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National briefsCompiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 2001 California looks for power supplies with auctionLOS ANGELES -- California received a host of nervously awaited, long-term offers from electricity generators Wednesday to sell power to the state in what many officials described as a critical, multibillion-dollar step in resolving the state's simmering energy crisis. The offers came in higher than the level officials have deemed as acceptable -- a weighted average of $69 a megawatt hour, state officials said, as opposed to the $50-$55 range they had been seeking. But aides to Gov. Gray Davis said he was encouraged, and that he has begun working with the Legislature to fashion what several lawmakers described as a realistic, detailed plan for providing a solution at least to the growing financial chaos caused by the power shortages and soaring wholesale prices. The plan would involve the state selling billions of dollars in bonds to make long-term purchases of power; setting aside part of the ratepayers' monthly bills to pay off the existing debt that is crushing the state's utilities; and the possibility that taxpayers might receive some form of stock option so they would benefit if shares in those utilities rebound. State officials said they would have no comment on the bids -- some of which ran as long as 40 pages -- until they had analyzed them. Power managers have called on Californians to do everything they can to conserve, even suggesting people planning to watch Sunday night's Super Bowl do so in groups. Elsewhere . . .OSPREY INVESTIGATION: The Department of Defense inspector general took control of the investigation into accusations of falsified maintenance records for the Marine Corp's V-22 Osprey aircraft program Wednesday, raising the possibility that the inquiry would be broadened to include high-ranking Marine officials. The announcement by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came less than one week after the Marine Corps began investigating whether the commanding officer of its only V-22 squadron had ordered subordinates to cover up problems in the program. The innovative aircraft has been plagued by production delays and crashes that have killed 23 Marines in the past year. YOUNG KILLER SET FREE: One of two youngsters convicted of dropping a 5-year-old boy to his death more than six years ago has been set free after completing his probation. The 18-year-old known publicly only as "T.J." was conditionally released from prison in October. Judge Carol Kelly released him from state guardianship Tuesday after several experts testified he was doing well. The victim, Eric Morse, was dropped from the 14th floor of a Chicago public housing high-rise because he refused to steal candy for T.J. and another boy, Jessie Rankins, ages 11 and 10 at the time. BOY BRINGS HEROIN TO DAY CARE: A 4-year-old boy arrived at his day care center in Hartford, Conn., with 20 packets of heroin stuffed into his coat pocket, police said. The boy handed the drugs to a worker at the Growing Tree Early Learning Center on Monday morning, telling her he didn't want them anymore. The packets were not opened, and no other children at the center were exposed to them, police said. The boy's mother, postal worker Maureen DaCosta, was charged with risk of injury to a minor. She said she didn't know where the drugs came from. CHIQUITA SETTLEMENT: Gannett Co. Inc. said Tuesday it paid Chiquita Brands International Inc. $14-million in an out-of-court settlement stemming from an expose of the banana company by the Cincinnati Enquirer. The sum was included in documents filed in Superior Court for the District of Columbia as part of a lawsuit by former Enquirer Editor Lawrence K. Beaupre against the newspaper, owned by Gannett. Beaupre's lawsuit alleges top Gannett officials closely supervised work on the Enquirer's publication of articles in May 1998 questioning Chiquita's business practices in Central America, but blamed him when problems arose later. In June 1998, the Enquirer renounced the series, fired lead reporter Michael Gallagher and apologized to Chiquita. WHITE SUPREMACIST GUILTY: The white supremacist accused of killing a mailman and wounding five people at a Jewish community center pleaded guilty to murder and hate crime charges Wednesday in deal that spares him the death penalty. Under the plea bargain, Buford O. Furrow, 39, will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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