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Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 11, 2001
Earthquakes rattle Southern California
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. -- A magnitude-5.1 earthquake rattled a wide swath of Southern California on Saturday afternoon. No major damage or injuries were reported.
The quake struck at 1:05 p.m. and was centered 4 miles northwest of this San Bernardino County ski resort, according to Joe Franck, a seismologist at California Institute of Technology.
The quake was felt as far away as downtown Los Angeles, about 90 miles west, and San Diego, 100 miles south.
Damages were slight. At least eight small aftershocks followed.
The temblor was not connected to a magnitude-3.9 earthquake that rattled the desert southeast of Los Angeles about three hours earlier, Franck said.
No damage or injuries were reported as a result of that temblor, which occurred at 9:50 a.m. and was centered about 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
BOSTON -- A therapist who helped write the ethical standards for his profession surrendered his medical license after acknowledging he had an inappropriate relationship with a female patient.
Ralph P. Engle, 68, gave up his license to avoid possible disciplinary action from the state medical board, the Boston Psychoanalytic Society said.
Officials declined to reveal the details of Engle's misconduct, citing patient confidentiality. Professional misconduct can range from giving gifts to having a sexual relationship with a patient.
Engle, a psychoanalyst for 40 years, chaired the board of professional standards for the American Psychoanalytic Association. He helped develop a new code of ethics for the organization.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh wrote in a published letter that his execution should be broadcast publicly.
In a letter published in the Sunday Oklahoman, McVeigh questioned the fairness of limiting the number of witnesses to his execution. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is considering a closed-circuit broadcast to accommodate survivors and relatives of victims.
"Because the closed-circuit telecast of my execution raises these fundamental equal access concerns, and because I am otherwise not opposed to such a telecast, a reasonable solution seems obvious: hold a true public execution -- allow a public broadcast," he wrote.
McVeigh, 32, is set to be executed May 16 by injection at a federal penitentiary in Indiana.