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RESEARCHERS FIND MORE GRAVES AT FLA. REFORM SCHOOL: TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — University of South Florida anthropologists say they've found evidence of 98 deaths and more graves than previously identified at a closed reform school in the Panhandle.

A report released Monday by the university in Tampa says researchers found at least 50 gravesites at the former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. The report concludes there may be even more.

That's 19 more gravesites than had been identified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in a 2010 investigative report. The FDLE was unable to substantiate or refute claims that students were abused and even killed by staffers since the school opened in 1900. It closed last year.

The anthropologists documented the deaths of two adults and 96 children from 1914 through 1973. The anthropologists' research included archived documents from the school, interviews and penetrating radar that led them to places they excavated.

 

 

CALIF. MAN LANDS 445-POUND TUNA OFF MEXICAN COAST: SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego County man has caught a 445-pound yellowfin tuna — a fish that outweighs the record for a rod-and-reel catch of the species but won't rewrite the books.

John Petruescu, of La Mesa, caught the tuna on Dec. 3 at Hurricane Bank off Baja California, 960 miles from San Diego's Point Loma, where the 7-foot-long fish was weighed Sunday.

The electrician was aboard the San Diego-based Excel, whose captain twice handled the rod Petruescu was using. Justin Fleck said he helped Petruescu negotiate around a bow anchor for insurance reasons. For that reason, the catch won't be recognized as an official record by the International Game Fish Association.

The all-tackle record for a yellowfin is held by Mike Livingston, of Sunland, for a fish caught two years ago that topped 405 pounds.