Did letter forecast killings?

Did letter forecast killings?

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The man who gunned down 13 people in an immigrant center thought police had harassed him for years, even spreading rumors about him and touching him in his sleep, and apparently was intent on killing people before returning “to the dust of the earth,” according to a rambling letter in broken English mailed to a TV station the day of the massacre.

The letter’s authenticity could not immediately be verified Monday, but the city of Binghamton said it was reviewing the material as “evidence in the investigation.” The letter was mailed to News 10 Now in Syracuse, and postmarked Friday, the day Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong stormed into the American Civic Association and went on a rampage before killing himself.

Bomb kills 37 in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Anger boiled over in Baghdad streets at Iraqi soldiers and police after they failed to prevent a stunning series of coordinated bombings across the city Monday that left 37 dead and more than 100 wounded.

Iraq’s government blamed the attacks on supporters of Saddam Hussein “in cooperation with the al-Qaida terrorist organization” and suggested the blasts were timed for today’s anniversary of the founding of the late dictator’s Baath party.

The attacks occurred as the U.S. military is drawing down its forces in the capital.

Mourners pay respects to slain Pittsburgh officers

PITTSBURGH — Police, friends and family paid their respects Monday to one of three officers allegedly killed by a gunman whose postings on a white supremacist Web site have come under scrutiny.

Mourners lined up outside a Pittsburgh funeral home for the first of the viewings for the officers, who will lie in state at a municipal building Wednesday and then be remembered at a community memorial service Thursday at a university arena.

Paul Sciullo II, 37; Eric Kelly, 41; and Stephen Mayhle, 29, were killed Saturday responding to a domestic disturbance at the home Richard Poplawski shared with his mother. The woman had called police to their house after threatening to evict him.

Unknown to her, she told police, her 22-year-old son was armed and waiting for the police when they arrived. He shot Sciullo and Mayhle on sight and then killed Kelly during a four-hour siege, police said.

VA patient tests positive for HIV after mistakes

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Veterans Affairs patient who was among thousands treated with unsterilized equipment has tested positive for HIV, the first such case reported since the department warned veterans they could have been exposed to infectious diseases.

The VA previously reported that hepatitis had been found in 16 patients, but the agency cautioned there was no way to prove that the patients contracted the illnesses because of treatment at their facilities.

The VA earlier this year warned more than 10,000 veterans to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination while getting colonoscopies in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami.

Study: At age 4, 1 in 5 U.S. children are obese

CHICAGO — A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese.

Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age.

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites.

The lead author said that rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages.

Castro, U.S. officials meet

HAVANA — President Raul Castro has met with seven visiting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, his first face-to-face discussions with U.S. officials since he became Cuba’s president last year.

State television said Monday that Castro met with the American lawmakers behind closed doors Monday.

The delegation is in Havana to discuss improving U.S.-Cuba relations amid much speculation that Washington is ready to loosen its 47-year-old trade sanctions against the communist-run island.

Associated Press