Senator: Franken has won

Senator: Franken has won

MINNEAPOLIS — New York Sen. Charles Schumer said Democrat Al Franken should be seated in the Senate as soon as possible after it convenes Tuesday.

Schumer, the former head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement Sunday that it’s clear Franken has won the election for Minnesota’s Senate seat. He said Republican Norm Coleman can’t get enough votes to win, even if claims of double-counted ballots are resolved.

Franken had a 225-vote lead over Coleman when election officials completed their re-count Saturday. The state Canvassing Board is expected to sign off on the results today. The result cannot be certified for at least one more week under state law.

But the election may not be over. Coleman has a court petition pending that seeks to add ballots to the re-count and hasn’t ruled out challenging the election results in court.

Suicide bomber kills 7

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suicide bomber attacked police in northwest Pakistan as they rushed to treat civilians injured by an earlier explosion, killing seven people and wounding at least 25 others, said a police official.

The bomber attacked police Sunday while they were investigating a minor blast in the town of Dera Ismail Khan near the Afghan border, said Sanaullah Khan.

Five police officials and two civilians were killed by the second blast, and 16 police were among the wounded, Khan said.

Obama ‘choked up’

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE — President-elect Barack Obama landed in the Washington area Sunday evening, setting up the final march toward his Jan. 20 inauguration.

“I’ve got to tell you, I choked up a little bit leaving my house today,” Obama told reporters aboard a government 757 plane typically used by vice presidents and first ladies. It was his first trip on a government aircraft since winning election Nov. 4, aides said.

The president-elect is staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel across from the White House. His wife and two young daughters made the same trip from Chicago on Saturday.

8 die in N.Y. house fire

RICHLAND, N.Y. — Authorities said an early morning house fire in upstate New York killed eight people, including children.

Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd said one person escaped the early Sunday morning fire in Richland, 37 miles north of Syracuse. He said the eight killed were apparently related, but he declined to identify them or give their ages.

Terry Bennett of the Oswego County Emergency Management Office said there were no smoke detectors in the two-story home.

Madoff keepsakes for sale

NEW YORK — Did you get fleeced by Bernard Madoff? Or did you buy that Madoff Securities fleece jacket on eBay?

Madoff, who was arrested last month after reportedly telling investigators he lost as much as $50 billion of investors’ money in a giant Ponzi scheme, promoted his firm by putting its name on everything from T-shirts to beach towels, tote bags and umbrellas.

Dozens of the keepsakes are now being sold on eBay.

Some of the sellers say they’re former clients and employees. John Mitchell hawked a cigar humidor bearing Madoff’s name.

“I find these things and then I resell them,” Mitchell, of Fox Grove, Ill., said Sunday.

Mitchell said he also sold Lehman Brothers items after the firm declared bankruptcy in September.

“People are buying that stuff,” he said. “It’s sad, but it’s still humorous.”

Police search for killer

DAYTON — Authorities searched Sunday for a gunman who killed a woman at her home and then abandoned her 4-year-old son at a highway rest stop.

A Maryland couple found the boy Friday, wandering around a rest area along Interstate 70 in central Ohio.

The travelers, Mike and Judith McConnell, said Sunday on NBC’s “Today” that the boy told them a strange man had entered his home in Dayton without knocking and shot his mother.

Police later found the boy’s mother, Jennifer Nelson, 29, dead in her home. The McConnells, who took the child into their warm vehicle and contacted authorities, said the boy was able to provide clear details about his home address and parents’ names.

“I began asking him questions, and he told me that a stranger had come into his house without knocking,” Mike McConnell said via satellite from Baltimore. “And I said ‘Well, where was your mommy?’ And he said ‘He shot my mommy.’”

Associated Press