Virus hits computers at U.S. Marshals, FBI offices

Virus hits computers at U.S. Marshals, FBI offices

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement computers were struck by a mystery virus Thursday, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their networks as a precaution.

The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department’s computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem.

Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency’s computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar problems earlier.

“At no time was data compromised,” said Credic. The type of virus and its origin were not determined.

Warrant: Principal tried to get student to buy drugs

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Assistant Principal Amy Watson was holding the boy’s detention slip, police said, but she could make it go away, she told him.

All he had to do, she said, is buy drugs from a fellow middle-school student and suspected drug dealer, according to the warrant for her arrest.

The warrant was released Thursday after Watson, 37, was arraigned in Superior Court in Manchester. She and a security worker were charged with risk of injury to a minor earlier this month after they sent the student to buy drugs from a second student to catch him in the act of selling, police said. Neither Watson nor Edwin Soto, 49, went to police first, they said, and both later lied about their plot.

Watson tried to get the student-buyer to lie too, the warrant states, which is why she also was charged with tampering with a witness.

Las Vegas sign on register

LAS VEGAS — The iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign is now officially a piece of national history.

Clark County officials on Thursday announced that the sign has gained listing on the National Register of Historic Places, to fit with the county’s centennial celebration this year.

County Commission Chairman Rory Reid says the 50-year-old sign at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip is an important symbol, as well as the backdrop for untold thousands of tourist photographs.

No positive ID on skeleton

JOLIET, Ill. — An autopsy performed Thursday on a headless, armless skeleton found along the Des Plaines River yielded inconclusive results, leaving questions about whether the badly decomposed body was one of two women whose disappearances have drawn national media attention.

The skeletal remains were not enough to determine an identity, race or gender of the corpse, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil’s office said in a statement. An expedited DNA analysis by the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory will likely take about two weeks, O’Neil said.

The county was home to Stacy Peterson, whose husband, Drew, has been charged with killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Drew Peterson, who has pleaded not guilty in Savio’s death, contends that Stacy, his fourth wife, left him for another man when she disappeared in October 2007.

Lisa Stebic, a mother of two, was last seen in Plainfield in April 2007, and authorities have named Stebic’s husband, Craig, as a “person of interest” in her disappearance.

Schwarzenegger calls for deeper cuts to programs

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Abandoning plans to ease California’s deficit with borrowed money, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday called for greater cuts in such areas as children’s health care, college-loan assistance and state parks.

The move was a direct reaction to Tuesday’s special election, when voters rejected five budget-related measures that relied on borrowing, funding shifts and higher taxes.

California faces a practical problem if lawmakers were to consider more borrowing to deal with the state’s $21.3 billion deficit: Its credit rating is the worst of any state, adding to its borrowing costs.

U.S. envoy meets Morales

LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales called for an about-face in relations with Washington on Thursday, saying past diplomatic spats can be overcome if the new U.S. government refrains from meddling in Bolivian affairs.

Morales met with U.S. envoy Thomas Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who said their talks were a “good start” toward improving ties.

Morales urged the U.S. not to interfere in Bolivian domestic matters, as he often claims it does, and said the nations must treat each other with “mutual respect.”

Combined dispatches