New Jersey: FBI joins search in child neglect case

The FBI joined the search Tuesday for a go-go dancer wanted in the death of a 7-year-old boy and the starvation of his two brothers.

Sherry L. Murphy, a cousin of the boys’ mother, may have fled to the South, investigators said. They said she has family in Rocky Mount, N.C.

She is wanted on child endangerment charges.

The body of Faheem Williams was found Sunday in a plastic storage bin at Murphy’s home in Newark. A day earlier, his twin and his 4-year-old brother were discovered starving and burned in a locked basement room.

An autopsy determined Faheem died from starvation and blunt force to the stomach.

Murphy began caring for the boys when their mother was jailed on assault charges in March.

Virginia: Sniper false witness gets 6 months in jail

A man accused of falsely telling police that he witnessed one of the sniper shootings last October pleaded no contest to an obstruction of justice charge Tuesday.

Matthew Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000 on the misdemeanor count. He has been jailed since Oct. 18 on $75,000 bond.

“He told bald-faced lies in a major felony investigation, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law,” said Raymond Morrogh, deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax County.

Dowdy was charged after the Oct. 14 shooting of Linda Franklin in the parking garage outside a Home Depot store. Dowdy told police he witnessed the shooting but store security cameras showed he was inside the store at the time, prosecutors said.

Washington, D.C.: Cabinet secretary returns to hospital

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta returned to a hospital Tuesday for treatment of back pain, a day after he left.

Mineta, 71, spent much of the last three weeks at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, though he left Monday to attend a Cabinet meeting.

He has been conducting meetings and telecommuting from his hospital bed, according to a statement released by the department.

Mineta had surgery in August to relieve persistent back pain, which reappeared after a long plane trip in November. Doctors found the pain was caused by a staph infection and exacerbated by curvature of the spine.

Doctors will operate to correct the spine curvature after the infection heals.

Washington, D.C.: Post office records $1 billion profit

The Postal Service recorded a $1 billion profit in the first quarter of the fiscal year, topping expectations by $200 million, the agency said Tuesday.

The busy three-month period before Christmas meant a heavy mail volume for the post office, producing income to help balance slower periods.

The post office had a net loss of $1.35 billion last fiscal year but anticipates finishing this year in the black due to cost cutting and the rate increase that took effect last summer.

New York City: Bristol-Myers settles antitrust lawsuits

Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to pay $670 million to settle lawsuits stemming from tactics it used to keep generic versions of two of its best-selling drugs off the market.

In a statement Tuesday, the New York-based drug maker said it believed its actions were lawful but opted to settle the antitrust litigation to put the uncertainty of a legal battle behind it.

In December 2001, 29 states and Puerto Rico sued Bristol-Myers Squibb for allegedly using illegal tactics to keep a generic version of antianxiety drug BuSpar off the market. Last June, a different group of 29 states accused the company of illegally blocking a generic version of its cancer-fighting drug Taxol.