Briefly

Texas

Dallas suburb declares flooding disaster

Lancaster city officials declared a local disaster Thursday after thunderstorms dumped more than a foot of rain on this Dallas suburb, damaging as many as 200 homes and forcing nearly 20 high-water rescues.

With creeks still swollen and soil soaked, residents across north Texas were bracing for the possibility of more rain.

Some areas south of Dallas received more than 13 inches of rain in the overnight deluge.

A motorist was killed when his pickup truck knocked over a utility pole in a weather-related wreck in a Dallas neighborhood and live wires fell on his vehicle.

Above, Department of Transportation maintenance worker John McDonald talks to residents about a bridge that was washed out by flood waters on Ovilla Road in Ovilla, Texas.

Kentucky

Soldier guilty of armed robbery of Iraqi driver

A military jury found a soldier guilty of armed robbery Thursday for taking an Iraqi sheik’s sport utility vehicle at gunpoint, but concluded he did not deserve prison.

The panel also convicted Sgt. 1st Class James Williams of willful dereliction of duty for allowing his soldiers to consume alcohol in Iraq.

Williams, 37, of Westmoreland County, Va., maintains he helped take the SUV only because his lieutenant ordered him to procure a vehicle and because he did not think it was a criminal act, but the prosecution alleged he was simply after a “sweet ride.”

Williams, a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division, declined to comment after the ruling, but his civilian defense attorney, Bernard Casey, said he planned to appeal.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Worms that live on whale bones discovered

Two strange new species of worms, without eyes or stomachs or even mouths, have been discovered living on the bones of dead whales in California’s Monterey Bay.

The unexpected discovery was made about 9,400 feet below the surface.

Lead researcher Greg Rouse of the South Australian Museum said, “Deep-sea exploration continues to reveal biological novelties” such as this “remarkable” worm.

Vrijenhoek, of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., said the worms, ranging from 1-inch to 2 1/2-inches long, had colorful, feathery plumes that served as gills and green “roots” that work their way into the bones of dead whales. Bacteria living in the worms digest the fats and oils in the whalebone.

The researchers named the worms, a new genus, Osedax, which is Latin for bone eating. The study is reported in today’s issue of the journal Science.

Nebraska

Wife of billionaire Warren Buffett dies

Susan T. Buffett, the wife of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, died Thursday of a stroke at age 72, the company said.

Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a hugely influential investor, was with his wife when she died in Cody, Wyo., where they were visiting friends, the company said. She had been admitted to West Park Hospital in Cody the night before, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Susan Buffett, a Berkshire director, was listed this year by Forbes magazine as the 60th richest American, with a personal net worth of $3.1 billion.

Though the Buffetts had lived separately for many years, she had also stood to inherit her husband’s fortune.

California

Legislature gives final approval to budget

The California Legislature gave final approval to a $105 billion state budget Thursday after a nearly one-month deadlock during which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insulted his opponents as “girlie men.”

The Senate passed the spending plan on a 28-11 vote, a day after the package cleared the Assembly 69-11. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign it into law Saturday.

Although both Democrats and Republicans found much to complain about in the spending plan, they largely agreed in the end that the budget represented a good compromise.

HONOLULU

Psychologists group backs gay marriage

The nation’s largest association of psychologists is backing same-sex marriage.

The American Psychological Assn.’s Council of Representatives made its support official Wednesday, the first day of the group’s annual convention in Waikiki. The council also voiced opposition to discrimination against gay parents.

It also found same-sex and heterosexual couples remarkably similar, and children’s psychological well-being unrelated to parental sexual orientation.