Man charged in student’s death
Man charged in student’s death
CLAY, N.Y.
A 20-year-old Pennsylvania student who vanished last week while on Thanksgiving break in her hometown was killed by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who then dumped her body in a park “like garbage,” a prosecutor said Saturday.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said 21-year-old Steven Pieper of Liverpool, N.Y., had been arrested on a charge of murder in the death of Jenni-Lyn Watson, a junior dance major at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. He pleaded not guilty Saturday night in Clay town court.
Pieper did not have a phone number listed at his home address. A message left at a relative’s house was not immediately returned Saturday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney yet.
Eden Mishler, a dance major who had met Watson three years ago during her freshman year at Mercyhurst College, told The Associated Press that she had met Pieper several times but didn’t know him that well.
Plane crashes into housing complex
KARACHI, Pakistan
A cargo plane crashed into a housing complex in Karachi soon after takeoff today, setting off a huge blaze and killing all eight Russian crew on board, Pakistan’s civil-aviation authority said.
At least one person on the ground was injured, but the Russian-made plane missed several densely populated apartment blocks by a few hundred yards. About 20 houses were damaged or destroyed, though most were under construction and believed to be unoccupied, locals said.
The Sudan-bound plane crashed around 1:50 a.m., when many people in the upscale neighborhood of Pakistan’s largest city were asleep.
Palin: Book-signing stop not political
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa
Hundreds turned out for a Sarah Palin book signing in Iowa, an event the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate insisted was not for political purposes.
Palin’s stop Saturday at the Borders in West Des Moines brought her back to Iowa, which hosts the caucuses that kick off the presidential-nominating season.
The “American by Heart” author has hinted that she’s considering a 2012 presidential run but says the visit was to promote her new book, and that’s all.
Security was tight, and Palin did no media interviews.
People who bought her book were shuffled to the signing table in small groups. But few complained, and most couldn’t contain their excitement.
Palin is scheduled to return to Iowa on Thursday for an event in Storm Lake.
Wyo. wildlife official supports bear hunts
POWELL, Wyo.
A Wyoming wildlife manager says he supports hunting grizzly bears now that the population in the Yellowstone National Park area has reached the highest level in decades.
Researchers said last month that more than 600 grizzlies roam the Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
That’s more than three times the number in 1975, when hunting was outlawed and the species was placed on the endangered list.
Mark Bruscino, supervisor of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department bear- management program, told the Powell Tribune that he favors hunting to manage the grizzly population.
Associated Press