James Peters

Jesse Helms, Conservative Force in the Senate, Dies at 86

The former North Carolina senator, whose courtly manner barely masked a hard-edged conservatism that opposed civil rights, foreign aid and modern art, died Friday.

National Briefing | South: Kentucky: Mistrial In Fen-Phen Case

Two lawyers accused of defrauding their clients in a diet-drug settlement of $65 million were sent back to jail, after a jury in Covington deadlocked and a federal judge declared a mistrial. The jury considered the case against the lawyers, William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., for eight days, and twice in two days sent out notes indicating it was stumped. A third defendant, Melbourne Mills Jr., was acquitted this week. All faced a single charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The case has been watched in the horse racing industry because Mr. Gallion and Mr. Cunningham are part-owners of the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin. Prosecutors said they planned to request and schedule a new trial in the next two months. The lawyers were accused of keeping millions of dollars that should have gone to plaintiffs in a $200 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen.

National Briefing | Midwest: Kansas: No Indictment For Abortion Doctor

A doctor whose Wichita clinic is one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions was not indicted at the end of a six-month investigation on Wednesday by a citizen-initiated grand jury, an unusual practice allowed in only a handful of states. The jurors said their investigation into the clinic of the doctor, George Tiller, right, did not yield sufficient evidence of a crime, but they noted that a review of medical records “revealed a number of questionable late-term abortions” that might not have met a common interpretation of the words in state law, which limits abortions of viable fetuses to pregnant women who would otherwise face “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” The jury was convened after abortion opponents collected signatures to prompt the investigation.

National Briefing | Midwest: Ohio: Diocese’s Ex-Accountant Is Guilty of Tax Charges

A federal jury convicted the former top accountant at the Cleveland Catholic Diocese of tax charges, but acquitted him of more serious charges related to kickback accusations. The jury in the trial of the man, Joseph H. Smith, 51, had been deliberating for nearly two weeks. The prosecution portrayed Mr. Smith as a manipulator who arranged $785,000 in kickbacks and secret payments because he felt he was underpaid. He was acquitted of more serious charges of mail fraud related to the alleged kickbacks, but convicted of six tax-related charges. A judge had earlier dismissed money laundering charges. Sentencing was set for Oct. 3. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

National Briefing | Recall: Beef Recall Is Expanded

Nebraska Beef Ltd. is expanding a recall announced this week to include all 5.3 million pounds of meat produced for ground beef from May 16 to June 26. The company’s products have been linked to an outbreak of E. coli affecting 40 people in Michigan and Ohio. Some products were sold by Kroger, which has recalled ground beef products in more than 20 states because the meat may have been contaminated. The company said Monday that beef involved in the original recall went to Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Thursday’s release did not specify whether the beef now being recalled went to additional states.