Dominican Republic

Tropical Storm Jeanne blamed for nine deaths

Tropical Storm Jeanne battered the Dominican Republic before heading to the Bahamas, where the tempest, which has killed at least nine people, began to churn seas and stir deadly storm surges on Saturday.

Jeanne lost strength as it drove thousands of Dominicans from their homes by late Friday. But a few hours after being downgraded to a tropical depression, it strengthened again into a tropical storm with lashing winds.

Forecasters said it was too soon to predict if the storm would hit the United States. But Brian Jarvinen at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that it might strike Florida, which has been struck by three hurricanes since mid-August.

California

Professor to be tested in staged hate crime

A college professor convicted of staging a hate crime by spray-painting her own car with racist slurs was ordered to undergo 90 days of psychological testing at a state prison.

Pomona Superior Court Judge Charles Horan on Friday delayed Kerri Dunn’s sentencing, but called her a “bald-faced liar.”

Dunn, 39, of Redlands, was convicted of a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report and two felony counts of attempted insurance fraud. She could face up to 3 1/2 years in prison when she returns for sentencing on Dec. 15.

The Claremont McKenna College psychology professor reported the racist and anti-Semitic slurs on her car on March 9, prompting college officials to cancel classes the next day as thousands of students took part in demonstrations calling for tolerance.

Dunn became a suspect after two witnesses reported seeing her vandalizing her car.

Dallas

Motorist must drive car with less horsepower

A judge gave a man who caused a fatal road rage crash two jail sentences and a string of restrictions meant to publicly humiliate him after jurors decided only on probation.

State District Judge Keith Dean ordered Frank Dorsett to serve two 180-day terms, drive a car with no more than 130 horsepower, carry a photo of the wreckage, take daily medication that will make him sick if he drinks alcohol and put a bumper sticker on his vehicle asking other motorists to call the probation department if he’s driving recklessly.

A jury in Dorsett’s manslaughter, aggravated assault and hit-and-run trial had decided on just probation Wednesday.

In June 2003, Dorsett, and another driver were chasing each other, lost control and collided with the vehicle of 16-year-old Rachel Blasingame, who was killed.

Iowa

Pork recalled because of embedded microchip

More than a thousand pounds of pork processed at a Sioux Center meatpacking plant was recalled Saturday because a microchip could be embedded in the meat.

The Sioux-Preme Packing Co. recalled 110 pork shoulder butts — about 1,100 pounds of meat — that could contain the metal devices used to measure scientific data in hogs.

The animals, processed Sept. 10, were part of a research herd that had been sent to slaughter without the proper notification that they had the chips implanted, said Sioux-Preme Vice President Jim Malek.

“These hogs had gotten into the delivery at our harvest plant in Sioux Center without any notification or declaration that they carried this device,” he said.

The meat had been sent to processors in Colorado, Iowa and Mexico. None of the meat appeared to have reached consumers, Malek said.