Nation briefs 03/03/03

Five killed in N.C. private plane crash

ARARAT, N.C. -- A small plane crashed shortly after takeoff in northwestern North Carolina, killing all five people on board, authorities said.

The Beech A-36 went down Saturday evening in a lightly wooded area near the Mount Airy-Surry County Airport, Surry County emergency services director John Shelton said.

The Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta said the plane had left the airport en route to Elizabethtown.

Shelton said it disappeared from radar screens when it was about three miles out, but the wreckage was found about 1 3/4 miles from the airport.

Judy Crisp, a family friend and assistant to former state Sen. Oscar Harris of Dunn, N.C., said the victims included the former legislator's son, Oscar Nathan Harris II, 32; his wife, Lisa, 31; his daughter, Sueanna, 2; and his son, Oscar Nathan Harris III, who was 10 months old. Crisp said she did not know who the fifth person was.

Judge to consider pretrial motions in sniper case

FAIRFAX, Va. -- A judge has scheduled a hearing today on motions by sniper defendant Lee Boyd Malvo seeking everything from evidence that might point to his innocence to a declaration that Virginia's death-penalty law is unconstitutional.

Malvo, 18, and John Allen Muhammad, 42, have been accused of shooting 19 people -- killing 13 and wounding six -- in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. No one was hit in another incident, in which a bullet struck a store window.

Today's hearing will address 13 motions filed by Malvo's lawyers, including one claiming Virginia's death-penalty law is unconstitutionally vague. Other requests include a ban on display of gruesome crime-scene photos to the jury and a request for five investigators to help find evidence in the case.

Prosecutors were dismissive of the claims.

Yale workers going on five-day strike

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- About 5,000 employees of Yale University plan to walk off the job Monday for a five-day protest over deadlocked contract talks.

The bulk of the protesters are clerical, technical, service and maintenance workers from Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International. They will be joined by several hundred graduate students, whose union is not recognized by Yale, and about 150 dietary workers from Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The walkout -- the seventh by Yale workers in the last 35 years -- will close Yale's dining halls and require managers to do work such as running the university's power plant or answering telephones.

Yale is giving students $170 rebates off their room and board charges so they can buy groceries and eat at restaurants. Some professors have scheduled classes in churches and coffee shops so students will not have to cross picket lines.

Contract talks ended Friday with no agreement. Negotiations are to resume March 11.

-- From wire reports