Border official accused of hiring illegal workers

Border official accused of hiring illegal workers

BOSTON — A top Homeland Security official in Boston was accused Friday of repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her home, even warning one not to leave the country “’cause once you leave, you will never be back.”

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was charged with harboring an illegal alien and ordered released on $25,000 unsecured bond during an initial appearance in federal court. She was expected to appear in federal court in Boston later Friday on a charge of harboring an illegal alien.

If convicted, Henderson faces up to 10 years in prison. She declined to comment after her court appearance.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said Henderson has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending a decision next week on whether she will be suspended without pay.

Bettie Page ‘critically ill’ after having heart attack

LOS ANGELES — Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven-haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.

“She’s critically ill,” Mark Roesler of the Curtis Management Group told The Associated Press.

He said the 85-year-old had the heart attack Tuesday and was hospitalized Friday in the Los Angeles area.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, “I would not deny that,” but he would not comment further on her condition.

Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Woman swept out to sea during marriage proposal

NESKOWIN, Ore. — A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea.

Police don’t suspect foul play in the disappearance Saturday of Leafil Alforque, Tillamook County Sheriff Todd Anderson said. Thick fog and dangerous water conditions off Neskowin Beach hampered the rescue efforts, and the search was called off Monday.

Scott Napper had a ring in his pocket and planned to pop the question to Alforque, 22, at Proposal Rock, which got its name from couples ready to marry.

Napper said the tide had receded around the rock when the couple began to walk to it, but then a wave around 3 feet high suddenly came in.

“I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it,” Napper said. By the time he turned to find Alforque, who was only 4-foot-11, she had been caught by the receding waters.

Database aims to connect blacks to African ancestors

ATLANTA — Historians hope a new Web database will help bring millions of blacks closer to their African ancestors who were forced onto slave ships, connecting them to their heritage in a way that has long been possible for white Europeans.

“Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database” launched Friday in conjunction with a conference at Emory University marking the bicentennial of the official end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808. Emory spearheaded the two-year interactive project, which is free to the public.

“It’s basically doing for people of African descent what already exists for people of European descent in the Americas,” said Emory history professor David Eltis, who helped direct the project.

Missile defense test

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department said Friday it shot down a missile in a simulated attack designed to test a proposed shield against strikes by long-range ballistic missiles from nations such as North Korea.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency used an interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to knock down a missile meant to simulate the speed and trajectory of a North Korean attack. It struck the target missile around 3:30 p.m., shortly after the target was launched from a location in Alaska.

The military has conducted a series of tests in the past several years of the different components of the defensive shield, which is slated to include Patriot air defense batteries, anti-ballistic missiles launched from Navy ships and lasers mounted in planes designed to shoot down incoming missiles.

Associated Press