Mother of Palin's future son-in-law enters drug plea

The Nation

Mom enters drug plea: Sherry Johnston, mother of Sarah Palin's future son-in-law, Levi Johnston, pleaded not guilty Monday to six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance relating to possession and sale of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, in a Palmer, Alaska, Superior Court.

Slaying arrest: Charlie Myers, 22, was arrested in the shooting death of Jennifer Nelson, 29, whose 4-year-old son was abducted and left at a highway rest area in Ohio, authorities said Monday. The FBI took Myers and two other people into custody Sunday evening at a house near Ohio State University in Columbus.

Church split: The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that churches that break away from a national denomination may not take the church assets with them. About 100 Episcopal parishes broke off relations with the national church after a gay bishop's ordination, leading to disputes over the real estate.

Shelter fire kills 5: A fire fueled by donated clothes ripped through a homeless shelter in the northeastern Texas town of Paris early Monday, killing five residents as some tried dousing the blaze with pans of water.

Heating oil halted: Citgo, the Venezuelan government's Texas-based oil subsidiary, has suspended shipments of heating oil for poor families in the U.S., citing falling oil prices. The controversial program gave fuel from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's government to 200,000 households in 23 states through Citizens Energy, run by Joseph Kennedy, eldest son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

The World

Mumbai evidence: India confronted Pakistan on Monday with a detailed dossier that it said showed "elements from Pakistan" were behind the November terrorist assault that killed 170 people in Mumbai, and said it was inconceivable that no one in the Pakistani government knew of the plans.

U.S. acts on Darfur: President Bush announced Monday he is injecting the American military into the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan by ordering an immediate airlift of vehicles and equipment to bolster the struggling international peacekeeping effort there.

Slide kills coffee workers: Rescuers dug through tons of mud late Monday in search of more victims of a massive landslide that buried a long stretch of highway in northern Guatemala, killing at least 35 coffee workers and travelers using the road.

It's a miracle: Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico. The woman and her husband allegedly broke a window in an aborted robbery attempt. Police arrested the couple when they returned for the wheelchair.

Odds & Ends

First cat dies: The nation's first cat, Indio "Willie" Bush, died Sunday at the White House. She was 18. Indio was named by the president's then 9-year-old daughter Barbara after former Texas Rangers baseball player Ruben Sierra, who was called El Indio.

Pricey tuna: Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, several times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.

Passages

Griffin B. Bell, 90, the shrewd Southern lawyer who grew up with Jimmy Carter and later became U.S. attorney general after Carter was elected president, died of kidney failure in Atlanta on Monday.

Today in History

1838: Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.

1994: Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit; four men, including Jeff Gillooly, ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack.

Today's Birthdays

Bluegrass performer Earl Scruggs, 85. Author E.L. Doctorow, 78. Actress Bonnie Franklin, 65. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson, 54. Golfer Nancy Lopez, 52. TV chef Nigella Lawson, 49. Movie director John Singleton, 41.

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