Boston

Man with bloody chain saw let into U.S.

On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres.

Then they let him into the United States.

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres’ hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton’s kitchen floor. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death.

Despres, 22, immediately became a suspect because of a history of violence between him and his neighbors, and he was arrested April 27 after police in Massachusetts saw him wandering down a highway.

Texas

Murderer executed

A man who fatally stabbed a prostitute almost four years ago was executed Tuesday, becoming the ninth person to be put to death this year in Texas.

Alexander Martinez, 28, ordered that no appeals be filed to stop his punishment.

“I have caused so much pain to so many people,” Martinez wrote in a statement he prepared about two hours before his death. “I especially want to apologize to my victim’s family for the life I took.”

Martinez was supposed to be put to death in March, but the date was delayed after his lawyer filed an appeal against his wishes. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later dismissed the appeal.

Virginia

Calculator recalled after student finds flaw

Texas Instruments is replacing thousands of calculators issued to students in Virginia after a sixth-grader discovered that pressing a certain two keys converts decimals into fractions.

That would have given students an unfair advantage on Virginia’s standardized tests, which require youngsters to know how to make such conversions with pencil and paper.

At the request of the state education department two years ago, Texas Instruments had disabled the decimal-to-fraction key.

But in January, Dakota Brown, a 12-year-old at Carver Middle School in suburban Richmond’s Chesterfield County, figured out that by pressing two other keys on his state-approved TI-30 Xa SE VA, he could change decimals into fractions anyway.

Florida

Katherine Harris to run for Senate

Republican Rep. Katherine Harris, who as Florida’s secretary of state was both praised and vilified for her part in the 2000 presidential recount, said Tuesday she would run for the Senate next year against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

Her announcement brings the potential to attract huge infusions of cash from Republicans and Democrats alike because she is such a polarizing figure.

“The time has come to launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate,” Harris told The Associated Press.

Harris, 48, is serving her second term in Congress. She is considered a top fund-raiser and is a popular figure among Republicans.

But she is also despised by some Democrats for her role in overseeing the recount that ultimately gave Florida and the White House to George W. Bush over Al Gore.