Panel OKs ‘special pay’ for stay past enlistment

Panel OKs ‘special pay’ for stay past enlistment

WASHINGTON — Soldiers forced to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan past their enlistment may be getting an extra $500 a month “special pay” for their trouble.

The retroactive bonus would go to about 160,000 troops who since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were required to stay in the military beyond the time they enlisted for. An estimated 12,000 troops in that situation now also would qualify. Most of those affected by the so-called “stop loss” policy were or are in war zones.

The measure, costing about $600 million, was approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee as part of a military spending bill that Congress will consider when it returns in September from a recess and the presidential nominating conventions.

Phoenix spacecraft tastes Martian water

LOS ANGELES — The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time, scientists reported Thursday.

By melting icy soil in one of its lab instruments, the robot confirmed the presence of frozen water lurking below the Martian permafrost. Until now, evidence of ice in Mars’ north pole region has been largely circumstantial. Phoenix landed on Mars on May 25 on a three-month hunt to determine if it could support life.

Judge to hear recording in O.J. Simpson case

LAS VEGAS — The judge in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping case ordered a man to be brought to court with a recording that may contradict sworn testimony from a key witness against Simpson.

Lawyer Robert Lucherini told Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass on Thursday that he heard Kevin Mikell, a former client of his, play an audio recording in which Michael McClinton contradicts testimony he gave in a preliminary hearing in November.

McClinton testified that Simpson directed him to bring guns to a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel room last Sept. 13. McClinton testified he wielded one of the weapons after Simpson told him, “Show them your weapon and look menacing.”

Boy loses arm in attack

NEW ORLEANS — Doctors were unable to reattach an 11-year-old Louisiana boy’s arm that was retrieved from the belly of an alligator, a family friend said Thursday.

Doctors at Ochsner Hospital worked Wednesday night to reattach Devin Funck’s left arm, which had been rushed to a hospital after its recovery about 31‚Ñ2 hours after the attack. But family friend Cory Dunn said the effort was unsuccessful.

Devin was in stable condition Thursday, Dunn said.

An enormous alligator, dubbed “Big Joe” by residents, attacked Devin, biting off his arm at the shoulder and sparking a scramble to save the boy’s life.

Guilty in sex slaying

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A suburban Kansas City man was found guilty Thursday of murder in the videotaped sexual torture and slaying of a 41-year-old woman. He could be sentenced to death.

Richard D. Davis, 44, of Independence, was found guilty on 25 of 26 counts. He was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, and assault in the May 2006 slaying of Marsha Spicer, of Independence. He was convicted of kidnapping, rape, sodomy and assault in the attack of 36-year-old Michelle Huff-Ricci a month earlier.

The key evidence in the case was videotapes that prosecutors say Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, made of the attacks on Spicer and Huff-Ricci to fulfill Davis’ violent sexual fantasies. Riley is also charged in the slayings.

Bus passenger slain

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba — A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seat mate, pausing during the savage attack in central Canada to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror, witnesses and officials said Thursday.

A 40-year-old man was arrested after the grisly slaying late Wednesday aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell told reporters.

Passenger Garnet Caton said the victim, who appeared to be about 19, was sleeping with headphones on when his seat mate suddenly began stabbing him as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway, a dozen miles from Portage La Prairie.

Associated Press