Police link latest Virginia shooting to sniper

WASHINGTON – Police were stopping… Police link latest Virginia shooting to sniper

WASHINGTON – Police were stopping white vans with roof racks and interviewing potential suspects in the Washington, D.C., area Tuesday after confirming that a 47-year-old woman gunned down in a Home Depot parking lot Monday night was the ninth fatality in the sniper case.

The shooting, in Falls Church, Va., a relatively congested suburb of Washington D.C., was more brazen than the previous two killings at gas stations in rural Virginia. Perhaps for that reason, it produced the best witness accounts to date, including partial license-plate numbers of vehicles leaving the scene. That prompted Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger to say, “I am confident that that information is going to lead us to an arrest in the case.”

-Ken Moritsugu and Sumana Chatterjee

Knight Ridder Tribune

Students at Washington University law school reverse group ban

WASHINGTON – The student government at Washington University Law School reversed itself Monday, voting to recognize an anti-abortion group it had twice rejected.

The 27-6 vote followed a contentious debate lasting more than two hours. But most student body representatives agreed that their earlier votes were misguided. Four students abstained from Monday’s vote.

“I’ll be the first to admit that my argument had more holes in it than Swiss cheese,” said Jeff Wax, a student body member.

Numerous students petitioned the Student Bar Association to welcome the group and foster free speech on campus.

-Matthew Franck

Knight Ridder Tribune

Israel’s Sharon meets with Bush

JERUSALEM – As Israeli Minister Ariel Sharon met with President Bush on Wednesday, his defense minister intensified efforts to pull Israeli troops out of Hebron, possibly as early as this weekend, he told Army Radio on Tuesday.

The move is one of several designed to assure Bush that Israel will not ratchet up its assaults on Palestinians at a time when attention should be focused on Iraq. Sharon, in turn, is seeking assurances from the Bush administration that it won’t cut a deal with a European or Arab ally that would force undesirable concessions from Israelis. President Bush has his own conditions to press.

-Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson and Ron Hutcheson in Washington

Knight Ridder Tribune

Pressure mounts on Indonesia to crack down on extremists

JAKARTA, INDONESIA – As U.S. and Australian investigators joined in the search for clues in the massive bomb attack that killed more than 180 people and injured 300, international pressure mounted on the Indonesian government to crack down on Islamic extremists.

-Michael Dorgan and Jonathan Landay in Washington,

Knight Ridder Tribune

Court finds record labels plotted to raise CD prices

MINNEAPOLIS – A groundbreaking court decision has ruled music fans will get cash back as compensation for inflated compact disc prices as early as next year.

Late last month, the world’s five largest record labels and the United States’ three biggest music retailers were found guilty of collusion and were ordered to pay consumers more than $143 million.

Industry analysts estimate the settlement will break down to roughly $20 a person, with the remaining $76 million funneled into CDs distributed to charities and other nonprofit organizations such as public libraries and schools. Artists and songwriters will not be compensated for low sales associated with the increased prices of their CDs.

The legal decision found that Vivendi Universal, Sony Corp., Bertelsmann AG, AOL Time Warner and EMI Group Plc. illegally conspired with Musicland Stores Corp., Transworld Entertainment Corp. and Tower Records in a widespread industry practice called “minimum wage pricing,” which inflated CD prices between 1995 and 2000. The companies deny any wrongdoing.

Announcements explaining how U.S. consumers can participate in the payout will appear early next year. Under a proposal being considered, customers would receive a check after filling out a form similar to a state tax rebate.

The labels disagreed that they had done anything illegal despite estimates concluding customers were overcharged by more than $500 million.

-Nathan Hall

Minnesota Daily (University of Minnesota)