Indiana

Boy rescued after getting inside vending machine

A crane vending machine can be frustrating enough when you’re trying to snatch a little stuffed toy from its steely clutches. Imagine if the prize it’s denying you is your own 3-year-old son.

James Manges II managed to climb up the chute and inside one of the machines Thursday, swinging around for an hour amid the plush toys he coveted before firefighters freed him.

James’ mother, Danielle Manges, said they had paid an early morning visit to a Wal-Mart in this northern Indiana city because he had been sick and was sleeping odd hours. After she denied him money to play the vending-machine game, he threw a juice box and climbed into the machine while his mother picked it up.

She soon became upset when Wal-Mart employees said they did not have a key to let James out.

Firefighters removed the back of the machine to free James – who went home empty-handed.

New Mexico

Tests show white powder wasn’t anthrax

White powder in a threatening letter to Gov. Bill Richardson was not anthrax, according to tests a day after the substance forced the state Capitol to evacuate.

“Anthrax is not involved; no other harmful agents are involved,” said Peter Olson, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Saturday.

The letter was opened Friday afternoon by the director of mail operations for the governor’s office. Authorities evacuated the office and other parts of the building as a precaution.

Tests ruled out anthrax, but further tests were planned over the weekend to try to identify the powder. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service were investigating the source.

Anthrax hoaxes have persisted since the still-unsolved mailings of anthrax-tainted letters in October 2001 that killed five people and sickened 17 others.

In the past week, hospital emergency rooms were locked down in Iowa and New York after people reported contact with white powder in the mail. Officials said there was no indication anthrax was involved in those cases.

Idaho

Search continues for missing children

Authorities have completed the crime scene investigation of a home where three people were beaten to death, but they had few clues about the disappearance of two children from the home.

On Friday, a tip that the youngsters were in a van about 20 miles from the Canadian border was dismissed. Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said the boy in the van had long hair, but the boy being sought has a crew cut.

Authorities said they have few clues in the case. Dylan James Groene, 9, and his sister, Shasta Kay Groene, 8, were last seen Sunday at their rural home near Coeur d’Alene.

Searches of about 400 acres of brush and woods near the house wrapped up Thursday, and divers used their hands to feel the bottoms of nearby ponds and streams.