Man who killed six hunters in Wisconsin gets life term
Hayward, Wis. – A Hmong immigrant convicted of murdering six deer hunters and attempting to kill two others after a trespassing dispute was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday with no chance for parole.
Judge Norman Yackel ordered Chai Soua Vang, 37, to serve six consecutive life prison terms, guaranteeing he would never be freed. Wisconsin does not have a death penalty.
Yackel described Vang as a “time bomb ready to go off” at the slightest provocation. “These crimes are not isolated acts, but a pattern of anti-social conduct,” the judge said.
Vang, a truck driver from St. Paul, Minn., is the a father of seven children. State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager argued Vang would kill again, given his “explosive temperament” and lack of true remorse or regret.
Vang addressed the victims’ families in court Tuesday but did not apologize. “I understand your anger, your frustration, your grief,” he said.
Vang testified he fired in self-defense after one hunter angrily shouted profanities at him and used racial slurs before another fired at him.
The two wounded hunters who survived said no one in their group pointed a gun at Vang before he opened fire.
SALEM, Ore.
Kin claim Powerball win of $340 million
A family that parlayed $40 worth of tickets into the second- biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history came forward Tuesday to claim a $340 million prize.
“I’m still in disbelief that we won the big one,” said Frances Chaney, 68, who went in on the Powerball ticket with her 72- year-old husband Bob, their daughter and her husband.
The Powerball numbers were drawn Oct. 19, but the four waited to claim their winnings until they consulted with tax and financial advisers, said the Chaneys’ son-in-law, Steve West, 48.
The four, who live in southern Oregon, said they haven’t made major purchases yet, other than a Hummer for Bob Chaney.
The biggest U.S. lottery jackpot was $363 million in 2002.
WASHINGTON
Lower fees sought for firewood from forests
A California congressman, saying there’s no easy solution to the huge heating bills facing many people this winter, wants to make it cheaper to cut firewood in national forests.
Although that’s unlikely to aid millions of urban households or those with no federal forest nearby, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., says, “Every bit helps.”
Pombo introduced legislation Tuesday to waive the $10 to $15 fee the government charges per cord. A cord is a stack 4 feet wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long.
TOKYO
Japan whale hunt begins amid protests
A fleet of Japanese whaling ships left for the seas of Antarctica amid protests Tuesday, aiming to kill 850 minke whales – almost double last year’s catch – and expand the hunt to fin whales for the first time.
The expedition is the first under a six-year research whaling program launched this year by the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research.
Japan wrapped up an 18-year study of feeding and migratory habits in March, when the fleet returned from an Antarctic hunt with a haul of 440 minke.
The whale meat taken from that study was sold to restaurants and food wholesalers. Greenpeace International called it commercial whaling in disguise.
CAIRO
2 jailed in ’81 slaying of Sadat are freed
Two Islamic militants jailed in the 1981 killing of President Anwar Sadat have been released after more than two decades behind bars, prison officials and lawyers said Tuesday.
Nageh Ibrahim and Fouad el-Dawalibi, founding members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, once Egypt’s largest Islamic militant group, were freed Nov. 1, prison officials said.
The men were convicted in connection with Sadat’s assassination during a military parade in Cairo on Oct. 6, 1981. They were sentenced in 1984.
LUCKNOW, India
Renowned bandit dies in police ambush
One of India’s most dreaded and colorful bandits has been shot to death by police in the forests of central India, ending a nearly three-decade career in crime that included murders, kidnappings and looting, police said Tuesday.
Nirbhay Singh Gujjar, 64, a frightening figure with a handlebar mustache, long beard and bloodshot eyes, was killed Monday night in a police ambush that ended in a shootout.
