PHOENIX — Arizona Republican U.S. Rep. John Shadegg said he is retiring and won’t run for a ninth term this year. Shadegg said Thursday that he will serve out his current term in Congress and then pursue other interests. He says he will “pursue my commitment to fight for freedom in a different venue.” The 60-year-old’s district covers north Phoenix, Paradise Valley and a stretch of rural communities north of Phoenix.
Louisiana: Cajun singer dies
Bobby Charles, the singer-songwriter who penned such hits as Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans” and “See You Later Alligator” by Bill Haley and the Comets, died Thursday. He was 71. Charles, a Louisiana Cajun whose real name is Robert Charles Guidry, died at his home in Abbeville, his publicist said. Though she did not know the cause of death, she said Charles had diabetes and was in remission from kidney cancer.
Florida: Coke in shuttle hangar
NASA is investigating how a bag of cocaine got into the hangar that houses space shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A NASA spokesman said Thursday that the bag contained a tiny amount of the illegal substance. It was found by a worker in a secure part of the hangar that is accessible by about 200 NASA employees and contractors. NASA is drug testing and interviewing workers, as well as using drug-sniffing dogs. Boeing is a prime contractor for the shuttle program.
Tennessee: Plot on Obama
An Arkansas man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he plotted to kill then-Sen. Barack Obama and dozens of other black people in 2008. Paul Schlesselman, 19, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Jackson to one count of conspiracy, one count of threatening to kill and harm a presidential candidate and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in April. A co-defendant, Daniel Cowart, 21, of Bells, remains in custody.
California: A fake officer
A 69-year-old Southern California man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge for posing as a decorated Marine major general. David Weber entered the plea Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of making false claims about military decorations or medals. Weber, who has prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease, is expected to be sentenced to a year of probation. Authorities say Weber had been a Marine staff sergeant but claimed to be a retired major general last November at a Veterans of Foreign Wars party in Ramona.
Pennsylvania: Online sting
A longtime U.N. weapons inspector who blamed a 2001 sex-sting arrest on his criticism of the Iraq war has again been charged in an online child-sex case, and this time he was caught on camera. Scott Ritter, 48, of Delmar, N.Y., engaged in a sexually graphic online chat with an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl nearly a year ago, police in northeastern Pennsylvania said. He then turned on a webcam and masturbated on camera, they charged.
Iraq: Bombings in Najaf
Three bombs exploded in quick succession after sunset Thursday in the southern holy city of Najaf, killing up to 25 people and wounding scores of others, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said. The blasts occurred in a crowded open-air fish and vegetable market near the landmark Imam Ali shrine, a popular pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims from around the world. The bombings shattered a yearlong lull in violence in Najaf that had allowed the religious tourism industry to flourish, with new hotels and restaurants packed most nights with pilgrims mostly from neighboring Iran. No firm death toll could be confirmed as of late Thursday.
Russia: Fighter jet missing
A military spokesman said that a fighter jet has disappeared while on a training mission in the country’s far east. He said the Su-27 fighter jet has taken off from an air base near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. He said the jet went off the radar screens Thursday while it was 20 miles away from the base. He said rescue helicopters were searching for the plane and its pilot, but added that darkness complicated the effort. Most Russian helicopters lack equipment for flying at night.
From Herald news services
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