Teenager denies pregnancy pact

Gloucester, Mass.

One of the girls who became pregnant at Gloucester High School this year denied Tuesday there was any pact among them to have children, saying instead they decided to help each other make the best of their situations.

Lindsey Oliver rebutted the principal's claim that a sharp increase in teen pregnancies — 17 compared to a typical four — was, in part, because several girls planned to get pregnant so they could raise their babies together.

"There was definitely no pact," Oliver told "Good Morning America." "There was a group of girls already pregnant that decided they were going to help each other to finish school and raise their kids together. I think it was just a coincidence."

City officials have been reeling for a week since Principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine girls had gotten pregnant on purpose.

Sullivan has not responded to repeated interview requests. Mayor Carolyn Kirk on Monday denied any pact existed.

San Francisco

"Dry lightning" sparked wildfires

In less than a day, an electrical storm unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes that set more than 800 wildfires across Northern California — a rare example of "dry lightning" that brought little or no rain but plenty of sparks to the state's parched forests and grasslands.

The storm was unusual because it struck so early in the season and moved in from the Pacific Ocean. Such storms usually don't arrive until late July or August and typically form southeast of California.

Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes Tuesday from the ground and air. The fires have scorched tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, fire officials said.

New York

Ex-con convicted in rape, torture

An ex-convict was found guilty Tuesday in the rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student who survived 19 hours of nightmarish sadism in which he scalded her with boiling water and attempted to blind her before trying to burn her to death.

Robert Williams, 31, was convicted of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and other charges in the attack, which was so prolonged and agonizing that the victim begged her tormentor to kill her and later tried to kill herself.

Williams, who was found guilty of all but two of 46 counts, was not in court to hear the verdict read. The judge said when Williams was told a verdict had been reached, he simply turned over in his courthouse cell and went back to sleep.

He could get a life sentence at a hearing set for July 24.

Also

Death of pregnant soldier: Authorities are investigating the death of Army Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, a 23-year-old dental specialist with the 19th Replacement Company who was seven months pregnant. Her body was found Sunday at a Fayetteville, N.C., motel.

Baltimore: Mayor Sheila Dixon, whose home was raided last week in a state investigation into city spending practices, acknowledged Monday she had been in a "personal relationship" with prominent developer Ronald Lipscomb, who prosecutors say benefited from tax breaks and zoning changes she supported as City Council president.

Alligator attack: Kasey Edwards, a Florida teen who was attacked by an 11 1/2-foot alligator Sunday beside a canal in Okeechobee County, lost his arm but managed to escape with his life after poking the animal in the eye.

North Carolina: A federal grand jury indicted 26 suspected members of the international gang MS-13, accused in a cross-border drug ring, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday. They were accused of selling cocaine, marijuana and narcotics, and of committing multiple robberies. Some also face charges in four slayings in Greensboro and Charlotte.

Seattle Times news services