Ohio

Agreement reached in lottery scam case

A woman who claimed that she bought and lost a $162 million lottery ticket was found guilty Tuesday of filing a false police report. She was fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Elecia Battle, 41, of Cleveland, also was ordered to pay $5,596.71 in restitution for police overtime, security and other costs related to the case.

Battle reached an agreement with prosecutors that called for her to plead no contest to the misdemeanor charge with the understanding that she would be found guilty. She could have gotten six months in jail.

“I have not been defeated. I’m victorious,” Battle said after the sentencing. “I still turned out as a winner.”

Shortly after a Dec. 30 lottery drawing, Battle filed a police report saying she had bought the winning ticket but lost it. A few days later, another woman produced the winning ticket and claimed the jackpot.

Chicago

Study: Frequent sex not prostate risk

Contrary to some research, frequent sexual activity does not increase the risk of developing prostate cancer and might even reduce the danger, a study of nearly 30,000 men found.

Some previous studies have suggested that men who have frequent ejaculations — whether through sex or masturbation — might be more prone to prostate cancer. One theory is that lots of sex exposes men to various germs and viruses that somehow lead to prostate cancer.

The latest study should be “reassuring to those men who may be more active than others,” said Dr. Durado Brooks, prostate cancer director for the American Cancer Society.

The study involved 29,342 health professionals ages 46 to 81 who were asked about their ejaculations in their 20s, 40s and during the previous year, 1991. During about eight years of follow-up, 1,449 men developed prostate cancer.

On average, the men overall had four to seven ejaculations a month. No increased risk of prostate cancer was seen in men who reported more frequent ejaculations, and there appeared to be a decreased risk in men with the highest reported levels.

California

Kenneth Starr named Pepperdine law dean

Kenneth W. Starr, who led the investigation into President Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky, has been named dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law, a school official said.

Starr first accepted the position in 1997 but changed his mind after he was criticized for abandoning the Whitewater investigation into the Clintons’ real estate dealings.

Starr, a longtime guest lecturer at Malibu-based Pepperdine, was acting as independent counsel when he led the Lewinsky investigation, which ended with the first impeachment of a president since 1868.

Clinton was acquitted in February 1999.

Starr has since has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and taught at New York University Law School.

Florida

Governor wants to allow illegal aliens to drive

Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses, saying they are in the state anyway and officials should accept that fact.

The bill he is backing has enough safeguards that it would ensure terrorists are not getting licenses, Bush said in Tallahassee.

“We shouldn’t allow them to come into the country to begin with, but once they’re here, what do you do? Do you basically say that they’re lepers to society? That they don’t exist?” he asked. “A policy that ignores them is a policy of denial.”

The issue comes up just four months after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican, fulfilled a major campaign promise by repealing a law that would have allowed an estimated 2 million illegal immigrant drivers there to begin applying for licenses.

Opponents of the California law said it would have posed a threat to national security because there weren’t sufficient background checks.

Kentucky

Police crack down on Oxycontin dealers

Authorities in eastern Kentucky began arresting more than 200 suspected drug dealers Tuesday in the state’s biggest crackdown yet on Oxycontin, the powerful prescription painkiller blamed for scores of deaths.

More than 100 officers from local, state and federal agencies began the roundup at daybreak, taking suspects straight from their beds.

Police expect to arrest about 210 people over the next few days, said Dan Smoot, head of law enforcement for the anti-drug task force Operation UNITE in Hazard.

The raids came as authorities brace for an increase in Oxycontin trafficking when a generic version of the drug hits the market.

“I’m afraid we’re going to see a resurgence in its use with the lower-priced generic form,” Smoot said.

Los Angeles

Voters deciding fate of proposed Wal-Mart

Voters in Inglewood went to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to allow Wal-Mart to open a shopping development despite opponents who say that it will skirt zoning, traffic and environmental reviews.

Wal-Mart has argued in Inglewood and elsewhere that its stores create jobs and said residents should be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want the stores in their community.

Last year the Inglewood City Council blocked the proposed shopping center that would include a traditional Wal-Mart as well as other stores. That prompted Wal-Mart to collect more than 10,000 signatures to force Tuesday’s ballot initiative.