Abducted Nev. boy returned to father

Las Vegas

Abducted boy, 6, returned to father

A 6-year-old boy abducted from his home at gunpoint was safe in his father's custody Sunday as police tried to untangle any ties the youngster's family had to the Mexican drug dealers suspected of taking him.

Police said Cole Puffinburger was "in extremely good condition" after he was found by a bus driver Saturday night on a quiet street outside a Methodist church in Las Vegas.

The boy had been missing since early Wednesday, when three men claiming to be police officers burst into a suburban Las Vegas home and demanded money from the boy's mother and her fiancé, the police said. When the couple said they didn't have it, the men ransacked the house and fled, taking the boy with them. Police investigators think the intruders were trying to collect drug money from the boy's grandfather.

A bus driver discovered Cole walking alone on a residential street Saturday night, officials said. Cole approached the bus and asked the driver if he would take him home. The driver contacted police.

Police said Cole's grandfather, 51-year-old Clemens Tinnemeyer, may have stolen millions from dealers involved in trafficking methamphetamine. Tinnemeyer, who was arrested Friday, was to appear before a federal magistrate today in Riverside, Calif.

Chicago

Farrakhan calls for "new beginning"

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan stressed unity among religions, while still preaching a message of black empowerment, at a rare public event Sunday deemed "a new beginning" for the Chicago-based movement.

In the nearly two-hour speech, Farrakhan covered topics including immigration, public schools, violence and morality. He vaguely referred to the presidential election but did not specifically mention any candidates.

"We are all in a journey to become complete human beings," the 75-year-old Farrakhan told the crowd of thousands gathered inside Mosque Maryam and in white tents outside. "Look how we have become so divided, so hateful, while claiming the same creator."

Farrakhan renewed a call for many to get back to the basic tenets of Islam, while still encouraging black pride.

"Black people must stop seeing themselves as inferior, and whites must stop seeing themselves as superior," he said, adding that Black Muslims "have to keep going our own way."

Though other religious leaders and non-Muslims were invited to the public event, most of those in attendance were Nation of Islam followers.

Los Angeles

SAG to allow vote on strike

A vote by the leaders of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on Sunday has simultaneously ratcheted up negotiation efforts and the possibility of a strike.

The guild's national board of directors voted to formally request a federal mediator for stalled contract talks with studios and, at the same time, agreed to ask members if they want to authorize a strike.

The move was something of a compromise between guild hard-liners who were pressing for the strike authorization, and newly elected moderates from Hollywood who have criticized the union leadership's handling of the negotiations.

If 75 percent of SAG's 120,000 members vote in favor of a labor action, it would then be left to the national negotiating committee to call a strike if it deems it necessary.

Actors in prime-time TV and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, hoping to avoid a repeat of the 100-day writers strike that ended in February. That strike cost the Los Angeles-area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.

Oakland, Calif.

Green policies may create jobs

California's energy-efficiency policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs from 1977 to 2007, while eliminating fewer than 25,000, according to a study to be released today.

The study, conducted by David Roland-Holst, an economist at the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley, found that while the state's policies lowered employee compensation in the electric-power industry by about $1.6 billion over that period, it improved compensation in the state overall by $44.6 billion.

Built into that figure were increases of $1.2 billion in the light industrial sector, $11.2 billion in wholesale and retail trade, $7.3 billion in the financial and insurance sectors, and $17.8 billion in the service sector.

"Consumers were able to reduce energy spending," the study said, adding that "these savings were diverted to other demand."

"When consumers shift one dollar of demand from electricity to groceries," the report said, they create jobs among retailers, wholesalers, food processors and other businesses.

Seattle Times news services