Thursday, May 1, 2008

Abuse of Boys At Ranch Suspected

AUSTIN -- Texas officials told legislators Wednesday that they are investigating the possible sexual abuse of some of the young boys taken from a polygamist sect's ranch, as well as broken bones among other children.

It is the first suggestion that anyone other than teenage girls may have been sexually or physically abused at the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In written and oral testimony provided to lawmakers, officials with the state Department of Family and Protective Services said interviews and journal entries suggested that boys may have been sexually abused.

Earlier, the department's commissioner, Carey Cockerell, told lawmakers that at least 41 children, some of them "very young," have evidence of broken bones.

The state has custody of 464 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in the West Texas prairie town of Eldorado, including a baby born to a teen mother Tuesday.

State authorities raided the ranch in search of evidence of underage girls being forced into polygamous marriages. Since then, the state won temporary custody of the children, now scattered in group foster-care facilities.

Breast-Feeding Rate at 77%

ATLANTA -- More than three out of four new mothers now breast-feed their infants, the highest rate in the United States in at least 20 years, according to a government report. About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed at least briefly, up from 60 percent in 1993-1994, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. "It looks like it is an all-time high" based on CDC surveys since the mid-1980s, said CDC spokesman Jeff Lancashire. The new report is based on a comprehensive federal survey involving in-person interviews and physical exams. The findings are based on information for 434 infants from 2005 and 2006.

Suit Over Lost Mural Is Settled

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles artist Kent Twitchell has settled his lawsuit against the U.S. government and 11 other defendants for painting over his six-story mural, "Ed Ruscha Monument," on the side of a federally owned downtown building, for $1.1 million. The settlement is believed to be the largest awarded under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act or the California Art Preservation Act, both of which prohibit desecration, alteration or destruction of certain works of public art without notifying the artist to allow the artist the option of removing the work.

Escapee Found After 32 Years

SAN DIEGO -- A woman who escaped from a Detroit prison 32 years ago has been arrested in San Diego, where she was married with three children and living under a false name, authorities said. Susan LeFevre, who had been using the name Marie Walsh, was arrested April 24 by federal marshals at her home in San Diego's posh Carmel Valley neighborhood. An anonymous caller tipped Michigan officials to her location. Her husband said that the wife he knew was kind and compassionate.

Progress Against Arizona Wildfire

PHOENIX -- Lighter wind and higher humidity during the night helped crews make progress against a wildfire feeding on ponderosa pines near Grand Canyon National Park. But the break in the weather in northern Arizona was expected to be brief. Firefighters also had made progress against wildfires near Reno, Nev., and in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles.

-- From News Services