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NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NATION
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• WYOMING MAN SENDS VALENTINE FLOWERS —  EVEN IN DEATH: CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming man who died last year from a brain tumor is keeping Valentine’s Day special for his wife — even in death.

Shelly Golay, of Casper, received a bouquet of flowers two days before Valentine’s Day.

She initially thought her children had sent them.

But after contacting the flower shop, she learned that her late husband, Jim, had arranged before his death last summer for flowers to be sent to her every Valentine’s Day until she, too, dies.

Golay said that the gesture shows that when it comes to her late husband’s love, there are no boundaries, even in death.

She likened it to the true love of fairy tales.

Jim Golay was 53 years old when he died.

 

• UMASS BANS IRANIANS FROM SOME ENGINEERING, SCIENCE PROGRAMS: AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has banned Iranian nationals from admission to certain graduate programs in a move that school officials say aligns its policy with U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The university will no longer admit students from Iran to some programs in engineering and natural sciences.

The National Iranian American Council says UMass’ interpretation of the law is flawed and may violate protections against discrimination.

Congress enacted legislation in August 2012 that denies visas for Iranian citizens to study in the U.S. if they plan to participate in coursework for a career in the energy or nuclear fields in Iran.

But a U.S. State Department official says federal law doesn’t prohibit qualified Iranian nationals from seeking an education in science and engineering. Each application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

 

• MOTHER: BABY’S ASHES STOLEN DURING PHOENIX BURGLARY: PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona mother is asking thieves to return her baby’s ashes stolen during a burglary.

The Phoenix apartment of Alyssa Ruiz was ransacked Saturday as burglars stole a laptop, a television and other items. Ruiz says she also found the silver keepsake box containing her baby’s ashes open and upside down.

The ashes of Matthew Isaiah Hernandez, which were in a sealed bag, were gone.

Ruiz says she cremated her child after his death because she had no money for a burial. She’s hoping the thieves return the bag and she promises to ask no questions.

 

• WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN SNOW OUTSIDE NEIGHBOR’S NEW JERSEY HOME: LAKEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say a New Jersey woman has been found dead in the snow just two doors from her home amid single-digit temperatures and subzero wind chills.

Ocean County prosecutors say a neighbor found 66-year-old Olivia Benito shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday in a townhome development in Lakewood.

Prosecutors say the neighbor and Benito had attended a benefit together Saturday night, and Benito had consumed several alcoholic drinks.

The neighbor says Benito stayed at her house for a while after they returned from the benefit, then left around midnight to go home. The neighbor found Benito the next morning when she went out to clear snow from her car.

Benito’s husband had assumed she was spending the night at the neighbor’s home.

 

• ARSON SUSPECTED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FIRE: OAKLAND . (AP) — Authorities say they suspect an arsonist set a Northern California middle school’s cafeteria on fire.

Oakland fire fighters found an opened door when they arrived to put out the early morning blaze at Claremont Middle School, leading them to believe the fire was intentionally started.

Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter says the two-alarm fire spread into the cafeteria’s attic and caused $1 million in damage.

 

• UP TO 2 DOZEN HORSES SHOT, DUMPED IN MONTANA FIELD: LODGE GRASS, Mont. (AP) — State livestock officials are among several agencies investigating after up to two dozen horses were shot dead and dumped in a hay field about a mile west of Lodge Grass on the Crow Indian Reservation.

Residents looking for their missing horses recently found the dead animals.

“That was (my) son’s best friend that got killed,” BethYana Pease-Takes Horse said Friday. “He’s the one who found him. He’s had that horse since he was 5.”

J’Ree Old Bull’s horse, named Tank, was discovered on Feb. 7 piled with two other horses, one of which had decomposed down to bare ribs.

Alana Kruger spotted her black filly and a young paint she had raised and sold to John Pretty On Top, a county commissioner.

Law enforcement officers from several agencies along with officials from the state Livestock Department investigated the deaths on Feb. 11. Some of the horses’ heads were cut off.

 

• FALSE GUNMAN WARNING PANICS LOS ANGELES AIRPORT PASSENGERS: LOS ANGELES (AP) — About 20 passengers fled through emergency doors and onto the tarmac at a Los Angeles International Airport terminal Monday after someone incorrectly said an armed man was on the loose, authorities said.

The “misinformed announcement” near a boarding area apparently stemmed from a police pursuit of an unarmed driver that ended outside Terminal 2, LAX Police Sgt. Belinda Joseph said.

Police responded to an emergency call around 9 a.m. reporting that a man may be trying to commit suicide. They apprehended the man, and the fire department took him to a hospital for treatment of an unspecified condition. But “someone said that there was a man with a gun, which was not true,” Joseph said.

Police initially said the rumor was spread over a public address system but later said the announcement was made by someone at the gate area. It was unknown whether an airport or airline employee, a passenger, or someone else spread the incorrect information.

Travelers who fled outside were “under observation the whole time” they were near planes, and officers got things under control within 15 minutes, Joseph said.