The Army says the commanding general of Fort Jackson, S.C., has been suspended in connection with charges of adultery and involvement in a physical altercation.

The Army says Brig. Gen. Bryan Roberts reportedly was in an altercation with another woman, not his wife. Roberts was suspended from his job by Gen. Robert W. Cone, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command, while the investigation continues.

Roberts took command of Fort Jackson in April 2012.

He has been in the Army for about 29 years and served as the director of Iraq training and advisory teams before taking the Fort Jackson post.

The suspension is the latest in a series of scandals involving senior military officers in recent months.

Brig. Gen. Peggy Combs will serve as interim commander during the investigation.

An Iowa letter carrier was sentenced to 37 years in prison Tuesday for sending dud pipe bombs with letters signed "The Bishop" in an odd but potentially deadly bid to drive up the value of shares he owned.

John Tomkins, 48, showed little emotion as a federal judge in Chicago imposed the sentence. Later, before marshals led the Dubuque, Iowa, man away in handcuffs, he smiled as his attorney patted his shoulder.

In an hourlong preamble to the sentence, Judge Robert Dow praised Tomkins for taking some responsibility but added the father of three "engaged in a reign of terror" in his mailings to investment firms and advisers.

"`Horrific' is the single best word I've heard to describe this crime," Dow said. "`Terrifying' is another good word."

Tomkins got the idea to sign his letters "The Bishop" from a novel in which a criminal leaves a chess piece as his calling card. His notes read, "BANG! YOU'RE DEAD," and said the only reason the recipient wasn't dead was because a lone wire wasn't attached.

Tomkins faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, though prosecutors asked for around 45 years. Counting six years Tomkins has already served and credit for good behavior, he could be released by his mid-70s.

The acting U.S. attorney in Chicago welcomed the sentence.

"Tomkins took these terrifying and secretive actions because he was greedy," said Gary Shapiro. "He was indifferent to whether he killed people in the process."

Jurors convicted Tomkins last year on 12 counts, including the use of a destructive device while mailing threatening communications. Combining all the maximums, Tomkins faced a sentence of more than 200 years.

Tomkins' lawyer, Francis Lipuma, told reporters after sentencing that he plans to appeal the convictions and portions of the sentencing. But he conceded the sentence could have been far worse for his client.

"He's a family man and a man who was respected in his community," Lipuma said, adding the judge recognized that in not imposing a harsher sentence.

Tomkins' wife, Julie, was in court but declined comment to reporters later.

Dow said he was perplexed about what led Tomkins to do what he did, saying he seemed to live a typical, small-town American life not unlike the community Dow said he grew up in. He even cited Tomkins' fondness for bowling, garnering a smile from Tomkins.

"The defendant's secret life" planning his crimes from storage garages and his car, Dow said, "comes seemingly from nowhere."

Tomkins did not address the court Wednesday, which was scheduled only for Dow to announce the sentence. But during a first phase of sentencing last month, Tomkins apologized for what he'd done.

"Let me start by saying how incredibly sorry I am," he told Dow. "There are no words to describe the shame and disappointment I feel in myself."

Authorities spent two years trying to track down "The Bishop," eventually identifying him as Tomkins in 2007 using stock market records on the two firms he cited in his letters -- 3COM Corp. and Navarre Corp.

To make the letters harder to trace, Tomkins drove from Iowa to mail two packages from the Chicago area in 2007. In a dozen letters, Tomkins threatened to kill recipients, their families or neighbors unless they acted to raise the stock prices.

The former machinist represented himself at trial, portraying himself as a mild-mannered union man fond of building race cars. He's also blamed the suicide of his nephew and the killing of a friend for triggering "a mental breakdown."

Tomkins also insisted at trial that he carefully designed the ominous-looking devices so they could never explode, but prosecutors said the pipe bombs were close enough to fully operational explosives and that it was just "dumb luck" they didn't go off.

Serving as his own attorney led to the strange spectacle of Tomkins calling himself to the stand and referring to himself in the third person. In his closing, he apologized for his lack of legal training and asked jurors to "not hold my shortcomings against the defendant when it comes to being a lawyer."

A judge has ruled that a North Texas lesbian couple can't live together because of a morality clause in one of the women's divorce papers.

The clause is common in divorce cases in Texas and other states. It prevents a divorced parent from having a romantic partner spend the night while children are in the home. If the couple marries, they can get out from under the legal provision — but that is not an option for gay couples in Texas, where such marriages aren't recognized.

The Dallas Morning News (http://dallasne.ws/16MlSUQ ) reported that in a divorce hearing last month for Carolyn and Joshua Compton, Collin County District Judge John Roach Jr. enforced the terms detailed in their 2011 divorce papers. He ordered Carolyn Compton's partner, Page Price, to move out of the home they shared with the Comptons' two daughters, ages 10 and 13. The judge gave Price 30 days to find another place to live.

Paul Key said his client, Joshua Compton, wanted the clause enforced for his kids' benefit.

"The fact that they can't get married in Texas is a legislative issue," Key said. "It's not really our issue."

The Comptons had been married for 11 years before their split. Carolyn Compton originally filed for divorce in September 2010.

Roach said the clause doesn't target same-sex couples, adding that the language is gender neutral.

"It's a general provision for the benefit of the children," the judge said.

Price and Carolyn Compton said in a statement that they believe the clause is unconstitutional. But they also said they would comply with the order "even though it will be disruptive to their family and has the potential of being harmful to the children."

They also said in the statement that the clause "is a burden on parents, regardless of their sexual orientation, that takes away and unreasonably limits their ability to make parental decisions of whom their children may be around and unreasonably limits what the United State Supreme Court has identified as the liberty of thought, belief and expression."

They are considering whether to file an appeal.

In Collin County, the clause is part of the standing orders that apply to every divorce case filed and remains in force while the divorce is pending. In the case of the Comptons' divorce, the clause was also added to their final divorce decree. It has no expiration date.

___

Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

Kerry Kennedy, the ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is likely to go on trial in the fall after a town judge refused to dismiss a drugged-driving case against her Tuesday.

Kennedy "cut a wide swath of danger and risk" on July 13 as she drove her Lexus on Interstate 684 near her home north of New York City, swerving into a tractor-trailer, Justice Elyse Lazansky wrote in a ruling filed in North Castle Town Court.

Police said Kennedy, daughter of Sen. Robert Kennedy and niece of President John Kennedy, failed sobriety tests and was arrested. A small amount of a sleeping drug was found in her blood, and she has maintained she accidentally took a sleeping pill that morning instead of her daily thyroid medication.

Kennedy attended a brief court session after the decision was filed, but she would not speak to reporters outside the courtroom. Her lawyer, Gerald Lefcourt, said she was "not happy about it."

"We are very disappointed and we disagree with it, but we have every confidence that Ms. Kennedy will be exonerated," Lefcourt said.

Kennedy argued that the charge should be dismissed because she took the sleeping pill accidentally, but the judge said a jury should decide "whether her intoxication was voluntary."

The defense also recounted Kennedy's work for social justice and included a large file of glowing letters from friends and relatives. Her mother, Ethel Kennedy, wrote that human rights activists around the world need her daughter's "compassion, keen insight, judgment and support."

The judge acknowledged that Kennedy "is not a typical criminal defendant. She has achieved a great deal and is dedicated to good works." But she said a trial need not put an end to that.

"Other gifted, powerful and wealthy politicians and celebrities too numerous to mention have faced a wide variety of criminal charges and have gone on to do their jobs or serve the public in many important ways," Lazansky wrote.

Prosecutors fought the dismissal motion, arguing that dropping the charge would feed the perception that famous people are treated differently. The judge agreed.

She said dismissal might lead to "the intolerable false conclusion among the public that there are two justice systems: one for the rich and powerful, and one for everybody else."

In response to the defense claim that the only harm done was to Kennedy's own pride and famous name, the judge said, "Driving while intoxicated is not a victimless crime; it is an offense against society as a whole.

Dismissal "would convey to the public the egregious false impression that intoxicated driving is a trifling matter, subject to dismissal at the whim of the judiciary," Lazansky wrote.

The judge set a schedule, extending into October, for each side to file motions and respond to them. No trial date was set. Plea bargaining could take place during this period, but another defense lawyer, William Aronwald, said Kennedy would not plead guilty to anything.

The Kennedy family has been prominent in the news in New York's northern suburbs over the past year.

Kerry Kennedy's sister-in-law and close friend, Mary Kennedy, hanged herself a year ago at her Bedford home. Her brother Douglas Kennedy was acquitted in November of child endangerment and harassment charges stemming from a scuffle in a hospital maternity ward in Mount Kisco.

The Pentagon wants more than $450 million for maintaining and upgrading the Guantanamo Bay prison that President Barack Obama wants to close.

New details on the administration's budget request for next year and other expenses emerged on Tuesday. The cost of the facility that houses 166 prisoners indefinitely includes $200 million for military construction work that could stretch over a decade.

The request also includes $40 million for a fiber optic cable and millions more for military commissions at the facility in Cuba.

Since he took office in January 2009, Obama has pushed to close the prison but has faced opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. Obama is expected to renew his plea in a speech on counterterrorism on Thursday.

Groups of scientists are urging federal officials not to remove protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states.

In letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week, carnivore specialists say the wolf population has only begun to recover and is absent from most of its historical territory after being driven to near-extinction in the past century.

They say there's enough habitat and prey to support wolves in other parts of the country.

The wolf remains on the endangered species list except in the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes, where the combined population is about 6,000.

A draft proposal to drop remaining protections except in the Southwest surfaced last month. Government attorneys said in court papers Monday a final decision has been postponed. They provided no explanation.

Police say a man they believe abducted two girls from a bus stop in central Iowa has been found dead, and one of the girls remains missing.

Authorities say the body of 42-year-old Michael Klunder was found Monday night at a rural property in northeast Dayton. His cause of death has not been released.

Police continue to search Tuesday for 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard. She and a 12-year-old girl were taken from a Dayton bus stop Monday. Police say they believe Klunder lured the girls into his truck under false pretenses.

The 12-year-old later escaped and was found when she walked out of woods near a farmhouse in Boone County.

Federal, state and local law enforcement as well as volunteers are now searching for the 15-year-old.

Prosecutors say they have agreed to charge the Army private who released more than 700,000 secret U.S. documents to the WikiLeaks site with a lesser offense on one of the 22 counts against him.

Maj. Ashden Fein said Tuesday that prosecutors had changed their minds about charging Pfc. Bradley Manning with violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in connection with the release of a cable known as Reykjivik-13. Wikileaks posted a cable in 2010 about a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, summarizing U.S. Embassy discussions with Icelandic officials about the country's financial troubles.

Fein did not give a reason for the change.

The pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning that began Tuesday at Fort Meade concerns classified material that would be used as evidence during the trial, which starts June 3.

Visitors to the Jersey shore this weekend will find many of their favorite beaches and boardwalks ready for summer, thanks to a massive rebuilding effort after Superstorm Sandy.

While several neighborhoods remain damaged, all but one of the storm-wrecked boardwalks should be ready for Memorial Day weekend, and amusement rides will still be available from Keansburg to Wildwood.

Most beaches will be open, despite losing sand during the storm.

Shore rentals are still available; demand is running at about 75 percent of what it was at this point last year.

And despite highly publicized devastation in places like Mantoloking (mahn-toh-LOH'-king) and Ortley Beach, large stretches of the shore suffered little damage. Ortley's small boardwalk won't be ready until June.

The state medical examiner's office has revised the death toll from a tornado in an Oklahoma City suburb to 24 people, including seven children.

Spokeswoman Amy Elliot said Tuesday morning that she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm. Authorities said initially that as many as 51 people were dead, including 20 children.

Teams are continuing to search the rubble in Moore, 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, after the Monday afternoon tornado.

A foster mother faces 100 days in prison after acknowledging she spanked a 4-year-old girl with a wooden spoon.

Jami Littlefield, 51, of Griswold, pleaded guilty Monday in Superior Court in Norwich to third-degree assault. She told authorities she paddled the girl in January because she was acting out, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Littlefield was arrested after the girl's biological mother noticed bruises on her daughter's buttocks when the child bent over to pick up a toy during a supervised visit. Medical staff at the Pequot Health Center determined the girl's contusions appeared to have been caused by the repeated strikes of a blunt instrument.

Littlefield initially denied hitting the child but later said she spanked the girl with the spoon she was using to stir soup after the child struck her granddaughter, spat at her and used a racial slur, according to the arrest document.

Gary Kleeblatt, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Families, told The Day of New London that Littlefield's foster care license, which she received in 2004, was removed after her arrest.

Foster parents receive extensive training on the proper care of children, including how to manage behaviors without resorting to corporal punishment, Kleeblatt said.

"Certainly we expect that they will not use an instrument of any type," he said.

Littlefield is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17. Under terms of her plea deal she faces 100 days in prison and two years of probation.

A military burial is scheduled in eastern Pennsylvania for a World War II soldier whose remains were recovered after more than 65 years.

The Express-Times reports William Yawney was a 23-year-old Army private when he was killed on Saipan in July 1944, as Allied forces were trying to secure the island.

The family initially received a letter saying he had been buried at a military cemetery in Saipan, but the Department of Defense later said no grave for Yawney was found. The department said an archaeological company working in Saipan uncovered remains in 2011 that were confirmed to be Yawney's.

Now, the family has scheduled a full military burial for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Cemetery in Northampton.

Authorities are set to release more than 300 photos on Tuesday that investigators took in the aftermath of the Tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department says many photos show the parking lot of the shopping center where the shooting took place in January 2011. The photos also include images of the handgun and high-capacity pistol magazine used by Jared Lee Loughner to carry out the attack. The release also will contain other routine photos that were part of the investigation as authorities gathered up evidence at the scene.

It will not, however, include any gruesome crime scene images of victims that are being shielded from the public out of respect to those who were injured and killed in the attack.

The images are being released nearly two months after the sheriff's department made public roughly 2,700 pages of investigative reports examining the shooting, marking the public's first view into documents that authorities had kept private since the attack.

The records provided more detail about the deteriorating psychological condition of Loughner in the hours leading up to the attack and the first glimpse into Loughner's family.

News organizations seeking police records and photos from the shooting were denied access in the months after the attack and after the arrest of Loughner, who was sentenced in November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges.

In late February, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns cleared the way for the release of the photos and records after Star Publishing Company, which publishes the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, joined by Phoenix Newspapers Inc., which publishes The Arizona Republic, and KPNX-TV, sought their release. The judge said Loughner's right to a fair trial was no longer on the line now that his criminal case has resolved.

Arizona's chief federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were among those killed in the rampage. Giffords, who was left partially blind with a paralyzed right arm and brain injury, resigned from Congress last year and has since started, along with her husband, a gun control advocacy group.

Loughner's guilty plea enabled him to avoid the death penalty. He is serving his sentence at a federal prison medical facility in Springfield, Mo., where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and forcibly given psychotropic drug treatments to make him fit for trial.

A Minnesota teen who penned the heartbreaking song "Clouds" after learning he had terminal bone cancer, reaching millions around the globe after his performance went viral on YouTube, has died.

"Maybe someday I'll see you again," Zach Sobiech sang in a performance initially recorded on his cellphone, then recorded in a studio with professional musicians. "We'll fly up in the clouds and we'll never see the end."

A CD and digital downloads of the song, released in December, has raised more than $100,000, with proceeds going to fund research into osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer which typically occurs in teens and adolescents. More than 3 million people have viewed his performance on YouTube.

The death of Sobiech, who wrote the song as a farewell to family and friends after learning he had just months to live, was announced on his CaringBridge Web page.

"He was surrounded by his sisters, brother, parents and girlfriend," the Monday announcement read. "We love him dearly."

Sobiech, who turned 18 on May 3, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2009. Despite multiple surgeries and months of chemotherapy, the cancer spread out of control.

"Our family has been blessed not only by his amazing presence in our lives, but also by the love and support of our family and friends and by so many people in the community," his family said in a statement. "In particular, we'd like to thank those people who listened with their hearts and helped Zach bring his message and his music to the world."

Sobiech and his band, A Firm Handshake, released an album titled "Fix Me Up," in February.

 "Cancer may have taken Zach too soon, but he leaves a lasting legacy that most of us will never achieve," the Children's Cancer Research Fund said in a statement. "His message of love and hope delivered through infectious lyrics and memorable tunes have imprinted on the minds and hearts of millions around the world."

The Sobiech family has asked that all memorials be directed to the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund in lieu of flowers.

State police in Maine say a body found in the woods likely is that of a 15-year-old girl last seen more than a week ago.

Spokesman Steve McCausland says the body was found at about 9:30 p.m. Monday by the Maine Warden Service in an undisclosed wooded location. Recovery will begin at daylight Tuesday.

McCausland says the state medical examiner's office will determine if the remains are those of Nichole Cable, of Glenburn. The girl's parents have been notified.

Cable's mother says her daughter was last seen on May 12 when she went out to see someone she'd met online. Her mother didn't know who that person was. Maine law enforcement officials and hundreds of volunteers have been searching for her.

The New York jury on which Caroline Kennedy served has acquitted a man of dealing crack cocaine.

Kennedy was juror No. 7 at the trial of Harlem resident Nelson Chatman.

It took the Manhattan state Supreme Court jury about one hour to find Chatman not guilty.

The only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Kennedy is a lawyer and author. She was selected to sit on the jury last week.

Chatman's lawyer had argued there wasn't enough evidence to tie his client to the alleged crime.

Newly released police files say Josh Powell had an affair with a Utah woman just months before his wife disappeared.

According to a West Valley City police detective's report, investigators contacted the woman, whose full name is redacted, in August 2010, after her phone number was discovered in connection with the case.

She told police she had a sexual relationship with Powell after meeting him through a dating service about six or seven months before Susan Powell disappeared. The woman said she knew Powell by the name John Staley, and she didn't know he was married.

She said Powell gave her about $800 over the course of their relationship. The report didn't specify how long the relationship lasted, or what the money was for.

The woman "said that she eventually broke up with him and it wasn't until she saw the news story about the Susan Powell case that she realized John was actually Josh Powell," Detective David Greco wrote.

A judge approved a request Monday by Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense attorneys to receive records compiled on him in federal prison.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler said in her order that prison officials should give attorneys the daily activity logs, suicide watch logs, psychology data files, photographs, commissary files they requested, and other records.

The judge said prosecutors also are entitled to the records, turning down a defense request that the records not be provided to the government until the defense had a chance to file objections to a judge. She also found no reason to keep private the defense's sealed request.

Bowler ruled Friday that defense lawyers couldn't take their own photos of Tsaraev in prison, but said prison officials could take photos of Tsarnaev with his lawyers present. Those also would be shared with prosecutors.

She said that defense lawyers contended Tsarnaev's "injuries over time" could provide evidence of his "evolving mental and physical state" and whether his statements were voluntary.

Also Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys filed a joint motion to delay a May 30 probable cause hearing at least until July 2, saying they need more time to obtain and review evidence. They also cited the complex legal issues in the case. Federal prosecutors had said Friday they would ask for more time to indict Tsarnaev than the 30-day period prescribed under the Federal Speedy Trial Act.

Tsarnaev is accused of carrying out the April 15 attack with his brother Tamerlan, who died days later in a shootout with police. The bombings killed three people and injured more than 260.

The fourth week of protests led by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP has ended in the arrests of more than 50 people at the state legislature.

The arrest count and number of supporters Monday reached the highest yet for the group's demonstrations against the policies of the General Assembly, which Republicans took control of after the 2010 elections. Crowds have grown each week, with about 150 people facing charges since the start of demonstrations.

The state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the demonstrators are angry over cuts to social programs, education reforms, changes to voting laws and other issues championed by Republican lawmakers. The supporters and those arrested range in age, race and professional background.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office says 37 people have been killed by a tornado that hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon. Spokeswoman Amy Elliott says the death toll is expected to rise. Elliott didn't know how many of those killed were children.