Jose Padilla convicted of federal terror charges

8/16/2007

(Posted at 2:30 p.m.) Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration's zeal to stop homegrown terror. The administration had portrayed Padilla, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert, as a committed terrorist who was part of an al- Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S.

(Posted at 2:24 p.m.) Officials today are reporting that a dike failure at Maumee Bay s Grassy Island resulted in a breach that let tons of potentially contaminated water out into that part of western Lake Erie earlier this month. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Dina Pierce said the breach occurred at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confined-disposal facility on the island sometime between Aug. 2 and last Saturday.

(Posted at 2:22 p.m.) A 19-year-old Oregon woman was killed last night when the car she was riding in was struck broadside by a pickup truck, police said. Nikita Wilber, 3311 Seaman St., was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred about 11:45 p.m. near Hill and Westwood avenues.

(Posted at 11:11 a.m.) The man accused of killing two men last week at a Perrysburg Township business sat motionless, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit this morning in Perrysburg Municipal Court during a preliminary court hearing. Calvin C. Neyland, 43, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of Douglas Smith, 44, of Sylvania Township and Thomas "Tomm" Lazar, 58, of Belle Vernon, Pa.

(Posted at 6:58 a.m.) A fire caused by lightning early today damaged Swanton Missionary Church at Church Street and Lincoln Avenue in the village, authorities said. The fire started about 1 a.m. when lightning struck the church steeple. The fire was extinguished a short time later before it could spread beyond the steeple area, firefighters said.

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) ICA, Peru The death toll rose to 450 on Thursday in the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated cities of adobe and brick in Peru s southern desert. Survivors wearing blankets against the winter cold walked like ghosts through the ruins. Doctors struggled to help more than 1,500 injured, including hundreds who waited on cots in the open air, fearing more aftershocks would send the structures crashing down.

(Posted at 7:24 a.m.) A 23-year-old man was hurt critically in a fight last night in the 1700 block of Alvin Street near Oakwood Avenue in west Toledo, authorities said. Mycal Harris, whose address was not released, was taken to Toledo Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition, Toledo police said. A nursing supervisor at the hospital said this morning that he had no information about a person by that name.

(Posted at 6:44 a.m.) Toledo police have identified the 37-year-old man shot in the abdomen in East Toledo last night in what they called "a neighborhood feud that erupted in gunfire" as Brian Thebeau. Mr. Thebeau was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, police said. A hospital spokesman said this morning that she did not have his condition listed yet.

(Posted at 6:15 a.m.) A firefighter was hurt when two train engines, one holding 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel, burned last night on the CSX railroad tracks in this western Wood County village about 20 miles southwest of Toledo. One Washington Township firefighter was hurt while helping extinguish the blaze and was taken to an area hospital, according to the Wood County Sheriff s office. His name and condition were not released. The fire happened about 11:25 p.m. on the tracks near Crom Street, where the train had stopped