Palin boyfriend’s mother arrested

Alaska state troopers have arrested the mother of Bristol Palin’s boyfriend on drug charges.

Sherry L. Johnston was arrested Thursday after troopers served a search warrant on a Wasilla home. The 42-year-old Johnston has been charged with six felony drug counts.

Troopers did not identify the drug involved in a brief mention on the agency’s Web site.

However, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said late Friday in a news release that the charges were in connection to the drug OxyContin, a strong prescription painkiller.

Johnston is the mother of 18-year-old Levi Johnston. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP nominee for vice president, announced in September that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant and Johnston was the father.

Sherry Johnston was released from jail in Palmer on $5,000 bail. She was not scheduled to be immediately arraigned.

ORLANDO, Fla.

Missing 3-year-old suffered no trauma

Pieces of a tiny skeleton found in swampy woods can tell investigators one thing: Missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony was killed. What they can’t help explain, authorities said Friday, is how or when she died.

DNA tests conducted on remains found by a utility worker last week less than a half-mile from where the child lived matched Caylee’s genetic profile, a county medical examiner said. But the only clue they give about her death is that her bones didn’t suffer trauma, said Orange County medical examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia.

“Bottom line is, folks, no child should have to go through this,” Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said.

The discovery of the child’s remains came after months of searches, twists and turns in the investigation. Caylee’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, was indicted in October on first-degree murder and other charges, even though no body was found. She has insisted that she left the girl with a baby sitter in June, but she didn’t report her missing until July.

MINNEAPOLIS

Franken picks up hundreds of votes

Democrat Al Franken picked up several hundred votes at Thursday’s state Canvassing Board meeting, all but erasing the narrow unofficial lead that Republican Sen. Norm Coleman has maintained for weeks. The DFLer seemed poised to move ahead Friday, at least temporarily, as the board rules on more challenged ballots.

Franken appeared ready to beat back another challenge, as board members appeared skeptical about the Coleman team’s argument that ballots that had duplicates made so they could run through election machines shouldn’t be counted unless the original could be matched with the duplicate.

The question of whether to count those ballots will be the first thing the board addresses when it convenes Friday morning, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said. The panel will work into the evening if necessary to finish up with remaining challenges, he said.

On the third day of its recount review, the five Canvassing Board members dealt with 642 ballot challenges made by the Coleman camp, helped by the last-minute withdrawal of some 400 by the campaign.