Man pleads not guilty to killing 3 women

Man pleads not guilty to killing 3 women

cleveland

A man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to kidnapping and killing three women whose bodies were found wrapped in trash bags last month.

Michael Madison, 35, appeared via a video feed from jail for his arraignment, for which he was handcuffed and wearing orange jail scrubs. The judge continued his $6 million bond and said she would appoint two attorneys to represent him. A pretrial hearing was set for Tuesday morning.

Shootings, bombs kill 26 in Iraq

baghdad

Attacks including bombings of Shiite and Sunni mosques left 26 dead in Iraq, the latest in a surge of bloodshed that is raising fears of a return to widespread sectarian killings, officials said Wednesday.

Most attacks on Shiites are presumed to be carried out by the country’s branch of al-Qaida, which claimed credit Tuesday for a wave of bombings the day before that killed at least 58 people.

Simpson gets parole on some charges

carson city, nev.

O.J. Simpson won a small victory Wednesday in his bid for freedom as Nevada granted him parole on some of his 2008 convictions for kidnapping and armed robbery involving the holdup of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas hotel room.

But the decision doesn’t mean the 66-year-old Simpson will be leaving prison anytime soon. The former NFL star was convicted on multiple charges and still faces at least four more years behind bars on sentences that were ordered to run consecutively.

Texas executes man

huntsville, texas

A former financial analyst with a history of disruptive behavior was executed Wednesday for the road-rage shooting deaths of two truckers in the Dallas area 15 years ago.

Douglas Feldman, 55, received a lethal injection for gunning down Robert Everett, 36, of Marshfield, Mo., and Nicholas Valesquez, 62, of Irving.

Feldman was pronounced dead 13 minutes after the lethal drug was injected at 7:28 p.m.

Origin of outbreak remains a mystery

lincoln, neb.

Nearly 400 people across the country have been sickened by cyclospora, a lengthy intestinal illness usually contracted by eating contaminated food. But if you’re looking to find out exactly where it came from, you may be out of luck.

Federal officials warned Wednesday that it was too early to say whether the outbreak of the rare parasite reported in at least 15 states was over.

Health officials in Iowa and Nebraska say they’ve traced cases there to prepackaged salad. They haven’t revealed the company that packaged the salad or where it was sold, explaining only that most if not all of it wasn’t grown locally.

House OKs bill on student loans

washington

A bipartisan bill that would reduce the costs of borrowing for millions of students passed the House on Wednesday and was heading to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The legislation links student loan interest rates to the financial markets, offering lower rates for most students now but higher ones down the line if the economy improves as expected. Even as they were preparing to pass the bill, many lawmakers were already talking about a broader approach to curbing fast-climbing costs.

Associated Press