2 children missing; bodies not in fire

2 children missing; bodies not in fire

nashville, tenn.

Two children initially believed to have perished in an intense Tennessee farmhouse fire along with their step-grandparents are now considered missing and perhaps in danger, investigators said Wednesday.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the remains of 9-year-old Chloie Leverette and 7-year-old Gage Daniel were not found, and the agency issued an endangered-child alert for them Wednesday afternoon. Investigators said neighbors last saw the children Sunday evening, hours before a fire destroyed the home in Bedford County about 40 miles southeast of Nashville.

Filmmaker’s case continues to go on

cerritos, calif.

The federal probation violation investigation targeting the man behind the anti-Muslim video inflaming the Middle East is proceeding slowly and privately, reflecting the explosiveness of the case.

Federal officials have said nothing publicly about the case, and neither has Nakoula Basseley Nakoula’s attorney. Nakoula has put his home up for sale and gone into hiding since violence erupted over the 14-minute YouTube trailer for “Innocence of Muslims,” a crudely made film that portrays the Muhammad as a religious fraud, womanizer and pedophile.

Federal officials are looking into whether Nakoula, 55, violated probation for a 2010 check fraud conviction by uploading the trailer to YouTube.

UK court blocks extradition of cleric

london

A British court issued an interim injunction Wednesday blocking the extradition of a radical cleric to the U.S. on terror charges, granting a court hearing for an appeal.

Mustafa Kamal Mustafa — aka Abu Hamza al-Masri — challenged his extradition on charges that include helping set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon. The appeal marked another legal twist in a case that has wound its way through the courts for eight years.

$1M settlement in pepper-spray suit

san francisco

The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall, according to a preliminary settlement filed Wednesday.

The Nov. 18, 2011, incident prompted national outrage, angry campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after online videos shot by witnesses went viral.

Under the proposed settlement, UC would pay $30,000 to each of 21 plaintiffs named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split.

New search for Hoffa

detroit

Investigators will take soil samples from the ground beneath a suburban Detroit driveway after a man told police he believes he witnessed the burial of missing Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa about 35 years ago, police said Wednesday.

Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said his department got a tip from a man who said he saw a body buried about 35 years ago and “thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred.”

“We are not claiming it’s Jimmy Hoffa; the timeline doesn’t add up,” Berlin said. “We’re investigating a body that may be at the location.”

Hoffa was last seen July 30, 1975, outside a suburban Detroit restaurant where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain. His body has not been found despite a number of searches over the years.

Associated Press