AP source: 8 killed in central Va. shootings

AP source: 8 killed in central Va. shootings

APPOMATTOX, Va. — A lone shooter killed eight people Tuesday in central Virginia, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, and police have the suspect circled in the woods where they believe he is hiding.

State police say there were multiple deaths and injuries and that one shooter was responsible. They could not say what sparked the violence. The official who gave the number of dead asked for anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about the investigation.

The drama paralyzed the rural area in southwest Virginia as police swarmed forests trying to flush out the suspect who, at one point in the manhunt, fired at a state police helicopter, forcing it to land with a ruptured fuel tank. No police were injured after one or more rounds struck the helicopter. No police were injured.

Witness says Peterson threatened to kill wife

JOLIET, Ill. — Former police officer Drew Peterson threw his ex-wife to the floor one night, grabbed her throat and told her he “could kill her there and then,” a one-time co-worker of the woman testified Tuesday at a hearing to determine what evidence can be admitted in Peterson’s murder trial.

Kathleen Savio, who mysteriously drowned in a bathtub six years ago, essentially is testifying from the grave during the hearing. Witnesses are telling a judge how Savio discussed fears that Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, would kill her. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are offering the first detailed look at evidence they contend ties Peterson to Savio’s 2004 death.

The hearing stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying. The law was passed after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the October 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed Savio’s body and reopened her death investigation.

635,000 cribs recalled by consumer-product panel

LOS ANGELES — The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling about 635,000 cribs following the death of a 6-month-old child and dozens of reports of safety problems, the government agency said Tuesday.

The cribs, distributed by Dorel Asia SRL of Barbados, feature hardware that can fail, causing the drop-side to detach from the crib. When the drop-side detaches, it creates a space in which an infant or toddler can become entrapped and suffocate or strangle, the agency said.

The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam and sold at Wal-Mart, Kmart and Sears stores nationwide from January 2005 through December 2009 for $120 to $700. Several models of the cribs are being recalled.

Obama pairs 20 boys with White House mentors

WASHINGTON — Now it’s the boys’ turn.

First lady Michelle Obama started a yearlong White House mentoring program last fall for young women, pairing about 16 girls from the Washington area with women at top levels in the Obama administration.

Now President Barack Obama is following her lead, pairing 20 high school-age boys with White House officials who will serve as mentors. Obama planned to announce the boys’ mentoring program on today as part of an event marking National Mentoring Month, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the president’s announcement.

Like the girls, the boys will attend monthly workshops to encourage them in education, career planning and community service.

New GOP governor takes office in New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. — Republican Chris Christie was sworn in Tuesday as New Jersey’s 55th governor, vowing to deliver the far-reaching change he said voters elected him to bring about.

“You voted loudly and clearly for change, and you have entrusted us with what may be our last, best hope for a stronger New Jersey — the New Jersey of our youth, full of hope and opportunity,” Christie said in his inaugural address. “New Jersey, you voted for change and today change has arrived.”

Christie takes over a state plagued by the nation’s highest taxes, a deficit that could hit $10 billion by July and unemployment near 10 percent.

Christie, a 47-year-old former federal prosecutor, ran on a platform of smaller government.

Combined dispatches