WEST, NORTHWEST, SOUTHWEST, PLAINS, MIDWEST, SOUTH, AND SCIENCE AND HEALTH

WASHINGTON

FINANCIER GETS 18 MONTHS -- A Virginia financier was sentenced to 18
months in prison for running an illegal money-transmittal business that
sent nearly $5 million to Iran, Pakistan and )Afghanistan. The defendant,
Rahim Bariek, 46, was also ordered to forfeit $32,343 after pleading guilty
to a single criminal count. Two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he had
testified before Congress about the importance of business people following
American law to operate hawalas, or informal money-exchange systems common
in many Islamic countries, but the federal authorities say he did not have
a proper license to do so. Eric Lichtblau (NYT)

WEST

CALIFORNIA:

BLACKOUT TIED TO MIX-UP -- An inaccurate work order led to the power
failure that shut down elevators, traffic lights and A.T.M.'s across much
of Los Angeles this week, the Department of Water and Power said. "It was a
case of miscommunication," said Henry Martinez, assistant general manager
of the department. The blackout, which affected about two million people,
happened when a utility crew cut several control lines in the San Fernando
Valley. Mr. Martinez said engineers had directed that the lines be left
intact, but inaccurate work drawings called for the lines to be cut. The
department was trying to determine who drafted the orders. (AP)

NORTHWEST

OREGON:

MEDICAL MARIJUANA APPEAL -- The State Supreme Court will review a ruling
that suggests employers must allow workers to use medical marijuana. The
case was brought by Robert Washburn, a former worker at a Columbia Forest
plant in Klamath Falls, who had a state-issued card allowing him to use
marijuana to ease pain. The company, which banned employees from working
with controlled substances in their system, fired him. Mr. Washburn sued,
claiming an allowance should have been made for his disability. A circuit
court dismissed the suit, citing a provision in the law that employers do
not have to "accommodate the medical use of marijuana in the workplace." An
appeals court disagreed, saying the company had not established that Mr.
Washburn used the drug at work. (AP)

SOUTHWEST

TEXAS:

JEB BUSH SON IS ARRESTED -- The youngest son of Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida
was arrested in Austin and charged with public intoxication and resisting
arrest, law enforcement officials said. The son, John E. Bush, 21, was
arrested by agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, said Roger
Wade, a commission spokesman. Mr. Bush was released on $2,500 bond for the
resisting arrest charge and on a personal recognizance bond for the public
intoxication charge, officials said. (AP)

SOUTH

VIRGINIA:

DNA TESTS REVIEWED -- An independent review of the state's central crime
laboratory, prompted by its botched DNA testing in a capital murder case
involving a retarded defendant, found that the laboratory did not make
technical errors in its handling of DNA in 123 other cases, Gov. Mark
Warner's office said. But Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence
Project, said the review was deeply flawed because the panel did not review
trial transcripts to determine whether laboratory analysts had distorted
test results in sworn testimony. Mr. Warner ordered the review in May
because of mistakes by one of its top analysts in the case of Earl
Washington Jr., who came within days of execution but has since had his
sentence commuted. James Dao (NYT)

NEW ENGLAND

MASSACHUSETTS:

NO CHARGES IN FAN'S DEATH -- Six police officers involved in the fatal
pellet gun shooting of a Red Sox fan outside Fenway Park last fall were
suspended, demoted or reprimanded but will keep their jobs, Commissioner
Kathleen O'Toole said. The officers learned earlier this week that they
will not face criminal charges in the death of the fan, Victoria Snelgrove,
21, who was killed as officers tried to quell an unruly celebration of the
Red Sox's elimination of the New York Yankees in the World Series playoffs. (AP)