National news
Son of ranch boss faces murder charge
Hondo, N.M. The 14-year-old son of the manager of ABC newsman Sam Donaldson’s New Mexico ranch was arrested Wednesday on charges of murdering his father, stepmother and stepsister, authorities said. Cody Posey was arrested at a friend’s home near the Chavez Canyon Ranch around 5 p.m., Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan said. The bodies were found at the ranch in south-central New Mexico after Donaldson went to the manager’s house Tuesday and discovered an “obvious crime scene,” Sullivan said. Deputies searched the area and found the three bodies in a shallow grave. No other details of the slayings were released. The dead were identified as Delbert Paul Posey, the teen’s father; stepsister Mary Lee Schmid, 14; and stepmother Tryone Posey. The Donaldsons were in Santa Fe, N.M. during the Fourth of July weekend when the slayings apparently occurred.
Bush picks nominee to replace Pickering
Washington President Bush on Wednesday nominated Keith Starrett, a judge on the 14th Circuit Court District of Mississippi since 1992, to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of the state. If confirmed by the Senate, Starrett would replace Charles W. Pickering. Stymied in getting some of his choices past Democratic opponents, Bush bypassed the Senate in January and gave Pickering a temporary appointment on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
City, counties sued over marriage rights
Baltimore The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the city of Baltimore and four Maryland counties for the right of same-sex couples to marry. The lawsuit was filed in Baltimore Circuit Court on behalf of nine couples and a man whose partner recently died. The couples had sought marriage licenses and were denied, said Ken Choe of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, based in New York. Maryland law defines marriage as between a man and a woman. In February, Attorney General Joseph Curran sent a memo to state legislators and the 24 clerks of the court reminding them that clerks are not authorized to issue licenses to gay couples. The ACLU has pending legal challenges in Massachusetts, Oregon, New York, Washington state, California and Nebraska.
Pilot dies as airplane crashes into 2 homes
Seal Beach, Calif. A small airplane crashed into two homes Wednesday, killing the pilot who spent years building the aircraft in his garage. Both homes in this coastal community 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles caught fire. But the blazes were put out quickly and the residents were not seriously hurt, said Garry Layman of the Orange County Fire Authority. Friends and neighbors identified the pilot as Ross K. Anderson, a former Navy pilot with an airline transport license. Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said investigators believe the pilot was the only person in the plane.