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Nation in brief

Teen's neck broken; teacher charged

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 3, 2006

ST. LOUIS - Ashley Reeves had been lying in the woods for more than 30 hours by the time searchers saw her through the driving rain. The 17-year-old was covered with insect bites, her neck was broken, and investigators were sure she was dead - until she took a breath.

A day earlier, authorities say, a high school teacher tried to kill her.

"It was almost disbelief that she was still alive," said investigator Steve Johnson of the St. Clair County, Ill., Sheriff's Department.

Rescuers had to clear brush and trees to get a stretcher to the girl, then rushed her to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis, where she was in serious condition Tuesday.

Johnson is now helping to build a case against the 26-year-old teacher, Samson Shelton, who was being held on $1-million bail and faces charges of kidnapping and attempted murder.

Authorities have said Ashley and Shelton had a "relationship," though Johnson wouldn't elaborate or say how the girl, who attended a different school, knew the older man.

Mueller tightens FBI's rules on informants

WASHINGTON - FBI director Robert Mueller said Tuesday the bureau has tightened its rules for dealing with confidential informants after recent scandals on both coasts, including a retired agent's indictment on murder charges.

The unspecified changes followed embarrassing revelations of a love affair and gangland killings that an earlier overhaul of informant guidelines was intended to prevent.

"Given the circumstance in New York, the protocols relating to our handling of informants changed dramatically," Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Retired FBI Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio was indicted in March, accused of helping a mobster plot four murders in the 1990s. In Los Angeles, another informant, Katrina Leung admitted in December that she lied to the FBI about her intimate relationship with her FBI handler, James J. Smith.

Continental plane blows tire on takeoff, lands safely

HOUSTON - A Continental Express plane blew a tire upon takeoff Tuesday but landed safely after circling the airport for about two hours.

The plane tried to land once at Bush Intercontinental Airport but was waved off so officials could assess the damage and the plane could burn fuel, said Continental Express spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas.

Continental spokeswoman Sarah Anthony said the Minneapolis-bound plane carried 45 passengers and a crew of three.

The passengers were taken by buses to the terminal about 30 minutes after the landing.

The airport got the call about the tire about 4:25 p.m., said spokesman Richard Fernandez. Other airport operations continued normally.

The jet was an Embraer 145, the same kind of plane that veered off a runway in Chicago on Tuesday.

TV host Rukeyser dies at age 73

HARTFORD, Conn. - Louis Rukeyser, a bestselling author, columnist, lecturer and television host who delivered pun-filled, commonsense commentary on complicated business and economic news, died Tuesday (May 2, 2006). He was 73.

Mr. Rukeyser died at his home in Greenwich after a long battle with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the bone marrow, said his brother, Bud Rukeyser.

As host of Wall $treet Week With Louis Rukeyser on public TV from 1970 until 2002, Mr. Rukeyser took a wry approach to the ups and downs in the marketplace and urged guests to avoid jargon.

He brought finance and economics to ordinary viewers and investors and was rewarded with the largest audience in the history of financial journalism.

"He brings to the tube a blend of warmth, wit, irreverence, thrusting intellect and large doses of charm, plus the credibility of a Walter Cronkite," Money magazine wrote in a cover story.

[Last modified May 3, 2006, 06:57:23]