Authorities say a 6-year-old boy died after he was kicked in the throat by a pony on a south-central Pennsylvania farm.

Police in Lancaster County tell the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era that the boy was playing with other children in a New Holland pasture on Thursday morning.

Lt. Jonathan Heisse says the boy approached a pony from behind and the animal became startled and kicked the child in the throat, leaving him unable to breathe.

Emergency responders from New Holland Ambulance and Ephrata Community Hospital were called and the boy was airlifted to Hershey Medical Center, where Heisse says he died Friday.

Heisse declined to release the name of the child but said he lives "outside the area."

Authorities say a 6-year-old boy died after he was kicked in the throat by a pony on a south-central Pennsylvania farm.

Police in Lancaster County tell the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era (http://bit.ly/19HVGaI ) that the boy was playing with other children in a New Holland pasture on Thursday morning.

Lt. Jonathan Heisse says the boy approached a pony from behind and the animal became startled and kicked the child in the throat, leaving him unable to breathe.

Emergency responders from New Holland Ambulance and Ephrata Community Hospital were called and the boy was airlifted to Hershey Medical Center, where Heisse says he died Friday.

Heisse declined to release the name of the child but said he lives "outside the area."

___

Information from: Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era , http://lancasteronline.com

With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units.

The proposal to be put before the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA's National Council on Thursday, at a meeting in Grapevine, Texas, would retain the Scouts' long-standing ban on gays serving in adult leadership positions.

Nonetheless, some conservatives within and outside the BSA community have denounced the proposal, saying the Scouts' traditions would be undermined by the presence of openly gay youth. There have been warnings of mass defections if the ban is even partially lifted.

From the other flank, gay-rights supporters and some Scout leaders from politically liberal areas have welcomed the proposed change as a positive first step, but are calling on the BSA to go further and lift the ban on gay adults as well.

The Scouts' national spokesman, Deron Smith, said the policy toward gays had become "the most complex and challenging issue" facing the BSA at a time when it is struggling to stem a steady drop in membership.

"Ultimately we can't anticipate how people will vote but we do know that the result will not match everyone's personal preference," Smith said in an e-mail.

In January, the BSA floated a plan to give sponsors of local Scout units the option of admitting gays as both youth members and adult leaders or continuing to exclude them. However, it changed course, in part because of surveys sent out starting in February to members of the Scouting community.

Of the more than 200,000 leaders, parents and youth members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy of excluding gays, while 34 percent opposed it.

Those findings contrasted with a Washington Post-ABC News national poll earlier this month. It said 63 percent of respondents favored letting openly gay youth be Scouts, and 56 percent favored lifting the ban on gay adults.

Over the past several weeks, numerous public events have been staged by advocacy groups on different sides of the debate.

A group called Scouts for Equality has organized rallies in several cities aimed at urging local BSA councils to support an end to the ban on gay youth. Rallies opposing any easing of the ban, for youth or adults, have been organized by a group called OnMyHonor.net, which claims the pending proposal "requires open homosexuality in the Boy Scouts."

Both groups plan to have their leaders and supporters on hand in Grapevine as the vote takes place.

Among those heading to Grapevine to lobby for an easing of the ban are Tracie Felker and her 16-year-old son, Pascal Tessier, who, though openly gay, is on track to become an Eagle Scout as a member of Boy Scout Troop 52 in Chevy Chase, Md.

"We are absolutely dedicated to restoring integrity to Boy Scouting and reinvigorating the program," Felker said. "That can only be done by removing the stain of discrimination."

Passions also run deep on the other side, as evidenced by a live online event titled "Stand With Scouts Sunday" presented May 5 by the conservative Family Research Council. The council opposes lifting the ban on gay youth, saying such a change "will dramatically alter the culture and moral landscape of America."

Among the participants was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who lauded the Scouts' tradition of character-building.

"For pop culture to come in and try to tear that up because this happens to be the flavor of the month ... that is just not appropriate," Perry said. "Frankly I hope the American people stand up and say, `Not on my watch."'

Also appearing on the webcast was Jeremy Miller, a Scout leader from Ohio who said the proposed change "will open the door to boy-on-boy sexual contact, bullying and older Scouts being predators on younger scouts."

The BSA's national leadership has rejected such warnings as ill-founded. "The BSA makes no connection between the sexual abuse or victimization of a child and homosexuality," a new background document says. "The BSA takes strong exception to this assertion."

Of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the U.S., 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions. While these sponsors include liberal churches opposed to any ban on gays, some of the largest sponsors are relatively conservative denominations that have supported the broad ban -- notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches.

Knowing these churches oppose scouting roles for gay adults, the BSA leadership hopes they will be willing to back the easing of the ban on gay youth. As part of this effort, the BSA is emphasizing that sexual conduct by any Scout -- straight or gay -- would be considered unacceptable.

"We are unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation," the Scouts say in their new background document.

Southern Baptist leaders were outspoken earlier this year in opposing the tentative plan to let Scout units decide for themselves if they wanted to accept gays as adult leaders.

Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, said the new proposal "is more acceptable to those who hold a biblical form of morality," but he nonetheless favors its defeat.

"A No vote keeps the current policy in place, an outcome we would overwhelmingly support," Page told Baptist Press, the SBC's official news agency.

Baptist Press reported that the Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., was considering ending a nearly 75-year sponsorship of a Boy Scout troop if the policy change prevails. The church's senior pastor, Ernest Easley, echoed warnings from other Southern Baptist leaders that any BSA accommodation of gays might prompt defections and trigger an expansion of the SBC's own youth group for boys, the Royal Ambassadors. According to BSA figures, Baptist churches sponsor Scout units with about 108,000 youth members.

Leaders of some smaller conservative denominations -- including the Assemblies of God and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod -- have signed a statement opposing the proposal to accept gay youth.

Some larger sponsors have either endorsed the proposal, or -- in the case of the United Methodist Church and Catholic Church -- declined to specify a position. The National Catholic Committee on Scouting issued a statement describing the membership debate as "difficult and sensitive" but stopping short of any explicit recommendation for how Catholic delegates to the BSA meeting should vote.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in April that it supports the new proposal, saying the BSA made a good-faith effort to address a complex issue. The Mormons sponsor more Scout units than any other organization, serving about 430,000 of the 2.6 million youth in Scouting.

The United Methodists are the second-largest sponsor, serving about 363,000 youth members; the Catholic Church is No. 3, with a youth membership of about 273,000.

Several regional Scout councils already have declared their position on the membership proposal.

In Tennessee, the Nashville-based Middle Tennessee Council and Jackson-based West Tennessee Area Council said they oppose the proposed change and support the current broad ban on gay youth and adults.

"We are continuing to uphold the standards, beliefs and traditions Scouting has held for over 100 years," said Lee Beaman, board president of the Middle Tennessee Council, which says it serves 35,000 youth and adults.

The day after that announcement, Bill Moser, a longtime Scout leader in Clarksville, Tenn., announced his resignation, saying he couldn't support a policy that would force openly gay youth out of Scouting when they turned 18.

The Greater New York Councils, which serve about 43,000 Scouts in New York City, is supporting the proposal to accept gay youths, calling it "a positive step forward." It is among the councils urging the Scouts to also accept gays as adult leaders.

The Los Angeles Area Council said it follows a nondiscrimination policy that extends to sexual orientation and it proposed that the BSA adopt a similar policy nationwide, opening its ranks to openly gay adults as well as youth.

However, the BSA leadership says no such alternative proposals will be put to a vote at the Grapevine meeting -- only the single proposal to lift the ban on gay youth.

If the proposal is approved, the new policy would take effect on Jan. 1, 2014. A task force already has been created to oversee its implementation.

New Orleans officials and cultural advocates say the Mother's Day parade shootings that left 20 people injured won't spell the end of second-line parades, the local tradition that celebrates the city and its people.

Police this week arrested two brothers and charged them with 20 counts each of attempted second-degree murder. They're accused of firing into a second line, scattering the crowd and wounding 19 with gunfire. One person was hurt fleeing.

In a second-line parade, watchers of a street procession of brass band musicians and elaborately clad marchers often join in, forming a second line of marchers.

Second-line parades have been around for generations as part of Mardi Gras and other holiday celebrations, and are perhaps best known as a feature of the city's famed jazz funerals.

With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units.

The proposal to be put before the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA's National Council on Thursday, at a meeting in Texas, would retain a ban on gays serving in adult leadership positions.

Nonetheless, some conservatives within and outside the BSA community oppose the proposal. There have been warnings of mass defections if the ban is even partially lifted.

Gay-rights supporters, including some Scout leaders, have welcomed the proposed change as a positive first step, but want the BSA to lift the ban on gay adults as well.

Purple wildflowers sprout in abundance around the bright-yellow pipe, one of several jutting from the sandy soil in this unassuming patch of grass and mud. A dirty hose runs from the pipe to an idling truck and into a large tank labeled, "NON-POTABLE WATER."

This is the former Hadnot Point fuel farm, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune's main fuel depot until it was ordered closed in the 1980s. At one point, a layer of gasoline 15 feet thick floated atop the groundwater here, and this "fluid vapor recovery" truck is part of the continuing effort to remove it.

"He's skimming that contaminate out of that well, into this tank," civilian Bob Lowder, head of environmental quality for the base, said during a recent tour. "We'll take that off for recondition or disposal, as appropriate."

The coastal base is the site of what's considered the worst case of drinking-water contamination in the nation's history. But the Marines stress that that's just what it is — history.

Of the more than 600 polluted sites scattered about the 170-square-mile base, about five dozen remain to be addressed. ABC Cleaners — the offsite business that dumped cancer-causing solvents into the Lejeune water table — stands vacant, the paint flaking from its rotting clapboards.

Wells tainted with gasoline, pesticides and toxic degreasers have been isolated, and technicians test the water from the base's treatment plants monthly. Marine families stationed at Lejeune enjoy what Lowder proudly describes as "the safest and most tested drinking water that they can find."

"We probably have the most aggressive sampling regime for our drinking water than anybody else in the nation," he says. "Maybe in the world."

The worst of the contamination occurred during the height of the Cold War. But records suggest that toxic substances began leaking — or were being intentionally dumped — into the ground almost immediately after the Department of War carved a spot for the 1st Marine Division out of the coastal pine forest at the mouth of the New River in late 1941.

Workers say there were no guidelines for disposing of chemicals on the base until the mid-1980s. A building once used as storage the toxic insecticide DDT later housed a day care and nursery; PCB-laden transformer oil was routinely spread on roads to keep down the dust.

Researchers believe two of the most serious pollutants — trichlorethylene and percholoroethylene — first exceeded today's maximum allowable levels in the groundwater in the early 1950s, about the time the U.S. was winding down the Korean War.

At least one measurement taken in 1982 found levels of TCE — even then widely banned as toxic to humans — of 1,400 parts per billion in the base's drinking water supply. That is five times the levels discovered around the same time in Woburn, Mass., scene of a childhood leukemia cluster recounted in the book and movie "A Civil Action."

ABC Cleaners turned out to be the primary source of the TCE and PCE contamination in the well water provided to Tarawa Terrace, a military housing development. But subsequent testing revealed even more extensive pollution from an outdated, poorly maintained fuel farm in the Hadnot Point area, where the Naval hospital and housing for most of the enlisted men and their families were located.

A June 1980 facilities survey found a general state of decay at the aging Hadnot Point fuel farm — the result of decades of poor maintenance and "insufficient funding."

"Because of their age," the study concluded, "it is expected all the tank valves leak." As late as spring 1988, the underground tanks at Hadnot Point were leaking about 1,500 gallons of fuel a month — a total of more than 1.1 million gallons, by some estimates.

In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added the base to its National Priorities List.

Since then, contractors have dug up dozens of steel drums and underground storage tanks, removed spent ordnance and hauled off tons of contaminated soil. Elaborate rigs scattered about Lejeune are sucking up and filtering tainted water.

At the former site of Lot 203 — a 46-acre storage area and dump from which TCE, PCE, PCBs and the pesticide DDT are believed to have leaked into Hadnot Point water wells — a large, white tower looms over a corrugated building. Groundwater pumped to the top is allowed to trickle down, volatilizing contaminates, before passing through massive tanks of activated carbon, being tested for acidity and finally discharged into nearby Wallace Creek.

In the shadow of a gleaming, aboveground fuel depot at Hadnot Point, a "sparging well" pumps air into the ground to force volatile gases to the surface, where they can be safely burned off. Another technique known as "biopulsing" involves pumping oxygen underground to help microorganisms naturally break down the contaminates.

Meanwhile, the EPA maintains a smaller pump-and-treat at the entrance to Tarawa Terrace, across busy Highway 24 from the former dry cleaner.

Today, a row of chin-up bars stands beside a grassy mound topped with a manhole cover bearing the words, "WARNING DO NOT FILL." This is the only visible reminder of Hadnot Point Well No. 602, in which one 1984 test found levels of the carcinogenic gasoline additive benzene at 76 times the allowable federal limit.

Lowder says the base has about 60 active wells drawing groundwater from the Castle Hayne aquifer, and that each is tested twice annually. A wellhead management plan guarantees a 1,000-foot buffer around all affected sites, he says.

Nearly three decades after the first drinking wells were ordered shut, Lowder says the end is in sight.

"The Navy anticipates we'll have remedy in place by the year 2014," he says. "So, for the most part, we're on the downswing."

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Online:

Camp Lejeune Community Involvement Program https://portal.navfac.navy.mil/portal/page/portal/navfac/navfac_ww_pp/navfac_hq_pp/navfac_env_pp/env_restoration_installations/lant/midlant/lejeune/outreach

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AP Writer Martha Waggoner in Raleigh also contributed to this report. Breed, a national writer, reported from Camp Lejeune.

Follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/(hash)!/AllenGBreed and http://twitter.com/(hash)!/mjwaggonernc

Last Sunday Andrea Rebello, a 21-year-old Hofstra University junior studying public relations, posted a recipe for how to prepare July 4-themed strawberries covered in sparkling sugars on her blog.

Less than a week later, Nassau County police announced that Rebello, who was with her twin sister Jessica and several other college students inside an off-campus house, had been shot and killed during an early morning break-in Friday that also left the armed intruder dead.

The shooting, which took place just steps from the Long Island campus, has cast a pall over the university community gearing up for commencement ceremonies this weekend. Police are still investigating.

"Today is the last day of finals and this should be a happy day on campus; but it's not," said Hofstra freshman Scott Aharoni of Great Neck, as he passed through the area rife with yellow crime-scene tape Friday. "It's really sad."

Police said a press conference was scheduled for Saturday morning, when more details may be released about the shooting.

It wasn't clear who fired the fatal shots or how many rounds were fired, but authorities said police were involved in the shooting, which happened at about 2:30 a.m. A weapon was found inside the house, police said. The gunman has not yet been identified.

Rebello's father, Fernando, was too distraught to discuss the incident in detail outside the family's Tarrytown, N.Y., home Friday.

"It's my daughter, my baby daughter," he told the Journal News through tears. "She was so beautiful. I'm so confused.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

The two sisters, another woman and another man were inside the two-story rental house when the gunman, wearing a ski mask, forced his way in, according to Nassau County Inspector Kenneth Lack. The intruder allowed the third unidentified woman to leave, and she called 911. Police provided no other details on the man who was in the house at the time of the break-in, except to say he was not injured.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that the woman called 911 from near an ATM. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Victoria Dehel, who lives four houses away, said she heard what sounded like fighting. At first she ignored it, figuring it was from rowdy students coming home from a bar.

Suddenly, "This girl was shrieking," followed by loud bangs just seconds later.

"It didn't sound good at all," Dehel said. "I turned to my boyfriend and I said, `I think someone just got murdered.' It was awful."

The university sent a text alert to notify students and staff.

"While our hearts are laden with grief, this weekend's commencement ceremonies will go on as scheduled," Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz said in a statement. "The accomplishments of our graduates must be recognized, and together our community will heal and find the strength to move forward."

Andrea Rebello and her sister were 2010 graduates of Sleepy Hollow High School, according to principal Carol Conklin-Spillane.

"They were smart happy beautiful young women," Conklin-Spillane said. "I speak about them together because they were very much a matched pair. They were best friends by choice."

Andrea Rebello quoted Benjamin Franklin and Bob Marley in a yearbook photo from the school.

"Believe some of what you hear and only half of what you see" was attributed to the founding father and "Love the life you live, live the life you love" was the citation for the reggae legend.

A police car was parked Friday in front of the Rebello house in Tarrytown, a well-kept ranch home.

Neighbor Jane Phelan said the twins' mother recently told her the sisters had moved out of a dormitory and into an off-campus house.

"It must be very hard on the parents and particularly on the surviving twin," her husband, Jack Phelan said.

A woman who lived with a Delaware pediatrician accused of waterboarding her 11-year-old daughter has agreed to plead guilty to child endangerment charges and testify against him.

In accepting a plea offer from prosecutors, Pauline Morse agreed Friday to plead guilty to three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child and to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Dr. Melvin Morse.

Melvin Morse, 59, has written a best-selling book and achieved national recognition for his research into near-death experiences involving children. Police suggested in an affidavit that he may have been experimenting on the girl last year, a claim he denies.

A trial for Melvin Morse is scheduled to start June 10. Morse and his attorney, Joe Hurley, did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment Friday.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office had no immediate comment.

Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

About 700 people were on board the Metro-North trains when one heading east from New York City's Grand Central Station to New Haven derailed about 6:10 p.m.  just outside Bridgeport, MTA and Bridgeport officials said.

The train was hit by a train heading west from New Haven to Grand Central on an adjacent track, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.

Lola Oliver, 49, of Bridgeport, was riding one of the trains when the crash threw her from her seat.

"All I know was I was in the air, hitting seats, bouncing around, flying down the aisle and finally I came to a stop on one seat. And I just gripped it because I felt the train sliding," Oliver told The Associated Press. "It happened so fast I had no idea what was going on. All I know is we crashed."

Oliver, a cardiology technician at Stamford Hospital, was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises and released.

Investigators Friday night did not know what caused the first train to derail. Malloy said there was no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to investigate.

"We're most concerned about the injured and ultimately reopening the system," Malloy said from the scene about three hours after the crash.

The governor said that most people were not seriously hurt. Among those critically injured, he said, one's injuries were "very critical."

Passenger Bradley Agar of Wesport, Conn., said he was in the first car of the westbound train when he heard screaming and the window smash behind him.

"I saw the first hit, the bump, bump, bump all the way down," he said.

Agar had returned to work this week for the first time since breaking his shoulder in January. And since he was still healing, he thought it would be safer to take the train than drive.

The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter line serving the northern suburbs, described it as a "major derailment." Photos showed a train car askew on the rails, with its end smashed up and brushing against another train. Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.

Malloy said there was extensive damage to the train cars and the track, and it could take until Monday for normal service to be restored. He said the accident will have a "big impact on the Northeast Corridor."

The area where the accident happened was already down to two tracks because of repair work, Malloy said. Crews have been working for a long time on the electric lines above the tracks, the power source for the trains. He said Connecticut has an old system and no other alternate tracks.

By late evening, Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said everybody who needed treatment had been attended to, and authorities were beginning to turn their attention to investigating the cause.

"Everybody seemed pretty calm," he said. "Everybody was thankful they didn't get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the Metro-North Railroad, the second-largest commuter railroad in the nation. The Metro-North main lines -- the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven -- run northward from New York City's Grand Central Terminal into suburban New York and Connecticut.

One of Alaska's most restless volcanoes has shot an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the air in an ongoing eruption that has drawn attention from a nearby community but isn't expected to threaten air traffic.

An air traffic controller in the region says small planes have flown around the plume from Pavlof Volcano. Ash would have to rise tens of thousands of feet to threaten larger planes.

The eruption began Monday, and a photograph shows lava spraying out.

Air traffic controller John Maxwell says residents in the small community of Cold Bay, about 40 miles from Pavlof, are concerned that ash could damage their power generators. But he says wind has blown the ash away from the area.

Pavlof is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian arc.

Federal prosecutors say they'll ask for more time to indict Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv).

Prosecutors said Friday they will not indict Tsranaev within the 30-day period prescribed the Federal Speedy Trial Act. Sunday marks 30 days since Tsarnaev was arrested following the April 15 bombing.

Prosecutors didn't specify under which exception they'd seek an extension.

Earlier Friday a judge denied a request from Tsarnaev's attorneys seeking to take periodic photos of him while he recovers from wounds sustained prior to his arrest.

Tsarnaev's lawyers argued the photos could provide evidence on the voluntariness of his statements and be used in an argument to mitigate his sentence.

The 19-year-old Tsarnaev is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

The attorneys for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cannot take their own periodic photos of him, a judge ruled Friday, denying the request pertaining to "his evolving mental and physical state" and whether his statements to authorities after his arrest were made voluntarily.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler found Tsarnaev's lawyers could not take their own photos, saying the Fort Devens prison where Tsarnaev is housed has a policy against visitors bringing cameras.

The motion from Tsarnaev's lawyers remained sealed Friday. But in her ruling, Bowler included excerpts from the defense filing which suggest Tsarnaev's lawyers may want to use the photos to argue for "sentence mitigation."

Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the April 15 bombings. The two explosions near the finish line of the marathon killed three people and injured more than 260.

Bowler said Tsarnaev's lawyers asked if they could regularly take their own photos of Tsarnaev.

"The defendant contends that his 'injuries over time' provide evidence of 'his evolving mental and physical state' which, in turn, is probative of 'the voluntariness of (his) statements and sentence mitigation argument,'" Bowler wrote.

Tsarnaev was badly wounded in a gun battle with police before his arrest. His lawyers could argue that statements he made to authorities after his arrest on April 19 were not voluntary because of his poor physical condition.

Bowler said the Bureau of Prisons could take photos of Tsarnaev with his lawyers present but those pictures would have to be shared with prosecutors.

Prosecutors plan to retry a Central Texas man whose 25-year-old conviction for setting a fire that killed his two young stepsons was set aside due to issues raised later with the science used to find him guilty.

Ed Graf's murder conviction was set aside in March by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. His case is one of several flagged by a state panel that's examining possible problems with arson investigations in criminal cases.

McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna said Friday that he intended to pursue another trial against Graf. Reyna said prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

"Over twenty-six years ago, the lives of two little boys were tragically ended," Reyna said in a statement. "Changes in fire science caused Ed Graf's case to come back to McLennan County. It is my honor to continue to seek justice for the boys."

A judge set bond at $1.5 million. Walter Reaves, Graf's attorney, said that amount was too high for Graf's family to pay, and that he would likely remain in jail pending trial.

Graf was convicted of setting a 1986 fire in a Hewitt backyard shed that killed 9-year-old Joby Graf and 8-year-old Jason Graf. He was accused of locking the boys in the shed and lighting it on fire.

Investigators at the time who examined photos of the shed determined that charring was deepest near the shed entrance and on the doors. They said the charring and other patterns suggested a quick fire sparked by an accelerant like lighter fluid.

But experts who have since reviewed their work, including one hired by prosecutors, say they believe those earlier conclusions were mistaken, and that there is a significant possibility that the fire was an accident.

Prosecutors supported Reaves' request for a new trial, but have maintained that they believe there is enough other evidence to win a conviction. Graf's ex-wife, Clare Bradburn, has also maintained her belief that Graf killed her children.

Among that evidence, Bradburn has said, is what she described as his suspicious behavior before and after the blaze. She also questions why he took out life insurance policies on the boys months beforehand.

"When you have the truth on your side, when you have memories of specific things, words that were said, pictures in my mind that will never go away — it's an imprint on my heart," Bradburn said in an earlier interview.

Reaves said Friday he was disappointed Graf would likely have to wait in jail while the case was re-tried.

"I don't think they have any evidence at all. I really thought we would be done with it by now," he said.

A panel convened by the state fire marshal is examining Graf's case and others in which questions have been raised about the underlying fire investigation science. Criminal justice advocates in Texas have long called for more examination of fire science, particularly following the controversial 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham of Corsicana for the deaths of his three daughters in a fire. Willingham's conviction was questioned by many legal advocates and fire experts.

The longtime girlfriend of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger lost her bid to reduce the eight-year prison sentence she received for helping Bulger during his 16 years as a fugitive.

A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday that it found no basis to change the sentence that Catherine Greig received after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor a fugitive, identity fraud and conspiracy to commit identity fraud. The panel included retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, fled Boston in late 1994 and remained a fugitive until he and Greig were captured together in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.

Prosecutors say Greig helped Bulger in multiple ways while he was hiding from law enforcement.

Bulger, 83, is scheduled to go on trial in June on charges that he participated in 19 murders.

Greig's appellate attorney, Dana Curhan, had argued that the sentencing judge "effectively tripled" the appropriate sentence for Grieg. He said Judge Douglas Woodlock gave her too much time on the fugitive-harboring charge and wrongly imposed sentencing enhancements related to firearms and obstruction of justice. In court documents, Curhan also argued that five victims of Bulger's alleged crimes should not have been allowed to testify during her sentencing hearing.

"We disagree with it, but the court has spoken and we are going to review our options," Curhan said Friday.

Options include asking for a hearing before the full court or asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

In its written ruling, the appeals court agreed with Woodlock, who found that Greig's conduct was not limited to mere harboring.

"He also noted that Greig provided Bulger with `a variety of things,' over and above mere shelter," Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote for the court. "The judge referenced the length of the pair's time on the run, the heinous nature of the crimes Bulger is accused of committing, Greig's capacity to make her own choices, and the fact that a less serious sentence would promote disrespect for the law."

Thompson wrote that the record "provides a good deal of support" for the judge's sentencing calculations.

The appeals court also noted that Greig traveled across the country with Bulger for a long period of time, used false identities, helped Bulger perpetuate his aliases and settled with him in California, where she paid the bills, helped him get medical treatment and prescription medications, and maintained their home.

"Her handling of these tasks undoubtedly helped Bulger keep his public outings to a minimum, thus reducing his risk of detention," the court said.

Greig's former lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had asked for a sentence of a little over two years. Reddington said she had fallen in love with a "Robin Hood-like" figure and never believed in the years she helped hide him that Bulger was a murderer.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the court's ruling.

Logs documenting almost every minute of the Cleveland kidnapping suspect's time in jail show he spends most of his time resting with breaks for pacing, showers and cell cleaning.

New jail logs released Friday also document defendant Ariel Castro thanking a guard for bringing him breakfast and wishing him a good day.

The 52-year-old Castro remains on suicide watch with his activities documented in writing every 10 minutes at the Cuyahoga (keye-uh-HOH'-guh) County jail.

He faces preliminary charges of rape and kidnapping following his arrest on suspicion of imprisoning three women in his Cleveland home for a decade.

Castro's attorney has said he will plead not guilty.

The logs also show that Castro periodically asks for the time, looks out the window and stares at the ceiling.

A research report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says younger baby boomers and Generation Xers face an uncertain retirement because of reduced savings, high levels of debt, and losses during the Great Recession.

The study found that members of Generation X, who are now between 38 and 47 years old, lost almost half their wealth between 2007 and 2010. Young baby boomers, who are between 48 and 57, lost more money but a smaller portion of their overall wealth.

The report says both of those groups are struggling to save enough money for retirement and are lagging older groups in terms of their savings. They also hold more debt than those groups did at similar points in their lives.

A former girlfriend of a man accused in the beating deaths of five people in central Illinois says he had a blister on one hand but otherwise acted normally the day after the killings.

Kristy Moore testified Friday that Christopher Harris said the blister came from trimming trees.

Harris is charged with beating his former in-laws to death with a tire iron in September 2009. Rick and Ruth Gee and three of their children were found dead in their home in Beason, 160 miles southwest of Chicago.

Harris' brother, Jason Harris, has said Moore is among several women Harris tried unsuccessfully to have sex with the night the brothers wound up at the Gees' property.

Jason Harris testified that he watched his brother beat one of the children.

A former Mississippi police chief already charged with demanding money or property in exchange for dropping criminal charges against people has been indicted on nine new counts.

Former Mendenhall Police Chief Donald "Bruce" Barlow was charged Feb. 5 with eight counts including conspiracy, extortion, soliciting bribes and witness tampering. He pleaded not guilty March 8.

A new indictment on Tuesday added nine additional counts.

The indictment says Barlow instructed "his officers to seize cash at every arrest, including money from people arrested for misdemeanors."

When some of those people were arrested, authorities say Barlow offered to let them go or reduce charges if they forfeited their property and money.

The new indictment says Barlow sometimes told people to sign over their vehicles and pay him cash, in one case $4,500.

A body has been found in a remote part of Orange County and authorities are trying to determine if it is a 36-year-old former Army sergeant who has been missing for the past two weeks.

The body was found late Thursday in an unincorporated area near Modjeska Canyon. Police from the city of Orange were called to the scene to investigate. They have been looking for Maribel Ramos who was last seen on surveillance video outside her apartment building May 2.

"No connection has yet been made between Ms. Ramos' disappearance and the body, and the investigation is continuing," Ly. Dave Hill of the Orange Police Department told MyFoxLA.com. 

Ramos was reported missing a few days later after failing to show up for a softball game and speaking engagement at a veterans group.

Police have said there were no signs of foul play and there has been no record of Ramos using her credit card she she disappeared. But investigators said it was out of character for Ramos to suddenly cut ties.

Her sister Lucy Gonzalez said the last time she had contact with her sister was May 2. The two were reportedly exchanging text messages about a recent trip Ramos had made to Chicago to participate in a panel on veterans transitioning to civilian life and higher education. 

Ramos served two tours of duty in Iraq as a sergeant in the Army and spent another year in South Korea and was expected to graduate later this month from Cal State Fullerton, MyFoxLa.com reported. 

"She didn't respond right away, but I know she went to work and they sent her home because she looked really tired," Gonzalez said. 

Gonzalez said it was unlike her sister to miss some of the commitments she had since her disappearance. 

Click for more from MyFoxLA.com. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Authorities say the gun used in a 37-hour standoff between New Jersey police and a man holding three children and two dead bodies was fake.

State Police Lt. Stephen Jones says hostage-taker Gerald Tyrone Murphy had a replica semi-automatic handgun. Jones says that doesn't change the way officers responded. Jones says Murphy also was holding a large kitchen knife and other knives were found.

Police were called to the Trenton home May 10 after a relative of a victim reported not hearing from her for weeks.

Police found the body of Carmenlita Steven and her 12-year-old son, Quavon, when they entered the home. They retreated when Murphy said he had a gun and explosives. The two had been dead almost three weeks.

No explosives were found.

A 17-year-old who pointed Ohio authorities to the bodies of two teenage brothers who had been reported missing was charged with aggravated murder in their deaths.

The teen, who has been in custody for about a week, was charged with delinquency in connection with aggravated murder, a prosecutor said Friday. Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers also has asked a judge to transfer the case from juvenile to adult court.

The brothers -- 14-year-old Blaine Romes and 17-year-old Blake Romes -- lived together with the third teen and their mothers inside a trailer home in Ottawa in northwest Ohio, neighbors said. All three teenagers were named in an Amber Alert last week after the brothers' mother returned to the home and found a gun and blood.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody May 9, several hours after he was detained at a gas station in Columbus after stopping to ask for directions, authorities said.

The Associated Press previously identified the 17-year-old boy, but now is withholding his name because he has been charged as a juvenile.

The boy's attorney and his mother have declined to comment. He had already pleaded not guilty to a grand theft auto charge.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said the 17-year-old told officers that the brothers were dead and gave the locations of their bodies. Few other details have been released about the case.

Autopsies have been completed, but the county coroner has refused to release the results.