Briefly

Florida: 12-year-old swimmer dies from lake infection

One central Florida boy died and another was in critical condition after they contracted rare infections while swimming in nearby lakes.

A 12-year-old boy from Oviedo died Friday at Florida Hospital-Orlando of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare brain infection that is contracted from amoebas, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The boy had inhaled some of the microscopic one-celled organisms while he swam in the Conway chain of lakes northeast of Orlando, hospital officials said.

On July 20, another type of bacteria, chromobacterium violaceum, entered a 15-year-old Deland boy’s body when he was swimming in Lake Talmadge, officials at Florida Hospital-Orlando said. The bacteria entered through a cut on his leg, officials said.

The Deland boy remained in critical condition.

Boston: White supremacists guilty of bomb plot

The mixed-race son of civil rights activists and his white girlfriend were convicted of plotting to blow up Jewish and black landmarks in a scheme prosecutors said was designed to spark a race war.

A federal jury deliberated seven hours during two days before convicting Leo Felton, son of a black father and white mother, and his girlfriend, Erica Chase.

Felton has said he blames his parents for “contaminating” him with black blood.

Felton, 31, and Chase, 22, were arrested in April 2001 when an off-duty police officer spotted Chase passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a doughnut shop.

Investigators said Felton was making the phony money to help fund their plan and had already gathered most of the ingredients to make a bomb, including a 50-pound bag of ammonium nitrate, the fertilizer used in the Oklahoma City bombing.

New York: Report critiques NYPD response to 9-11

A report evaluating the police response to the World Trade Center attack found that the department was largely effective but had problems with leadership and coordination, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The report, prepared by the consulting firm McKinsey and Company, also said that while the events of Sept. 11 could not have been predicted, the department was hurt by a lack of planning and training for a possible terrorist attack.

The analysis, which was expected to be released this week, found that the New York Police Department effectively managed traffic, protected sensitive locations in the city, and helped evacuate the twin towers, The Times said.

But the review also found flaws in the department’s response, saying 38 percent of the police officers who responded to the World Trade Center did not know to whom to report that day.