Pennsylvania

Parents admit using son in Cub Scout scam

Parents of a 7-year-old boy admitted scamming neighbors of nearly $700 by dressing their son in a Cub Scouts uniform and going door-to-door seeking donations for a nonexistent pack.

Anthony M. Herman, 46, and Sally Ann Gombocz, 45, of Bethlehem knocked on more than 150 doors between Jan. 7 and Jan. 18, collecting $667 as their son silently smiled, police said.

At the couple’s arraignment Wednesday, Herman said they perpetrated the scam because the family landscaping business was failing.

“What we’ve done here was a desperation act,” Herman told the judge. “I’m not trying to minimize what I did. It was stupid, very stupid.”

Bethlehem police arrested the couple after receiving tips from neighbors. Both were charged with theft by deception, corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy and related offenses.

Washington, D.C.

Government to require new 401(k) notice

Starting next week, about 40 million Americans invested in 401(k) plans must get 30 days of notice when their employers want to block access to the accounts for administrative changes.

The post-Enron regulation, issued Thursday by the Labor Department, was required as part of a new law enacted last summer to deal with a wave of corporate accounting scandals.

The new requirement was a small change proposed after the scandals to tighten protections for workers. But as the public furor about Enron and WorldCom eased, so did the urgency for Congress to act.

In the notices, employers or plan administrators must state the reasons for the blackout, the start and end dates and provide a statement advising an evaluation of investments based on an inability to make changes during the period.

Failure to provide the 30-day notice is a fine up to $100 per day per plan participant.

Louisiana

Pilots apologize for mistaken bombing

Two U.S. pilots who mistakenly bombed Canadian troops last year in Afghanistan apologized to the families of the dead and wounded Thursday as a hearing that could lead to their court-martial drew to a close at Barksdale Air Force Base.

The men expressed anguish over the accident but defended their actions the night of April 17, 2002, when the bomb killed four Canadian soldiers and wounded eight others near Kandahar. Both said they believed they were under enemy fire and had never been told allies might be doing exercises in the area.

Maj. Harry Schmidt and Maj. William Umbach are charged with involuntary manslaughter, dereliction of duty and aggravated assault. They could get up to 64 years in a military prison if convicted.

Washington, D.C.

Scientists discover that insects breathe

Exposing insects to X-ray beams a billion times more powerful than the ones that doctors use, researchers have at last settled one of the longest-running — if lesser-known — controversies in science: Bugs, it turns out, do breathe.

The discovery may seem small, and by some measures it is. Among biologists, however, the evidence that insects actively inhale and exhale is nothing less than historic.

The discovery could lead to new insecticides, including some that could kill insects by asphyxiating them, and the X-ray technology might eventually be adapted for medical imaging in people.

An analysis of the work will be published in today’s issue of the journal Science.