NATION IN BRIEF

W.Va. Residents Warned Of Local Fish Pollution

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginians were warned Monday to limit their consumption of game fish caught in state waterways to avoid possible mercury contamination.

The advisory also extended consumption warnings for dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for several streams, including the Kanawha and Potomac rivers. The state issued specific advisories for 17 rivers and lakes.

The mercury advisory was based on a two-year West Virginia University study that examined fish samples from 56 sites.

Emissions from coal-burning boilers and power plants are considered the leading cause of mercury contamination in rivers and streams.

• RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- Daniel Pelosi, 41, was convicted of fatally bludgeoning his girlfriend's estranged millionaire husband, Theodore Ammon, 52, in 2001. Pelosi married Ammon's widow, Generosa, three months after the slaying. When they split, he received $2 million in a post-nuptial agreement. He faces 25 years to life at sentencing next month.

• NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors asked a judge to bar any mention of an FBI informer's troubled history during the trial next month of a Yemeni sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorists. Prosecutors said in court papers they may try Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moayad without the testimony of Mohamed Alanssi, who set himself on fire in front of the White House last month in a suicide attempt motivated by what he called government mistreatment.

• NEW YORK -- The co-op board of a Fifth Avenue building agreed to have an architect explore ways to let a famous red-tailed hawk and its mate return to their rooftop nest while protecting pedestrians below.

• CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Nuclear physicist John Mullen, 67, who died last summer, was poisoned with arsenic, investigators said in ruling the case murder. Police said Mullen usually lived alone but was letting a girlfriend's daughter stay with him at the time he fell ill.

• NEW YORK -- Art gallery owner Ely Sakhai, 52, and the gallery's office manager, Houshi Sandjaby, 70, pleaded guilty to charges that they sold forgeries of paintings by artists such as Marc Chagall and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

• BUFFALO -- Willie Bell, 26, was charged with robbery after he allegedly snatched the collection basket from ushers at St. Gerard's Catholic Church on Sunday and fled on foot. Police said he had $360 when they arrested him a few blocks away.

• NEW ORLEANS -- A judge who added blackface makeup to the handcuffs and jail jumpsuit he wore to a Halloween party as his wife dressed as the arresting police officer should be suspended for six months, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled. The justices voted to suspend Judge Timothy Ellender for a year without pay but to defer half of the sentence.

-- From News Services