WASHINGTON
Murder suspects break out of D.C. Jail
Two inmates, including one charged with murder, broke through an office window at the District of Columbia Jail on Saturday and escaped aboard a city shuttle bus, police said.
Police were searching for Ricardo Jones, 25, and Joseph Leaks, 32, who broke out just before 10:30 a.m., said police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile. The jail was put on lockdown after the escape.
The inmates left the jail by entering an administrative office and breaking a window, according to Devon Brown, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections.
“This was not an easy task to accomplish,” he said.
It was not clear why the two men had been in that area of the jail.
An officer arriving for work chased the two men but lost them in the area of a Metro station not far from RFK Stadium. Both men were wearing blue prison jumpsuits.
WASHINGTON
Bush backs movement to ban gay nuptials
President Bush on Saturday urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying in his weekly radio address that marriage “cannot be cut off from its cultural, religious and natural roots.”
Calling marriage “the most enduring and important human institution,” Bush said that a constitutional amendment was needed because “activist judges and some local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage in recent years.”
Bush’s radio address was the beginning of what White House aides have said will be a major push to support the marriage amendment, which the Senate is to begin debating in the next couple of days.
The effort comes after weeks of increasingly vocal complaints from cultural conservatives that Bush and congressional Republicans abandoned their issues after relying on them to win in the 2004 elections.
SAVANNAH, Ga.
GIs named in fatal chopper accident
The Army released the identities Saturday of four special- operations soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed in a field in southwest Georgia.
The soldiers were identified as Sgt. Christopher M. Erberich, 25, of Oceanside, Calif.; Sgt. Michael D. Hall, 30, of Little Rock, Ark.; Sgt. Rhonald E. Meeks, 28, of Weatherford, Texas; and Chief Warrant Officer Michael L. Wright, 41, of Indiana.
The soldiers died in rural Colquitt County when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed and broke apart Thursday morning during a routine training flight.
The helicopter clipped a wire on a television-transmission tower, officials said shortly after the accident. The Army is investigating.
A fifth crew member survived the crash with minimal injuries. The Army did not release his name.
TAVARES, Fla.
Inmates charged with conspiring to kill kids
Two Florida jail inmates each face charges of conspiring to kill children who are scheduled to testify against them in separate abuse cases.
One inmate, Daniel King, 25, offered someone $5,000 to kidnap and kill a 5-year-old girl who accused him of forcing her to engage in a sex act, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The other inmate, Jeffrey Roden, 36, wrote a letter to his father asking for $1,000 so he could hire a hit man to kill his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son, deputies said.
The boy had accused Roden of beating him with a belt. Authorities said the tips came from the sheriff’s jail-intelligence unit.
“Amazingly enough, a lot of people who go to jail are mad, and they don’t mind telling us crimes other people are planning,” said Deputy Chris Daniels, who created the unit.
King was charged Thursday with solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit kidnapping.
Roden was charged Thursday with two counts of solicitation to commit murder.
SOUTH BEND, Ind.
Jingle for java: Coffee delivered downtown
Downtown workers too busy for a chocolate run or a coffee break can now have the items delivered to them.
The South Bend Chocolate Co. on Thursday began delivering coffee, chocolates and lunches to anyone who lives or works in the city’s downtown and orders a hot carafe or sweet snack. The company is calling the gas-powered golf cart the “Wonkamobile” and “Sweets for the Street.” President Mark Tarner said the deliveries aren’t only a summer event. “I am prepared to get chains for the tires.”
SEDONA, Ariz.
Evacuees from fire allowed to go home
Crews fighting an 836-acre wildfire that destroyed five buildings south of the scenic northern Arizona community of Sedona gave evacuees the go- ahead to return home Saturday.
Thirty homes out of about 200 in the Pine Valley subdivision were evacuated Thursday when the fire broke out. The blaze destroyed one home and four buildings. Investigators said it appeared the fire was started by sparks from a grinder tool.
