Online harassment case

Online harassment case

ST. LOUIS — Federal prosecutors are asking a federal judge to send Lori Drew to prison for three years for her role in the online harassment of a teenage girl in Dardenne Prairie, Mo., who killed herself.

The recommendation made in court documents Wednesday came three days after a defense filing revealed that a pre-sentence report suggests probation and a $5,000 fine.

Sentencing is set for May 18.

Prosecutors say Drew hatched a scheme to create a fake MySpace online profile of a teenage boy to harass her daughter’s sometime rival, neighbor Megan Meier, 13, knowing the girl was depressed, suicidal and vulnerable. After Megan hanged herself at home, they said, Drew tried to cover up her role.

Drew’s lawyer, H. Dean Steward, has said his client was aware of the profile but did not create it, participate or know about Megan’s depression.

Obama’s mother baptized posthumously by Mormon

CHICAGO — Is President Barack Obama’s mother a Mormon now?

Not necessarily. But The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has confirmed Obama’s late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was posthumously baptized by a church member last year, shortly after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination.

Though it’s still unclear whether the submission of Dunham’s name was a prank or sincere gesture, church spokeswoman Kim Farah said baptizing someone unrelated violates church policy, and the breach is under investigation.

“The offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related,” Farah said in a statement.

The White House had no comment on the issue.

Rally against Saakashvili

TBILISI, Georgia — Police armed with truncheons clashed with opposition leaders and stick-wielding protesters Wednesday in the first major outbreak of violence in a month of demonstrations against President Mikhail Saakashvili, police and government opponents said.

Hours later, thousands of protesters converged on parliament in a late-night rally to demand the president’s resignation.

Police and opposition leaders accused each other of starting the clash, which occurred when opposition leaders and hundreds of protesters marched to police headquarters in the capital, Tbilisi, to demand the release of three jailed supporters.

Wal-Mart agrees to pay $2M in trampling death

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Wal-Mart agreed Wednesday to pay nearly $2 million and improve safety at its 92 New York stores as part of a deal with prosecutors that avoids criminal charges in the trampling death of a temporary worker last year.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the company has agreed to implement an improved crowd-management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day sales, set up a $400,000 victims’ compensation and remuneration fund, and give $1.5 million to Nassau County social services programs and nonprofit groups.

The agreement included no admission of guilt by Wal-Mart.

Maine governor OKs gay marriage; N.H. bill passed

AUGUSTA, Maine — In a banner day for advocates of gay marriage, Maine legalized the practice Wednesday, and the New Hampshire Legislature voted to do the same.

If New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signs the bill or lets it become law without his signature, his state would become the sixth overall to allow gay marriage and the fifth in New England. Rhode Island would be the region’s only holdout.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat who hadn’t indicated how he would handle his state’s bill, signed it shortly after the legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 21-13 — a margin not large enough to override a veto.

Hawaii Senate approves measure for ‘Islam Day’

HONOLULU — Hawaii’s state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate “Islam Day” — over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn’t want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

The Senate’s two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.

The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House.

Combined dispatches