4 PEOPLE STILL OVERDUE ON MOUNT RAINIER: ASHFORD, Wash. (AP) — A special team of skilled skiers and climbers is being assembled at Mount Rainier National Park to search for two climbers and two campers overdue from winter outings, park officials said Wednesday.
But even this team has to wait for weather conditions to improve to launch the search, spokeswoman Patti Wold said.
A major winter storm has dumped a few feet of snow on Mount Rainier and brought wind gusts clocking in at more than 100 mph. All of western Washington state is seeing unusual amounts of snowfall Wednesday.
Search plans also call for a helicopter flight once conditions improve, Wold added.
On Tuesday, a search team of two people hiked on the route from Paradise, the launching point for campers at the mountain, and Panorama Point. They reported back to say that they sank in 2 or 3 feet of snow with each step and had limited visibility.
The two parties are believed to be well-equipped with tents, sleeping bags and other gear needed to survive. Rangers hope they're waiting out the storm.
NY employee accused of taking Federal Reserve code
NEW YORK (AP) — A computer programmer who worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been accused of stealing computer code used to track government finances.
Bo Zhang (zahng) was arrested Wednesday. Authorities say he stole the code last summer while working on it as a contract government employee.
The 32-year-old Queens resident could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is part of a system that helps operate the nation's payment systems and protects consumers dealing with banks.
A criminal complaint says Zhang admitted copying the code for use on his private office computer, home computer and laptop. The complaint says he used the code in connection with a private business he ran training people in computer programming.
ABC'S WEIR FINDS HEALTH PROBLEM ON ROUTINE STORY: NEW YORK (AP) — A routine news story took a strange turn when an ABC "Nightline" anchor had a full body scan that turned up a possible warning sign.
Bill Weir was interviewing Dr. David Agus, who gave him a full series of tests. That included a costly body scan that's not recommended for screening people with no symptoms of disease.
The scan found a calcium deposit in an artery, which the doctor told the Wisconsin native could put him at risk for a future heart attack. But since the program aired Tuesday night, other doctors have challenged that assessment.
The 44-year-old "Nightline" anchor put himself through a battery of tests to illustrate a story about how to prevent disease only to find out on camera in a story that aired Tuesday that one screening spotted heart disease he never knew he had.
Lesions found in Weir's arteries were so serious that the doctor who screened him worried that he is a candidate for a serious heart attack if he doesn't make changes in his life.
Weir considers himself lucky.
CHICAGO POLICE ARREST 7 IN FILMED BEATING OF TEEN: CHICAGO (AP) — After seven teenagers were arrested Wednesday for a beating recorded on video that went viral online, Chicago's police chief called their actions part of a "national epidemic" of youth violence being posted on the Web. The teens were charged Wednesday in the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old Chicago high school student in an incident that stemmed from a previous altercation last October, police said.
One teen was charged as an adult and the rest — a 15-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys and three 15-year-old boys — were cited in juvenile delinquency petitions. All were charged with one count each of robbery and aggravated battery, including the teen who recorded the video, said chief detective Tom Byrne.
Throughout the more than three-minute video, several attackers — many with sweat shirt hoods over their heads and some wearing masks — are seen repeatedly kicking, punching and yelling at the victim as he lay curled up on the snow-covered ground Sunday afternoon in an alley on the city's South Side. Police believe the girl lured the victim to the area.
The video went viral after it was posted on YouTube. Police said that helped to identify the alleged attackers.
ACTOR WAHLBERG APOLOGIZES FOR 9/11 COMMENTS: NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Mark Wahlberg has apologized for asserting that he would have stopped terrorists from flying an airliner into New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11 if he had been on the plane.
The star of the film "Contraband" issued his apology Wednesday after comments he made to Men's Journal drew criticism.
He told an interviewer in the February issue that had he been on American Airlines Flight 11 with his children "it wouldn't have went down like it did." Terrorists flew the plane with 92 people aboard into the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
In his apology, Wahlberg said to speculate was "ridiculous to begin with." He said that to suggest he "would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible."