National and State News-Thursday, April 19th

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - One Virginia Tech student says Cho Seung-Hui's final words and images show he had "completely lost his mind." Some people at a restaurant near the
campus cried and others cringed as they watched portions of his video tirade broadcast last night. The killer had mailed his manifesto to N-B-C.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A retired Virginia state police superintendant says it's too early to judge Virginia Tech officials on their handling of Monday's deadly campus rampage. He's been
named to lead the panel that will conduct the state's investigation into what happened.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Grief-stricken Iraqis are retrieving the bodies of those killed in yesterday's horrific bombings, and burying their dead. Four attacks yesterday killed more than 180 people, making it the bloodiest day since the U-S troop increase began more than two months ago.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - This is the day Attorney General Alberto Gonzales makes his long-awaited appearance before a Senate panel to explain the ouster of eight U-S attorneys. It could determine whether he keeps his job, amid allegations of waffling, contradictions and playing politics with justice.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Some of the nation's biggest lenders are coming to the rescue of homeowners threatened with eviction after getting squeezed by so-called subprime mortgages.
Government-sponsored Freddie Mac, for one, has put together a 20 (b) billion-dollar rescue package of easier loans.


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A state lawmaker says he hopes to introduce a bill this year to privatize the state liquor stores. Senator Rob Wonderling, a Montgomery County Republican, says it makes sense now that the governor is asking for the Pennsylvania Turnpike to be put on the market. Past privatization efforts have failed. Groups wanting to limit availability of alcohol oppose privatization as do those trying to preserve thousands of union jobs.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A township manager in Cumberland County is taking his expertise to Iraq. Upper Allen Township Manager Lou Fazekas is to work on a team attempting to help Iraqi provincial governments become more functional. The goal is to make it so people have less reason to turn to Islamic militias for services. Fazekas is also a colonel in the Army National Guard. He is undergoing a crash course at the State Department's Foreign Service
Institute in Arlington, Virginia, in preparation for a year with one of 10 Provincial Reconstruction Teams. The township's assistant manager and engineer are handling his
duties while he's gone.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - A Hagerstown, Maryland, man sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of a Waynesboro (Pennsylvania) man has been granted a new trial. An appeals court says the jury that convicted 25-year-old Tyshawn Jones two years ago should have been asked to confirm its verdicts. Jones was convicted of first-degree felony murder and other
charges in the March 2004 slaying of 19-year-old Jonathan Dennis of Waynesboro, (Pennsylvania). The appeals court also ruled that that the robbery was an act
separate from the shooting -- so it didn't support a conviction for first-degree felony murder.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) - A 24-year-old Philadelphia man accused of a murder in Williamsport goes on trial today. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Jonathan Mitchell, who's charged in the 2005 shooting death of Idreise Jones. Police say Jones was shot three times in the head and that a friend of Mitchell's says he confessed to the murder.

CONFLUENCE, Pa. (AP) - A 12-year-old girl has testified she was sexually molested eight years ago by the husband of the owner of a small home-based day care center in Somerset County. At a preliminary hearing yesterday , the girl said she was napping in a room at the Milford Township day care when 67-year-old Gordon Marker woke up her and made her perform a sex act. Prosecutors accuse Marker of exposing himself to the girl and making her perform a sex act. State police say Marker admitted to exposing himself to the girl, but denies asking her to perform a sex act. Marker is ordered to stand trial on several charges, including
rape, statutory sex assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A ruling is being criticized by the state Ethics Commission that says a state Supreme Court candidate need not disclose investments and debts jointly held with his spouse. The commission says that creates a "gaping loophole" for political candidates seeking to avoid public scrutiny. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the state Supreme Court, the commission says that the state Ethics Act requires candidates and public officials to disclose all significant income and debts -- regardless of their marital status or whether their spouse also has an interest. The brief deals with a lower court ruling that excused Supreme Court candidate Mike Krancer for failing to disclose investments and debts held jointly with his wife. Krancer is one of three Republicans seeking nomination for the Supreme Court in the May 15th primary.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A man who carjacked a woman at knifepoint in a mall parking lot apologized to her as he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ferlanda O'Neil Thomas still faces sexual-assault charges in state court for the daytime attack at the Lehigh Valley Mall. The victim has said she jumped from the speeding vehicle as she was being assaulted. The 23-year-old Thomas had pleaded guilty to aggravated carjacking. Thomas fled to Mississippi after the September 14th assault, where prosecutors say he was caught driving the stolen G-M-C Yukon.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A female tiger who risked injury mating with an inexperienced male at the Philadelphia Zoo is expecting cubs in May. Keeper Tara Brody says Kira, the Amur tiger, could deliver two to four cubs by May 21st. Brody has been watching for signs of pregnancy since Kira mated with the male tiger Dmitri, risking that the inexperienced Dmitri could become frustrated and lash out with sharp claws and injure or kill her. That didn't happen, and the two last mated on February eighth. Now Kira is becoming more sleepy, her appetite has increased,
and she daily devours as much as eight pounds of beef, up from three to six pounds normally.
Brody says the cubs should arrive just over three months after conception, good news for the genetic diversity of North America's captive tiger population of 144.