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Show DAILY Mornmbr HERALD Wednesday. September FAST FACT TOPING Former presidents BiBCfintoa George BusK Herbert Hver. Ronald Reagan, James Garfield and Gerald Ford shared one thing 'm common: Each of them wrote SoraDalcdcaruxnTiMiQuKikw Compiled from Dotty Herald wire services The NATION Hooding from storm devastates historic Virginia neighborhood RICHMOND, Va. Florida Supreme Court hears right-to-d- TALLAHASSEE, prevent strokes Fb. brain-damage- o, e case. ft low-lyin- Dew stent helps to case ie Florida's Supreme Court Justices Tuesday questioned whether the Legislature tried to do an end run around the court system by passing a law that let Gov. Jeb Bush order the d reinsertion of a woman's feeding tube. The high court heard arguments in the case of Terri ScM-avwho is at the center of one of the nation's longest and most battles. This is bitter right-todithe first time the Florida Supreme Court has agreed to take up any aspect of the Flooding touched off by the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston left at least five people dead in Virginia on Tuesday and devastated an historic Richmond neighborhood that was the heart of the Confederate capital during Mhe Civil War. In the city's hard-h- it Shockoe Bottom district, dozens of cars that had been carried off by the raging floodwaters were strewn about the streets, which were caked with mud and scattered with bricks and other debris. Numerous businesses and apartments were flooded. A produce truck lay overturned. A brick building had collapsed onto several vehicles. Residents and city officials described a scene of terror as floodwaters fed by a foot of rain swept through the g area on Monday, reaching depths of up to 10 feet. Rescue crews helped lift pas-- . sengers out the windows of a marooned bus, and panicked motorists raced to escape (heir cars as the floodwaters engulfed them. City officials closed off 20 ' blocks of the Shockoe Bottom district or about half of the historic area near the James River, declaring them off limits until the buildings can be inspected to make sure they are safe. Officials said that the damage 'would easily be in the millions qf dollars but that it was too early to provide an estimate. "The devastation to a lot of tjie businesses in Shockoe Bottom is overwhelming," said 2ov. Mark R. Warner, who talked through the muddy streets. He said he would ask Washington to declare a state 6T emergency, making residents eligible for federal aid. i. 2004 ' .1 - V Justice Charles Wells said he was troubled because he had to conclude that "Terri's Law," passed last October, was de- ' signed to sidestep a trial court ruling that found "dear and convincing evidence" Schiavo. would not want to be kept alive W V' -- V artificially. Bush attorney Robert Destro, a law professor at Washing- ton's Catholic University of America, said the Legislature was simply trying to protect the woman. "The Legislature gave this f ' MARK OORMUS Associated Press caused by heavy rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston in Richmond, Va, is seen on Tuesday. The unexpected downpour lead to widespread flooding that left at least five dead and devastated an historic district. A sinkhole 1 blockage of the carotid artery. The FDA approved two versions of the device systems; one can be inserted by a single doctor, the other by a pair of med' . ical workers. According to the American Heart Association, roughly 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year. Stroke is tb nation's No. 3 killer and is among the leading causes of sc vere disability, the association says. . Search begins for body of girl missing since .1969 SANTA ANA, Calif. Three-year-oMichelle Pulsif er WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration on was never seen again after her ' Tuesday approved a device defamily got in their car and left (California 35 years ago. But no signed to prevent strokes by one ever filed a missing person clearing blocked carotid arteries, the main blood vessel leadreport, prosecutors say. Now, authorities will search ing to the brain , While similar metal mesh for the girl's body, and her mother and an Illinois man tubes, known as stents, are used in other arteries, it was have been arrested in connecthe FDA's first approval of tion with her alleged murder. such a device for neck arteries. The Orange County district ' , The newly approved stent attorney's office said Monday it and filter combination, made by spent a year looking into the d case after a private investigaIndianapolis, Guidant Corporation, will aid tor hired by the girl's aunt told . them he could find no public patients with past stroke symptoms and at least 80 percent record of her after July 4, 1969. ld Days after Michelle Pulsif er was last seen, her family suddenly moved to Illinois from their home south of Los Angeles. Her mother, Donna J. Prentice, and Prentice's former, boyfriend, James Michael Kent, insist she was left with a relative in California, investigators say. "We've concluded that Michelle never left that home in Huntington Beach alive," District Attorney Tony Rack-aucksaid. "A search for her body is under way," Rackauckas said. He declined to reveal where the search is taking place, or to discuss evidence investigators believe links the pair to the girl's disappearance. LOS ANGELES , Ind-base- Man sentenced to death in Christmas Eve killings as Activists: Crack down on immigrants' unpaid bills Propo- nents of stricter border controls complain that legal immigrants who cannot pay their hospital bills are a huge drain on the medical system, and they say it is time to force the patients' immigration sponsors to pay up. A lawsuit, sponsored by the Friends of Immigration Law power to the governor because the governor ... is the ultimate defender of people's civil rights in the state," Destro said. The court did not indicate when it would rule on the case. SCOTT K. BROWNAssociated Press Damaged vehicles sit in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond, Va., on Tuesday. About 20 blocks of downtown Richmond were condemned after the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston battered central Virginia with torrential rain Monday. Enforcement in Washington, asserts that Los Angeles County is violating federal law by not collecting from immigration sponsors. The group estimates that as a result, taxpayers are being to forced to foot as much as $20 million a year in unpaid bills. The county says the money at stake is far less than that. And like many local govern-menacross the country, the county concluded years ago that the costs of tracking down sponsors would exceed the amount of money recouped. Immigrant rights advocates also warn that the lawsuit, if successful would discourage legal immigrants from seeking medical care for fear of burdening their sponsors. A Los Angeles judge is expected to decide on Sept. 14 whether the case can proceed. ts A jury HARRISBURG, Pa. sentenced a man to death Tuesday for killing his estranged wife and two daughters on Christmas Eve 2002, less than a month before the daughters planned to testify he had sexually molested them for years. . EVnAcf P UHnlaiAr Tr utqo convicted Monday of murdering his wife, Jean, 43, and their daughters, Victoria, 20, and Elizabeth, 15. Police found the three shot dead in their Middle-tow-n home on Christmas Day after they didn't show up for Christmas Eve dinner at Jean's mother's home. Victoria's daughter was found crying next to her mother's body. At his sentencing hearing, Wholaver said he loved all three victims and that the sexual abuse allegations had hurt him. Wholaver also was convicted of rhflrirps that he trirvt tn hire a hit man to kill Victoria's and frame him for the slayings. He was acquitted of all 10 charges related to the alleged sexual assaults on his daughters. The World Hamas suicide bombers explode two buses BEERSHEBA, Israel Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses in this Israeli desert city Tuesday, killing 16 passengers and wounding more than 80 in an attack that ended lull in violence. a The buses exploded into flames just seconds apart and about 100 yards away from each other in the center of Beersheba the deadliest suicide strike in nearly a year. Israel had attributed the lull to its separation barrier, arrest sweeps and widespread network of informers. The Hamas militant group claimed responsibility, issuing a leaflet in Hebron the closest Palestinian city to Beersheba saying it was avenging Israel's assassinations of two of its leaders earlier this year. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with his security advisers to plan a response, expected to include a military operation in Hebroa Just hours before the attack, Sharon preLikud Party sented his hard-lin-e with the most detailed timetable yet for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Despite the bombings, Sharon promised to push forward with the Gaza pullout, while insisting Israel would keep fighting terrorism "with all its might." Suicide bomber attacks ' ' $ -- gain" ' : JVIoscow subway station i MOSCOW A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Iposcow subway station Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50 in the second terrorist ftack to hit Russia in a week. Seven days earlier, almost to fit BRENNAN UNSLEYAssociated Press and Zaka rescue and recovery volunteers gather bodies in front of a destroyed bus at the scene of a double bombing in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Tuesday. Israeli police officers the hour, two Russian jetliners crashed within minutes of each other in what officials determined were terrorist bombings. AH 90 people aboard were killed, and the investigation has focused on two Chechen women believed to have been passengers. A militant Muslim web site published a statement late Tuesday claiming responsibility for the subway bombing on behalf of the "IslambouK Brigades, a group that also claimed it caused the jetliner crashes with suicide teams in retribution for Russia's war with Islamic rebels in Chechnya. The veracity of neither claim could be confirmed. The statement said Tuesday's bombing was a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin "who slaughtered Muslims time and again." Putin has firmly refused to negotiate with the rebels in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, saying they must be wiped out. v France enters crisis talks for kidnapped journalists PARIS France intensified efforts Tuesday to save two journalists held hostage in Iraq, convening crisis talks in Paris and around the Arab world as a execution deadline set by militants neared. French President Jacques 24-ho- ur . Chirac said every effort was being made to free the journalists although his government has steadfastly refused to bow to kidnappers' demands that a new law banning Islamic head scarves in French public schools be revoked v Foreign Minister Michel Barnier launched a second day ' of emergency diplomacy in the Middle East, pleading for and winning crucial support from Arab governments and powerful Muslim groups, which praised France for its anti-wstance on Iraq. "Because of France's distinguished position in rejecting the n occupation Of Iraq, we appeal to the people ar Anglo-America- who kidnapped the journalists to spare their lives," said the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition group. Hurricane Frances strengthens LIXJUILLO, Puerto Rico Hurricane Frances brushed Puerto Rico with pounding surf and blustery winds Tuesday as its powerful vortex swirled offshore on a path for the Bahamas and the southeastern United States. . Frances strengthened to a" dangerous Category 4 hurricane Tuesday, with sustained winds up to 140 mph. Many Puerto Ricans remained in their homes and prepared to ride out the winds and rains on the fringes of the hurricane. JWe re stm recovering from the last floods in November. We're a bit nervous," said Fernando Morales, a truck driver who set his furniture on blocks to prevent damage. Last time, he said, water filled his home in the eastern town of Fajardo and destroyed afl his belongings. Surfers rode the hurricane's crashing swells Tuesday, while some people concerned about coastal flooding sandbagged their doors. Though little damage was expected in the U.S. territory, many offices and schools closed. Courts canceled session, and all 18 casinos in Puerto Rico were closed because government inspectors were sent home.,-'- . :' Offices and schools also were closed in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the hurricane brought rains and gusty winds. The hurricane prompted tropical storm warnings for Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, US. Virgin Islands and the north coast of the Dominican Republic' osevic starts defense THE HAGUE, Nether- lands Slobodan Milosevic launched a defiant defense Tuesday of his conduct during the Balkan wars, accusing his enemies of conspiracies against the Serbs and insisting his countrymen acted in self defense. - The former Yugoslav-presi- dent sought to shift blame for atrocities and portray the UN. war crimes tribunal as the tool of a plot to bring about the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in fighting that left more than 200,000 people dead. Seated alone at the defense table, Milosevic spoke with his customary swagger and sarcasm. -- "Accusations leveled against me are an unscrupulous lie and also a tireless distortion of history. Everything has been presented in a lopsided manner in order to protect those who are truly responsible," Milosevic said. It was the first time he was allowed to speak without interruption since his trial began 214 years ago, and he signaled he would mount a highly political rather than legal defense; ; |