USA
President Bush and California's current and incoming governors were touring areas near San Diego to inspect recovery efforts from the state's worst wildfires in modern history. No new aid announcements were planned, administration officials said. Gov. Gray Davis (D) and Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) announced a special commission Monday to review the fire-response effort amid criticism that it was too slow. More than 27,000 residents remain displaced as a result of the fires, which killed 22 people and destroyed more than 3,500 homes.
Former HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy was indicted on 85 counts that accused him of masterminding a $2.7 billion corporate fraud and profiting personally from the scheme. Scrushy surrendered to authorities in Birmingham, Ala., where the company is based, and was due to appear later in federal court. His lawyer said Scrushy would plead innocent. Fourteen former employees, among them chief financial officers, have pleaded guilty to fraud for helping inflate profits at HealthSouth, the nation's largest provider of rehabilitation and outpatient services.
The man suspected of being Seattle's Green River serial killer will plead guilty Wednesday to at least 48 murders, news reports said. That would make Gary Ridgway the deadliest serial killer on record in US history. Ridgway agreed to the plea to avoid the death penalty, sources told the Associated Press. He'd been a suspect since 1984, but confessed only after recent advances in DNA testing directly linked him to three of the victims. The most recent of the murders to which he'll admit took place in 1998.
AT&T faces possible $780,000 fine for allegedly violating do-not-call rules for telemarketers. Claiming the nation's top long-distance provider made 78 calls to 29 people who signed up for its own do-not-disturb list - not the new national registry - the Federal Communications Commission proposed a penalty of $10,000 per incident. An AT&T spokesman said the company will review the complaint and respond within 30 days.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) appointed the city's first female police chief Monday, promoting deputy chief Ella Bully-Cummings on an interim basis. Her predecessor, Jerry Oliver, quit Friday amid controversy over an incident in which airport security staff found a loaded pistol in his luggage. He has been charged with possessing an unlicensed firearm.
