Oklahoma

Bomb-plot insider testifies against Nichols

The prosecution’s star witness in the Terry Nichols murder trial testified Tuesday that Nichols was deeply involved in the plot to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building, gathering several components used to make the giant bomb.

“(Timothy McVeigh) told me that him and Terry had been making trips to local feed stores to buy ammonium nitrate,” Michael Fortier said, referring to the fertilizer that was mixed with racing fuel in the homemade bomb.

Fortier, 35, said McVeigh and Nichols also burglarized a Kansas rock quarry near Nichols’ home, and stole detonation cord, blasting caps and other explosives that authorities said were used in the bombing. In addition, Fortier said McVeigh told him that Nichols had robbed an Arkansas gun dealer to raise money for the bombing, which killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.

Fortier, who is serving a 12-year sentence for knowing about the bomb plot and not telling authorities, said he refused to go along with the plot and tried to talk McVeigh out of it.

Fortier does not believe the bombing would have happened if he had spoken up to police.”I didn’t think Tim was going to go through with it,” he said.

Washington, D.C.

Beluga sturgeon listed as threatened species

The government set the stage Tuesday for reducing or even banning imports of prized beluga caviar in six months, listing the beluga sturgeon as a species whose survival is considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The move came as a result of a petition from environmental groups. Afterward, they said the decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service did not go far enough because they had wanted an immediate ban.

As of 2002, the United States imported 60 percent of the world’s beluga caviar, down from 80 percent two years earlier. Experts estimate legal trade in the black fish eggs to be worth more than $100 million a year; the illegal catch from the Caspian region is believed to be at least 10 times larger.

New York City

USA Today editor retires amid scandal

The editor of USA Today, the country’s largest-selling newspaper, retired suddenly Tuesday amid a scandal over fabrications and deceptions by Jack Kelley, one of the paper’s star reporters.

Karen Jurgensen, 55, had been the paper’s editor since 1999. Her departure came on the heels of a comprehensive report on the Kelley fiasco compiled by three veteran newspaper editors.

Kelley resigned under pressure in January after admitting to trying to deceive editors checking into the veracity of some of his reporting. A subsequent inquiry found that he made up major parts of at least eight stories and committed several acts of plagiarism.

The newspaper is the largest-circulation daily in the United States and also the flagship publication of Gannett Co., the nation’s biggest newspaper publisher. It has a printing site at the Lawrence Journal-World.