Tropical Storm Calvin forms off Mexico

Tropical Storm Calvin forms off Mexico

MEXICO CITY

Tropical Storm Calvin formed Monday in the Pacific Ocean off southern Mexico and was heading toward likely landfall along a stretch of the Oaxaca state coast that is home to beach communities popular with tourists.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Mexico’s Pacific coast between Punta Maldonado and Boca de Pijijiapan. Forecasters said Calvin is expected to dump 5 to 10 inches of rain across Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas states with higher isolated accumulations possible, threatening landslides and flash floods.

Pair who challenged interracial marriage ban honored by Va.

RICHMOND, VA.

When Richard and Mildred Loving had the audacity to marry, Virginia law officers jailed them. The state’s highest court later agreed it was right to outlaw their marriage because he was white and she was black.

Now, a half century after the Lovings won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized interracial marriage nationwide, the couple has been honored with a historical marker outside the old Virginia Supreme Court building where they suffered a legal defeat.

“We honor their courage to stand up for the right to love unconditionally, their strength to endure the struggle against all odds and their tenacity to prove that loving is really what it’s all about,” Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, said Monday during a dedication ceremony.

3 soldiers killed in Afghanistan

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky.

Sgt. Eric M. Houck was a dedicated soldier, a proud father of two and was several months into his first overseas deployment when he was killed in Afghanistan with two fellow soldiers, his father says.

Houck, 25, was to have returned home next month. He died along with two fellow members of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, an Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line.

The sergeant from Baltimore was killed Saturday in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province along with Sgt. William M. Bays, 29, of Barstow, Calif., and Cpl. Dillon C. Baldridge, 22, of Youngsville, N.C., authorities said.

The Department of Defense said Monday that the soldiers died of wounds received while supporting a military operation called Freedom’s Sentinel. It didn’t elaborate.

Quake kills woman

ATHENS, GREECe

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 badly damaged scores of homes on the eastern Greek island of Lesbos ON Monday, killing one woman and injuring at least 10 people. It was also felt in western Turkey, including in Istanbul, and on neighboring islands.

Lesbos mayor Spyros Galinos and the fire service said the woman was found dead in the southern village of Vrisa that was worst-hit by the quake, which had its epicenter under the sea.

Fraud mastermind to discuss jackpots

madison, wis.

A lottery computer programmer will tell investigators how he was able to use his position to rig state jackpots for years and he and his brother will repay $3 million in prizes they improperly claimed, under a plea agreement released Monday.

Prosecutors will seek a 25-year prison sentence for former Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Tipton, the mastermind of a scheme that rocked the lottery industry. His brother, former Texas judge Tommy Tipton, is expected to face 75 days in jail.

Wisconsin prosecutors released the agreement Monday after Eddie Tipton pleaded guilty to theft and computer crime charges.

Associated Press