Briefly

New Hampshire

Fake obituary slipped into weekly newspaper

Police are trying to determine who told a weekly newspaper that the wife of a teacher had died, resulting in a published obituary for the woman who was still alive.

“It never occurred to us that someone would be sick enough to do this,” said Michael Cleveland, editor of The Cabinet Press in Milford.

The obituary for Kathleen Connor-Allwarden, with an accompanying photograph, was dropped off at the newspaper in time for Thursday’s edition. It said she was a 44-year-old teacher who died of undetermined causes on Aug. 10.

After it was published, family members alerted the newspaper that Connor-Allwarden was alive and well, and a retraction was printed on its Web site.

Connor-Allwarden is the wife of Bobby Allwarden, a music teacher in nearby Amherst.

Cleveland said the newspaper has given the submitted obituary and photograph to police.

Louisiana

Shooting kills father, wounds 2-year-old

A man holding his 2-year-old son was shot to death and the child was seriously wounded near a crowded school bus stop Tuesday when a man grabbed a shotgun out of his car and started firing, investigators said.

Another man, who had taken his son to get on a bus, was wounded in the leg.

Louis Schenck III was arrested shortly after the shootings were reported at about 7:15 a.m., said Lt. Mike Sanders, spokesman for the sheriff in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans.

Schenck, 46, faces charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the shootings, which authorities said took place in front of Schenck’s parents’ house in the New Orleans suburb of Meraux.

Sheriff Jack Stephens said the suspect came out of the house after arguing with his father, got into his car and quickly backed out of the driveway. Stephens said Schenck started firing after someone yelled at him to slow down.

Detroit

Limited breast radiation shows promising results

In the largest study yet of a promising treatment option, William Beaumont Hospital researchers reported Tuesday that women with early-stage breast cancer only needed five days of radiation to the tumor site, not 6 1/2 weeks of radiation to the entire breast.

The research, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that women fared just as well five years later if they received only limited radiation.

“What these data suggest is radiation to the entire breast adds nothing” in women with a highly favorable prognosis, said Dr. Frank Vicini, principal investigator of the study and chief of oncology at Beaumont Royal Oak.

Texas

Appeals court stops scheduled execution

A state appeals court on Tuesday halted the execution of a triple murderer after attorneys argued jurors should have been allowed to consider his troubled childhood during his sentencing.

“That was the only issue I raised,” defense lawyer Randy Schaffer said. “I asked the court to stay the execution and permit me to argue the case when it reconvenes in September.”

Mark Robertson, 35, whose lengthy criminal history started before he was a teenager, was set for lethal injection today for the execution-style slaying of Edna Brau at her home in Dallas.

Robertson received a life sentence for fatally shooting Sean Hill, 19, Brau’s grandson and a friend of Robertson’s, and another life term for killing a convenience store clerk in Dallas 10 days earlier.

Ohio

Mother who drowned 4-year-old left note

A woman who police say drowned herself and her 4-year-old daughter in a lake left a note saying she’d “had enough,” the woman’s mother said.

Kennetta Lockhart, 32, was upset about money problems when she walked down a boat ramp late Sunday into the murky water with her two young children, police said. Divers recovered the bodies of Lockhart and her daughter, Kayla Langdon, on Monday.

Lockhart’s 8-year-old son, Keonte Langdon, survived. Lockhart’s mother, May Langdon, said her grandson told her Lockhart walked into Summit Lake while holding the children’s hands. Keonte tripped over a rock and crawled back to shore while his mother and sister disappeared into 10 feet of water, the grandmother said.

Keonte remained hospitalized in fair condition Tuesday.

Langdon said her daughter left a letter on the mantel in Lockhart’s house. “It was a letter like she was saying goodbye, but it said she could not go on and had had enough,” Langdon said.