New York City: Authorities questioning friend of sniper suspect
A man wanted for questioning about the Washington-area sniper suspects is being held in a New York jail on passport fraud charges.
Peter John Gianquinto Jr., a 53-year-old felon who has used several aliases, was arrested Nov. 4 as he left his doctor's office in Manhattan.
He appeared in federal court the following day on charges he submitted a bogus Rutgers University ID card to obtain a passport.
Authorities in the Caribbean island of Antigua have linked Gianquinto to sniper suspect John Muhammad, saying that the two men were seen there together several times.
"They purchased things together like TVs, VCRs. They were both scam artists," said John Fuller, head of a government task force investigating Muhammad's activities.
He said the men bought items together using checks that bounced, then resold them.
Ohio: University pulls ad for strip joint jobs
Ohio State University ripped up its faculty and staff directory over a decidedly unacademic offer inside.
"Need Tuition?" reads the full-page ad featuring a photo of woman's face. "Dockside Dolls gentleman's club is looking for you."
The ad recruiting strippers was torn from 10,700 directories this week, but 2,300 others already had been sent out. The university also canceled the ad in a student directory not assembled yet.
Ohio State spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk said the ad would not have been approved had it been reviewed more carefully, and added that the university is in the process of establishing advertising guidelines.
Dockside Dolls management said pulling the ad was censorship.
About half of the Columbus club's employees are college students, and some earn $500 to $2,000 a night, said Johnny Basinger, director of operations for the Aberdeen, N.C.-based company that owns the club.
Florida: Smuggled Ecstasy, not gold, discovered
Customs agents said they found 13 pounds of Ecstasy pills in the luggage of a Dutch woman who expressed surprised at the discovery :quot; she told investigators she thought she was smuggling gold.
Patricia Maria Brujnius, 39, arrived at Orlando International Airport on Saturday on a flight from London, according to records released Tuesday in federal court. She was scheduled to appear in court next week.
Brujnius told investigators she was to be paid $5,000 for delivering the suitcase with hidden compartments, as she had done twice before, the court papers said.
The street value of the pills was at least $731,250, based on estimates of 2,250 pills per pound and a price of $25 per pill.
Ecstasy is a hallucinogen-stimulant.
Philadelphia: Health group urges less use of salt
The nation's largest public health group is recommending a 50 percent decrease in salt in processed food and restaurant meals over the next 10 years.
The American Public Health Assn. said the reduction could save 150,000 lives a year from strokes, heart attacks and other illnesses linked to high blood pressure.
Government guidelines already recommend limiting intake of sodium - which increases blood pressure - to no more than 2.4 grams daily, or the equivalent of about a teaspoon of table salt. But the average American adult consumes nearly 4 grams a day, according to the association.
A resolution passed Tuesday at the health association's annual meeting in Philadelphia urges a collaboration with food manufacturers to meet the goal.
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