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GRANDMOTHER SHOT GRANDSON 8 TIMES:  BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 74-year-old Michigan woman has been charged with murder in the shooting death of her 17-year-old grandson.

Police say Jonathan Hoffman called 911 and told a dispatcher that he had been shot in the chest by his grandmother and "was going to die." By the time officers arrived, at least four more shots from a .40-caliber handgun had been pumped into the high school senior.

A West Bloomfield Township detective told a judge during a Monday court hearing that eight entry and exit wounds were found in Hoffman's body after the Friday shooting in the condo he shared with his grandparents northwest of Detroit.

Sandra Layne's lawyer Jerome Sabbota has said Hoffman was troubled, Layne was afraid and she fired her new handgun because she felt she had no choice.

WIS. RECALL LEADERS STRUGGLE TO GAIN MOMENTUM: MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Amid signs that the effort to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker is losing ground, Wisconsin Democrats and union leaders are preparing a fundraising and get-out-the-vote push to regain momentum in the final weeks before the June recall election.

Opponents of Walker are concerned that the governor, aided by a huge influx of money from conservative supporters nationwide, has opened a lead in a race that had been dead even in the polls.

Walker, who has raised $25 million, has been blanketing Wisconsin with broadcast advertising touting his handling of the economy. His Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, who did not win his party's primary until May 8, has raised only $1 million and not been able to match the blitz. The most recent public poll on the race released last week showed Walker leading by 6 points.

LATINO CAR WASH WORKERS SUE SANTA MONICA EMPLOYERS: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Latino car wash workers at three Santa Monica facilities are suing their employers for allegedly refusing to give workers breaks and overtime pay.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the employees say their rights were violated at the Santa Monica Car Wash and Detailing, Lincoln Millennium Car Wash and Bumble Bee Car Wash. Employees claim they were often forced to work off the clock without overtime pay resulting in thousands of hours of free labor at each car wash. They also allege the owners required them to buy their own materials.

COURT: GAY OHIO STUDENT MAY WEAR T-SHIRT TO SCHOOL: CINCINNATI (AP) — A gay student who sued his Ohio high school for prohibiting him from wearing a T-shirt designed to urge tolerance of gays will be allowed to wear the shirt to school whenever he chooses.

A judgment agreed to by Maverick Couch and the Waynesville Local School District was entered Monday in federal court in Cincinnati. It allows the teenager to wear the "Jesus Is Not A Homophobe" T-shirt and says the district must pay $20,000 in damages and court costs.

The lawsuit alleged that the district northeast of Cincinnati had violated Couch's freedom of expression rights.

Couch said the shirt is a statement of pride and he hopes other students now know they can feel pride, too.

 

MAN SURVIVES 180-FOOT PLUNGE OVER NIAGARA FALLS: NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — A man survived a plunge of at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt Monday — only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.

Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing 20 to 30 feet out over the Horseshoe Falls at 10:20 a.m. and "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River. Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.

"He waded ashore," said Platoon Chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Department. "He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.

"That's another stroke of luck," Orescanin said. "If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river."