Nation in brief

Band, club fined in fire that killed 100

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Six months after a deadly nightclub fire, the club's owners and a rock band were fined nearly $100,000 on Wednesday by the federal agency that regulates workplace safety.

Legal experts say the move could bolster lawsuits filed after the Feb. 20 blaze, which killed 100 people and injured nearly 200 others at a Great White concert.

"It's not absolute proof of negligence, but it will be used as evidence to illustrate negligence," said David Yas, editor of Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly.

He said that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's decision "certainly carries some power."

The agency fined Derco LLC, which operated the Station club, $85,200 for one "willful" violation and six serious ones.

OSHA said the willful violation was the installation of an exit door that swung the wrong way. The others involved the use of highly flammable foam in the club, inadequate safety planning and an exit door that was concealed by foam, the agency said.

Jeff Pine, who represents club owner Jeffrey Derderian, said he is encouraged that only one willful violation was found.

An attorney for club co-owner Michael Derderian did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Jack Russell Touring Inc., the corporate entity representing rock bank Great White, faces a $7,000 fine for failing to protect employees from fire hazards, OSHA said.

"I don't think it's appropriate," band attorney Ed McPherson said of the fine. He also said the band couldn't have known about the safety conditions of the club.

NEWARK, N.J. - A Manhattan diamond dealer charged with money laundering connected with an alleged missile-smuggling plot was released Wednesday after posting $10-million bond.

Yehuda Abraham was freed from a jail in Paterson, N.J., after guaranteeing the bond with $5-million worth of property and 10 co-signers, federal officials said.

Abraham, 76, and two other men are accused in a plot to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles that could down a commercial airliner. They were arrested Aug. 12.

SOMERSET, Ky. - A former sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping plot the assassination of his chief political rival, an incumbent sheriff killed by a sniper at a campaign rally fish fry.

Jeff Morris, 36, pleaded guilty to complicity to commit murder and will be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. If convicted at trial, he could have faced the death penalty.

The plea leaves just one defendant in the case, Kenneth White, a campaign donor to Morris who allegedly was angered by the longtime sheriff's antidrug efforts. The gunman pleaded guilty earlier.

Sheriff Sam Catron, 48, was killed April 13, 2002, just after making a campaign speech outside a rural fire station. He was struck in the head by a single bullet fired from a hillside.

NO SNIPER IN W.VA: Authorities investigating three shooting deaths last week at convenience stores in the Charleston, W.Va., region said on Wednesday that they suspected that at least two victims were not randomly chosen and that their shootings might be related to drugs. Early fears that a random serial sniper was carrying out the shootings led agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, including members of the Washington-area sniper task force, to West Virginia over the weekend.

MONTANA FIRES: Firefighters were battling some three dozen large fires in Montana on Wednesday, and officials said their resources were running low. Hundreds of firefighters worked in rough terrain to stop two wildfires approaching Lincoln, while another fire near Missoula forced 120 families to evacuate.

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