Animal rights group claims mass Greek mink release from fur farms
 
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — An international animal rights activist group has claimed responsibility for releasing more than 50,000 minks from two fur farms in northern Greece.
 
In an online statement, the Animal Liberation Front says it set the animals free last week near the towns of Kastoria and Siatista, in the heart of Greece’s fur industry.
 
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Roadside bomb in Columbia kills 5 police officers, injures 4
 
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say five police officers were killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb in an area where leftist rebels are active.
 
National police operations director Gen. Orlando Paez says 17 police were riding in a truck when the bomb exploded Wednesday evening in the southern town of Doncello.
 
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Coroner: Alcohol injection during heart surgery killed baby
 
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio coroner says a 7-month-old boy whose heart was being operated on was flushed with alcohol instead of saline and died.
 
Hamilton County Coroner O’dell Owens says Tressel Meinardi of Richmond, Ind., died Aug. 21 at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center. Owens says the boy’s family has been told and that there’s “no question a mistake was made.”
 
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Illinois defense attorney accused in prison drug-smuggling case
 
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An FBI agent says an Illinois defense attorney faces federal charges after he tried to smuggle a heroin-filled condom into an Indiana federal prison and claims to have done it repeatedly, exploiting greater privacy privileges lawyers are afforded in the lockups.
 
Federal authorities in Terre Haute, Ind., charged Robert Drew on Tuesday with attempting to provide a prohibited object three days earlier to an inmate at the federal prison there. He remained jailed Thursday in Vigo County, Ind., on $100,000 bond.
 
Drew, 68, of Marion, Ill., had been under suspicion and was being surveilled by federal agents who, acting on a tip, directed police to stop the attorney’s car as he pulled onto the Indiana prison’s grounds for a scheduled visit with an unidentified inmate.
 
Searchers of Drew’s black Mercedes found marijuana Drew claimed was for his own use, as well as a heroin-filled, duct-taped condom the attorney pulled out from inside the front of his pants, FBI agent Jacob Overton wrote in an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.
 
Drew claimed he was unaware of what the condom contained, though he acknowledged they he knew it was contraband outlawed in the prison, Overton wrote.
 
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Temporary cap that stopped oil gusher removed, permanent soon
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Engineers removed a temporary cap Thursday that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s blown-out well in mid-July. No more oil was expected to leak into the sea, but crews were standing by with collection vessels just in case.
 
The cap was removed as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath.
 
The government wants to replace the failed blowout preventer first to deal with any pressure that is caused when a relief well BP has been drilling intersects the blown-out well.
 
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Toledo Bend board considers dam drawdown for repairs
 
MANY, La. (AP) — The board that runs the Toledo Bend dam and reservoir is talking about whether to draw the reservoir down for repairs on the dam.
 
The Times reports that, if it’s approved at Friday’s meeting, the drawdown would begin after the Labor Day weekend.
 
Engineers learned several weeks ago that a cavern has eroded behind vertical cracks in the soil cement section of the dam near the power house.
 
Sabine River Authority Executive Director Jim Pratt says there’s no immediate risk, but the repairs are needed.
 
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Dardenne keeps fundraising lead in lieutenant governor’s race
 
(AP) — Secretary of State Jay Dardenne has the fundraising edge over his opponents in the lieutenant governor’s race, with a month to go before the Oct. 2 election.
 
New Orleans lawyer Caroline Fayard has outpaced Dardenne in fundraising in the latest reporting period and has plunged her own money into the race.
 
Dardenne, a Republican, reported Thursday having more than $747,000 in his campaign account. Fayard, a Democrat, reported having $445,500 on hand.
 
 
 
 
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