Florida: Brothers’ drownings are ruled accidental

Three brothers found dead in a neighbor’s pool drowned accidentally, authorities said Saturday.

No foul play is suspected in the deaths of the Fort Pierce boys, ages 9, 7 and 4, said Merv Waldron, an investigator for the medical examiner’s office.

It still is unclear how the boys entered the yard, which is enclosed by a 6-foot-tall wooden fence, police spokeswoman Audria Moore said.

Resident Julia Mendoza found the bodies of James, Jon Paul and Ocnel Metelus when she arrived home from work Friday afternoon.

Los Angeles: Former bishop sued by one-time altar boy

A former Roman Catholic bishop who was forced to resign in a 1999 sex scandal is being sued by a man who claims the bishop abused him for nearly two decades.

The suit claims the relationship with the Rev. G. Patrick Ziemann, now 60, started when the plaintiff was a sixth-grade altar boy and went on until Ziemann was named auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1987.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Archdiocese said the church hadn’t seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Florida: Bogus phone calls tie up 911 service

A Florida man was charged with faking more than 1,100 calls to 911, tying up emergency service lines for two days.

Michael A. Holmes, 20, placed the calls Sunday and Monday because he was bored, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.

He was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony extortion and misuse of 911 emergency communications.

“We normally have 190 cell phone calls in a 24-hour period. One night, he gave us over 800,” said Sgt. Keith Faulk. “If something really bad had happened, this could have kept somebody from getting help.”

Tennessee: Black farmers end sit-in at USDA office

Black farmers ended a sit-in at a Department of Agriculture office in Brownsville after federal officials agreed to meet with them this week to discuss their allegations of discrimination.

The 15 protesters said department field offices wrongly denied crop loans to black farmers. The sit-in began Monday following a rally by 150 farmers and their supporters from 11 states.

Protest leader Gary Grant said demonstrators would start meeting with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman’s representatives on Tuesday and meet with her on Friday.

The meetings were offered Wednesday in a letter from the department to the Black Farmers and Agriculturalist Assn.