UC students barricade themselves inside buildings

UC students barricade themselves inside buildings

BERKELEY, Calif. — Students barricaded themselves inside buildings on University of California campuses to protest a 32 percent increase in student fees and budget cuts that have led to slashed programs and lost jobs.

Demonstrators at UC Berkeley occupied Wheeler Hall on Friday and hung a sign from a window that read “32 Percent Hike, 900 layoffs,” with the word “Class” crossed out in red. A group of students also rallied outside the building.

Campus police said they had arrested three of the demonstrators inside.

Police would not say how many protesters remained in the building. University police Lt. Alex Yao said demonstrators were barricaded behind fire doors on the second floor, but police had control of the rest of the building.

Army to allow media at Palin book event

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. Army has reversed its position and now says it will open Sarah Palin’s appearance on Fort Bragg to media despite fears the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.

Fort Bragg officials said Friday in a news advisory that any interested media will be able to attend. A day earlier, a spokesman said media would be prevented from attending so the Palin book signing would not become a political platform to express opinions “directed against the commander in chief.”

The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer protested that ban. The military then proposed limited media coverage but relented Friday.

Palin’s visit to Fort Bragg on Monday is one of many stops on a tour promoting a new memoir.

Colorado billboard tries to link Obama to jihadists

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used-car dealership that put it up.

The sign, completed Friday by artist David Lee, shows a grinning, cartoonish Obama and bears the words “PRESIDENT or JIHAD?”

Underneath the president’s image is a big, yellow square with the phrase, “BIRTH CERTIFICATE, PROVE IT!”

The words “WAKE UP AMERICA! REMEMBER FT. HOOD” appear at the bottom of the billboard at Wolf Interstate Leasing and Sales, about seven miles west of Denver. The sign is visible from Interstate 70.

Lee said there were plenty of honks as he painted it.

The left-leaning advocacy group MoveOn.org called the billboard “racist” and was asking customers to boycott the dealership.

Burglars steal box containing baby’s ashes

PEORIA, Ariz. — An Arizona family is pleading with burglars to return a wooden music box containing the ashes of their 5-month old son.

The Peoria family came home Thursday afternoon and found the garage door open and the house ransacked. The burglars stole electronics and a wooden music box.

Inside the box were the ashes of 5-month-old Tyler. His mother, Lindsay Grannis, says he died in 1996; she laid him down for a nap with his twin brother and “he just never woke up.”

The family says the box has no monetary value and they’re willing to make a deal.

If the ashes are returned to any Peoria or Phoenix fire station, the burglars can keep the rest of the stolen items.

Police say they believe the burglars got inside the home using a universal garage door remote.

Man reportedly paid teens to spit in his face

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — A 39-year-old Southern California man has been arrested for misdemeanor child annoyance after reportedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department says Charles Hersel was arrested Wednesday in a sting operation at a mall in Thousand Oaks. He’s free from jail pending a court hearing.

A sheriff’s statement says Westlake High School students claimed Hersel paid them to yell profanities, spit and slap him in the face. Several also claimed he offered them cash to urinate and defecate on him.

A motive wasn’t clear.

Authorities say Hersel contacted some teens through the MySpace social-networking site.

Associated Press