Colorado: Academy says alcohol played role in assaults

Alcohol played a role in almost half of sexual assaults allegedly involving Air Force Academy cadets that have come to light in the past decade, according to a report.

Air Force officials Wednesday told U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., that the finding was part of the General Counsel Working Group report, a yet-to-be-released review based on investigations of 56 alleged sexual assaults since 1993.

Baltimore: Governor signs medical marijuana bill

Refusing to bend to pressure from the Bush administration, Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed a bill Thursday that reduces penalties for seriously ill people who smoke marijuana.

Ehrlich is the first GOP governor to sign a bill protecting medical marijuana patients from jail, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. The Bush administration had pressed him to veto the measure.

The new Maryland law does not legalize marijuana, but reduces the penalty to a maximum $100 fine if defendants convince a judge they need marijuana for medical reasons.

Salt Lake City: Hiker killed by boulder after saving companion

A hiker was crushed by a falling 5-ton boulder after he pushed a friend out of the rock’s path, authorities said.

Seth Buhr, 22, was hiking Wednesday with three friends in Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 15 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, when the boulder fell as the group was taking a break beside a waterfall, a Salt Lake County sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

Two of the hikers noticed a shift in the rocks above Buhr and a woman, and yelled for them to move. Buhr pushed the woman into a pool before the boulder fell on him.

Florida: Baby sitter faces prison for infant’s overdose

A woman who ran a day-care center out of her Bartow home pleaded no contest to charges she gave a 3-month-old girl a lethal dose of cold medicine to make her sleep.

Paula Burcham, who accepted a plea deal Wednesday, was indicted last year on manslaughter and aggravated child abuse charges.

Under the plea deal, the aggravated child abuse charge was dropped and Burcham, 53, faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.

Grace Fields died Dec. 18, 2001, from intoxication by cold medicine.