National news
Last Civil War widow laid to rest
Elba, Ala. Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, has been buried in an 1860s-style ceremony complete with war re-enactors.
Martin, 97, died May 31, nearly 140 years after the Civil War ended. She was a 21-year-old widow with a young child when she met and married 81-year-old Confederate veteran William Jasper Martin in 1927.
After two days of lying in repose at the First White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery, a funeral service was held Saturday at the First Assembly of God Church in Elba.
White House T-ball begins fourth season
Washington “Are you ready? Play ball!” President Bush shouted Sunday to launch the fourth season of T-ball at the White House to the delight of pint-sized players eager to swat a baseball off a tee.
In the first game of the year, the Little League Cardinals from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington faced off against the Devil Dogs from Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, N.C.
Bush launched White House T-ball to promote interest in baseball and foster a spirit of teamwork and service. Teams are selected by Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pa.
Inmate’s beating under investigation
Fort Worth, Texas Officials are investigating how a prisoner managed to enter the cell of another inmate and beat him as he was strapped to a chair after a suicide attempt.
Brady Hicks Jr. suffered cuts and bruises to his head and face last month after fellow Tarrant County Jail inmate Leslie Wardwell rushed past a jailer into the cell, put Hicks in a headlock and punched him for 30 seconds, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Sunday’s editions.
The sheriff’s department began investigating the May 9 incident this month after the newspaper inquired about it. Hicks had been placed in a chair that secured his arms and legs after he tried to hang himself.
“This should have never, never happened,” said Sue Hicks, the inmate’s wife. “Dogs are treated better in the pound.”
Researchers find Japanese WWII subs
College Station, Texas Texas A&M University researchers have found the wreckage of a fleet of Japanese submarines that terrorized U.S. ships throughout World War II.
The Navy used explosives to sink the 24 subs in 1946 to prevent the Soviet Union from taking advantage of their technology. The location of the wreckage was classified for nearly six decades.
Using now-declassified Navy documents and underwater technology, Texas A&M oceanography professor William Bryant and graduate student Brett Phaneuf found the submarines 60 miles off the coast of Nagasaki.
About three weeks ago they used a robotic vehicle to take pictures of the wreckage, 675 feet underwater. It is among the largest collections of sunken submarines in the world, Bryant said.