MAN CHARGED WITH KILLING 3: TOWN STOLE MY HOME: SAYLORSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A disabled junk dealer feuding with local officials over his debris-strewn property packed a rental car with guns and ammunition before opening fire at a town meeting and killing three men, authorities said Tuesday.
Rockne Newell, 59, had lost his property this year in a court fight over complaints that he lived in a storage shed, built an illegal culvert and used a bucket outside as a toilet.
At his arraignment on homicide charges Tuesday morning, a judge asked Newell if he owned any real estate.
"They stole it from me. That's what started all this," he replied.
Newell allegedly used a Ruger Mini-14 rifle to blast a barrage of gunfire through a wall into the meeting room Monday night in Ross Township, about 85 miles north of Philadelphia, before entering the room and shooting a supervisor and four residents, two of whom survived.
Newell then retreated to the car and picked up a revolver, authorities said. When he returned to the meeting room, the 5-foot-10, 240-pound suspect was tackled by two men and shot in the leg during the scuffle, officials said.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH HAS STENT PROCEDURE: DALLAS (AP) — Former President George W. Bush successfully underwent a heart procedure in Dallas on Tuesday after doctors discovered a blockage in an artery during his annual physical, Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said.
"At the recommendation of his doctors, President Bush agreed to have a stent placed to open the blockage," Ford said. "The procedure was performed successfully this morning, without complication, at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital."
Bush, 67, was expected to be discharged Wednesday and resume his normal schedule the following day.
The blockage was discovered Monday during Bush's physical at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, where the nation's 43rd president lives.
WITNESSES TACKLE MAN WHO RUNS FROM BANK WITH CASH: EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — An Everett, Wash., police spokesman says people noticed when a man approached a Wells Fargo bank branch, pulled his shirt up to cover most of his face and walked inside. Passers-by called police.
Spokesman Aaron Snell says when the man ran out of the bank carrying cash Tuesday afternoon, the witnesses gave chase.
Snell says the man ran into a parked car and dropped the money. By that time, the group of about six pursuers had caught up and tackled him, holding him until police arrived.
NJ COP MAKES UNEXPECTED BUST IN STORE BATHROOM : PARSIPPANY, N.J. (AP) — A police officer who stopped at a northern New Jersey convenience store to use the bathroom instead ended up arresting a man there who allegedly was breaking up marijuana on a $100 bill.
Officer Michael Sprung stopped at the store just after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
When he opened the bathroom door, he saw a 19-year-old Lake Hiawatha man sitting backward and fully clothed on the toilet. The man then unsuccessfully tried to hide the marijuana behind the toilet when he saw the uniformed officer standing in the doorway.
WASHINGTON 'BIKINI BARISTA' OWNER SUES CITY: EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A woman accused of using her espresso stands in Everett, Wash., as drive-thru brothels is suing the city to recover $250,000 she says was wrongfully seized by police.
Carmela Panico owns the Java Juggs and Twin Peaks "bikini baristas." She was arrested in June and accused of promoting prostitution, but she has not been charged. The cash was seized in a search of her home in Snohomish.
The lawsuit was filed after Panico was notified that the city planned to keep the cash as proceeds from criminal activity.
Coffee shops in the Seattle area introduced bikini baristas several years ago, hiring attractive young women to serve up steamy espressos and lattes while wearing as little as a G-string and pasties.
ROMNEY WARNS AGAINST GOVT SHUTDOWN: WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) — Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney jumped into the debate over the GOP's future Tuesday night, warning congressional Republicans against forcing a government shutdown in their quest to stop President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
Romney addressed more than 200 donors on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee at a fundraiser for the New Hampshire Republican Party, staged just four miles from the vacation home where he has spent much of the summer with his family. The event was closed to the media, but his office released his prepared remarks.
Romney, 66, warned congressional Republicans against letting emotions drive their decisions.
"I badly want Obamacare to go away, and stripping it of funds has appeal. But we need to exercise great care about any talk of shutting down government," Romney said in the first speech of its kind since his November election loss to Obama. "What would come next when soldiers aren't paid, when seniors fear for their Medicare and Social Security, and when the FBI is off duty?"
DUSTIN HOFFMAN 'SURGICALLY CURED' OF CANCER: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dustin Hoffman is doing well after being successfully treated for cancer.
A spokeswoman for the 75-year-old actor-director confirmed a People.com report Tuesday that says Hoffman is "feeling great and in good health" after undergoing cancer treatment.
Publicist Jodi Gottlieb told the site that Hoffman's cancer was detected early and "surgically cured."
BILLIE JEAN KING TALKS LIFE AHEAD OF PBS PROFILE: BEVERLY HILLS . (AP) — Billie Jean King says she couldn't have revealed herself as being gay in the 1970s because it would have damaged the fledgling women's professional tennis tour.
King became the first prominent female athlete to come out as gay in 1981 after her partner filed a palimony lawsuit her.
King told the Television Critics Association on Tuesday that coming out years earlier might have set back the women's pro tour, which was in just its third year of existence in 1973 when she beat Bobby Riggs in their landmark "Battle of the Sexes" match.
King will be the first sports figure to be profiled on PBS' "American Masters." Her episode airs Sept. 10 in commemoration of the 40th anniversaries of the Riggs match and the founding of the Women's Tennis Association.
