About 18,000 National Guard soldiers have gone on alert for likely deployment to Iraq late this year or in early 2005, the Pentagon said Monday.
So far, 45 Guard and Reserve members have been killed in action in Iraq, and 42 more have died of non-hostile causes. The Guard units alerted are from New York, Louisiana, Idaho, Oregon and Tennessee. They will be mobilized over the next several months to conduct training before their new assignment, the Pentagon said.
NICHOLS TRIAL UNDER WAY: Jury selection began Monday in McAlester, Okla., in the murder trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols after the judge refused to postpone proceedings while the FBI reviews whether investigators suppressed evidence of a wider conspiracy.
NIPPLE FALLOUT: Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) wants to fine TV and radio broadcasters a quarter for every viewer or listener they have when they air indecent programming. Had it been in place, Viacom, CBS and the offending artists could have been fined up to $22.5 million based on the estimated 90 million people watching the Super Bowl.
GAY ADOPTION: The California Supreme Court declined without comment to get in the middle of a child custody fight between a San Diego woman and her former lesbian partner. The women were raising two children together but then separated.
VIRGIN WINDOWS BROKEN: Office windows in Clearwater, Fla., that thousands of visitors believe bear the image of the Virgin Mary–but experts said is just corrosion–were discovered broken Monday, police said. The three top panes that showed what appeared to be the Virgin Mary’s veiled head were destroyed. The image was first perceived a week before Christmas 1996 in what was then a home-finance office, drawing almost 500,000 visitors within weeks.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Joe Knowles (jknowles@tribune.com)
