too young at the time of the sinking to recall their experience.

Asplund’s ticket sold for $65,772, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.

Parking ticket for officer

PORTLAND, Ore. — An attorney who watched a police officer park illegally in front of a restaurant, then wait around while his meal was prepared, issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated violations.

Eric Bryant said he was sitting at the restaurant March 7 when Officer Chad Stensgaard parked his patrol car next to a no-parking sign and walked inside to wait for his food, the Portland Mercury reported Thursday.

Bryant filed a complaint as a private citizen alleging several violations, including illegal parking and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle.

Stensgaard was issued a summons to appear in traffic court in May. The fines could total $540.

Associated Press