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Carter speech not to be filmed

By Wire services
Published January 21, 2007

Brandeis University has denied Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme permission to film a speech by former President Jimmy Carter that he wanted to include in a documentary about the former president.

Demme said he had hoped Tuesday's speech would be part of a powerful ending to his documentary, He Comes in Peace.

"They have in a way diminished everyone's ability to add to the debate, including the Brandeis students themselves," Demme told the Boston Globe. Carter's use of the word "apartheid," in his new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, has angered many in the American Jewish community because it appears to equate South Africa's former apartheid system with Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Demme's more than 25 films include the Silence of the Lambs.

ORGANIZING BAPTISTS: Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort to forge small and medium-size Baptist organizations into a coalition that would serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC, with more than 16-million members, has long dominated the political, theological and social landscape among Baptists, often spawning resentment among smaller Baptist groups. It has also been closely aligned with the Republican Party.

4 killed as snowstorm rolls across Plains

A winter storm rolled across the Plains states Saturday, causing numerous accidents that killed at least four people in two states. Heavy snow hit western and central Kansas, limiting visibility and creating hazardous driving conditions.

A couple and their 20-month-old daughter died when their car drove off U.S. 50 in western Kansas and collided with two others cars, authorities said. Three others, including the couple's 6-year-old daughter, were critically injured, authorities said.

In Oklahoma, a 5-year-old boy died after being thrown from a sport utility vehicle that rolled over after it left a snow-covered highway.

Crash leaves 5 dead, 2 injured in Virginia

Five people died when a sport utility vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with a pickup truck in coastal Virginia, police said Saturday. Four men in the SUV and a 2-year-old boy in the pickup were killed in Friday's crash, police said.

The child's mother and a fifth man in the SUV were being treated at a hospital in Norfolk. Angela Jean Moore, 28, of Onancock, was in fair condition and Tomas Justin Hrubbs, 24, was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Saturday. The collision happened on a clear night when the SUV drifted to the right on the highway, then overcorrected into oncoming traffic and landed on top of the pickup, police said.

Police: Stepmom kept girl locked in bedroom

An Oshkosh, Wis., woman accused of locking her 13-year-old stepdaughter in an attic bedroom for almost two years was able to manipulate schools, the girl's friends and even police officers who were called to her home before Christmas, Oshkosh police spokesman Sgt. Steven Sagmeister said.

According to a police report obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week, Lynn Engstrom called 911 on Dec. 20 when Beth Redmann, the girl's paternal grandmother, tried to visit the girl and deliver presents. Redmann, who left before police arrived, later was ticketed for disorderly conduct after Engstrom claimed Redmann forced her way into the family's home. When Redmann talked to one of the police officers, Joseph Nichols, he told her he had seen all four children - the stepdaughter and Engstrom's three children from a previous marriage - in the home and they were fine.

This week, about a month after the 911 call, Lynn Engstrom and her husband, Clint Engstrom, were arrested and charged with causing mental harm to a child. A criminal complaint says the 13-year-old was confined about 22 hours a day with no heat, a urine-soaked mattress and no toys or books. She was allowed to leave the room only for one-minute bathroom breaks, meager meals and chores.

Guard troops on border faced threat

A gunman in a group of six to eight men came within 35 feet of National Guardsmen watching the Mexican border earlier this month, according to a Guard report.

The four Guardsmen from Tennessee were manning an observation post near Sasabe on Jan. 3, looking for illegal border crossings. The men approached, split into two groups and surrounded the site, the report said.

The troops began to withdraw to avoid a confrontation. As they were loading their gear into their vehicle, one of the armed men approached within about 33 feet, according to the summary. "Both groups kept their weapons 'ready low' and never pointed them at each other. No shots were fired," the report states.

The troops finished loading the vehicle and drove away. They then called Border Patrol agents, who tracked the armed men back to the border but were not able to find them.

Man survives 17-story fall, earns broken leg

A 29-year-old man who was apparently horsing around with some friends crashed through a window and fell 17 stories at the downtown Minneapolis Hyatt Regency early Saturday morning. His most severe injury? A broken leg.

The man must have "an angel on his shoulder or something," said Minneapolis police Lt. Dale Barsness. "He's a lucky guy."

The man, identified by a police report as Joshua S. Hanson, landed on a roof overhang near the hotel's main entrance, police said.

Pilot collapses in flight; dead on landing

The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing, a company spokeswoman said.

The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio said.

The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, Osorio said. The pilot's name was not released.

The flight, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and was diverted to McAllen-Miller International Airport. It continued to Mexico with a new crew.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 01:23:48]