Jurors spare ex-cop from death sentence

Canton, Ohio

A former police officer was sentenced Wednesday to at least 57 years in prison for killing his pregnant lover and her fetus.

Jurors spared Bobby Cutts Jr. the death penalty on the most serious charge, an aggravated-murder count in the death of the fetus. He could spend up to life in prison.

Cutts, 30, had claimed 26-year-old Jessie Davis' death last June was an accident during an argument. Prosecutors argued that Cutts killed Davis and the nearly full-term girl to avoid making child-support payments.

Los Angeles

USDA sued over "downer" cows

The Humane Society sued the federal government Wednesday over what it said is a legal loophole that allows sick or crippled cattle, called "downers," into the food supply.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture rule change made in July allows some downer cows into the food supply, the Humane Society of the United States alleges in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

In 2004, the USDA tightened regulations to prohibit the slaughter of all downer cows — animals that cannot stand — after a case of mad-cow disease was discovered in Washington state. The lawsuit alleges that under last year's change, cows that fell down after an initial veterinarian inspection but appeared otherwise healthy were allowed to be slaughtered.

Los Angeles

8 wounded in street shooting

A gunman fired into a crowd of children and adults at a South Los Angeles bus stop just after schools let out Wednesday, wounding eight, authorities said.

Three girls, ages 10, 11 and 12, and a 49-year-old woman were in stable condition and were expected to recover, police Lt. Ruben De La Torre said. A 12-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy and two men, ages 48 and 68, had minor injuries.

The gunman ran away.

Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Airman kills children, self

A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself Monday.

Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer.

His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.

Thorson had been under the care of a mental-health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said.

Atlanta

Study links vaccine and convulsions

Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when they got a Merck combination vaccine instead of two separate shots, according to a new study.

The results prompted a federal advisory panel to water down their preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.

In the study of kids ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate of seizures was twice as high in tots who got ProQuad, compared with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three other diseases.

The risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every 2,000 doses of ProQuad given said Dr. Nicola Klein, who lead the federally funded study.

Also

School shootings: The Northern Illinois University building where a gunman killed five students in an auditorium lecture hall, then committed suicide on the stage, will be demolished and replaced, school officials said Wednesday.

Polygamist: Sect leader Warren Jeffs entered a not-guilty plea Wednesday in an Arizona court to sex charges stemming from the arranged marriages of three teenage girls to older men.

Seattle Times news services