California

Police search in Ohio for clues to family slayings

Police investigating the shooting deaths of a California family of five searched several undisclosed locations in Ohio on Friday, but would not say what they were looking for.

Bakersfield police have said information from Ohio led to the release of their sole suspect in the case — elementary school vice principal Vincent Brothers, the father of three of the young victims and estranged husband of another.

Bakersfield police searched several locations in Columbus, Ohio, but have not elaborated on the connection.

Brothers’ estranged wife, Joanie Harper, their children, Marques Harper, 4, Lyndsey Harper, 23 months, and Marshall Harper, 1 1/2 months, and Joanie Harper’s mother, Earnestine Harper, were found shot to death Tuesday in their Bakersfield home.

PHOENIX

Al-Qaida detainee claims forest fire plot

The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaida terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn’t see a need to act further on it.

The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI’s Denver office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic. Davis declined to share a copy of the memo and an FBI spokeswoman in Denver didn’t immediately return a telephone call.

Colorado

Soldier becomes second U.S. woman killed in war

An Army sergeant killed by a gunshot wound in Iraq became the second U.S. servicewoman to die in the war.

Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26, of Eagle Pass, Texas, died Wednesday from noncombat injuries, according to the Defense Department. The accident in Balad, a city 55 miles north of Baghdad, was under investigation and details were not released.

Valles was with the headquarters detachment of 64th Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Carson officials said Friday.

The first woman to die in the Iraq war was Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, of Tuba City, Ariz., who was killed March 23.

North Carolina

Mother faces charges after children left in car

A mother whose three children were left in a hot car was charged Friday with felony child abuse and involuntary manslaughter in one child’s death. The other two children are in critical condition.

Police said Natasha Edwards-Pratt called 911 about 1 p.m. Wednesday to say that her daughter was not breathing. Emergency workers found the three children in the living room, unconscious and in respiratory distress, police said.

Police said they don’t know how long the children were left in the car. Wednesday’s temperatures reached 95 degrees.

Kenneth Pratt, 2, died at a hospital Wednesday. Jaquon, 1, and Nataliya, 4 months old, were in critical condition Friday.

Police said the children’s father, Kenneth Pratt, was home at the time, but has not been charged.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Test of anthrax system set to begin Monday

A 15-city test of a new anthrax detection system at the Postal Service will begin Monday.

The test of the newly developed Biohazard Detection System will continue for four weeks, the agency said.

The test was originally set to begin May 30, but was postponed after postal officials concluded they needed more time to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local authorities in the test cities to develop guidelines for responding to test results.

The system uses rapid DNA testing to detect germs. It was developed in the wake of the anthrax-by-mail attacks in the fall of 2001 that killed five people and sickened many more.

California

Boy Scout leader pleads not guilty in porn case

A Boy Scout camp director pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges of possessing child pornographic images at the camp where he worked.

Michael Careatti, 35, of Bakersfield, was arrested two weeks ago at Camp Kern, a Boy Scouts of America summer camp at Huntington Lake, about 70 miles east of Fresno.

Careatti, who has been suspended from his job without pay, possessed images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to an indictment based on an FBI investigation. The 22 seized images did not portray campers, officials said.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Marine band in tune for 205 years

Happy birthday, Marine Corps Band.

Created July 11, 1798, by Congress, it has been providing the music at major U.S. events and for the president for 205 years.

To celebrate its birthday, the band will perform in concert at the Kennedy Center on Saturday. American composer John Williams will be the guest conductor.

NEW YORK

Deputy police leader arrested in theft

A deputy police commissioner is being charged in the theft of more than $100,000 from a nonprofit organization that raises money for city jails, a city spokeswoman said Friday.

Deputy Police Commissioner Fredrick J. Patrick was awaiting arraignment Friday after his arrest on a mail fraud charge.

Patrick, one of several deputy commissioners, heads the police department’s office of community affairs, which manages police community outreach, neighborhood watch and other programs. He has been suspended without pay.