Girl may be dead; bond set for mom

Orlando, Fla.

The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to look like a homicide, prosecutors said Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies said they still hope to find the girl alive.

Casey Anthony, 22, is charged with child neglect and lying to investigators. Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland set her bond at $500,000 Tuesday. He set the unusually high amount after hearing about evidence of human decomposition allegedly found in Anthony's yard and car. Her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, has been missing since early June.

Anthony is charged with child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. Authorities said she did not report the girl missing until last week, and only then at her own mother's insistence.

Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, acknowledged in court that her daughter had lied before but said she was a caring mom. The registered nurse believes the girl is alive, and Casey Anthony lied to police because she was somehow threatened.

Washington

Congress exempts boaters from permit

Recreational boaters will not have to obtain special environmental permits allowing incidental discharges of water from their vessels, under two bills approved Tuesday by Congress.

The bills overturn a 2006 federal-court ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a pollution permit for every vessel in the country by Sept. 30. The ruling reversed a 35-year-old exemption that applied to water-based, incidental discharges from all vessels.

Failure to obtain the permits could have cost boaters up to $32,500 a day. Hazardous pollutants and discharges from boats are already regulated.

The bills passed the Senate on a voice vote early Tuesday and were approved by the House later. The bills must be signed by the president before the September deadline to overturn the court ruling.

Los Angeles

Fast-food proposal advances in council

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday.

If approved by the full council and signed by the mayor, the law would prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two six-month extensions.

The measure, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district includes much of South Los Angeles, defines a fast-food restaurant as "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

Also

Sharpton spared: Federal prosecutors decided not to seek criminal charges against the Rev. Al Sharpton over his tax problems, his lawyers said Tuesday. The investigation was disbanded after the government received a down payment Monday topping $1 million on a tax debt that had threatened to land Sharpton before a grand jury, the minister's lawyers said.

More texts: An investigator's report says the Wayne County, Mich., prosecutor's office has determined that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sent and received text messages with "intimate or romantic content" to several women besides his wife and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. An amended complaint against Kilpatrick, 38, changes a misconduct-in-office charge and one of four perjury charges. Kilpatrick's office did not return phone calls.

Seattle Times news services