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2 MEN USED FAKE AX TO PRANK PEOPLE: VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Police in Vancouver, Wash., arrested two 18-year-old men accused of pretending to attack each other with an ax and then using it to threaten passers-by while videotaping their reactions.

Police spokeswoman Kim Kapp says officers responded to a gas station Wednesday after getting a report from a couple that a man in motorcycle gear wielded an ax at them after attacking someone with the weapon. A similar report had come in the night before

The suspects allegedly told investigators they were "pranking" people with what police describe as a realistic-looking fake ax.

The men — Pavel Krivov and Petru Tomcac — were arrested for assault and booked into the Clark County Jail.

OHIO BOY'S MOM INDICTED IN ALLEGED CANCER SCHEME: NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio woman accused of faking a cancer diagnosis for her 4-year-old son has been indicted on felony charges of child endangerment and theft.

Authorities allege 31-year-old Emily Creno, of Utica, shaved her son's head in a scheme that convinced him and others he was dying and bilked people out of donations.

Creno was arrested in September and charged with child endangerment. She'll be arraigned Tuesday on the updated charges filed Thursday in Licking County court.

Creno's attorney, Christopher Cooper, had filed court paperwork to pursue an insanity plea on the original charge and a competency evaluation for his client.

EX-49ER PLEADS GUILTY TO FAILING TO PAY TAXES: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former San Francisco 49ers standout Bubba Paris has pleaded guilty to failing to file federal income taxes.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Paris pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of failing to file tax returns in 2006, 2007 and 2008 on a combined income of $182,000. Paris also agreed to pay a $126,530 fine. He faces up to a year in prison when sentenced in February.

The 52-year-old Discovery Bay, Calif., resident didn't return a phone call or an email message sent to his motivational speaking company.

The University of Michigan product was drafted in the second round of the 1982 NFL draft. He started at left tackle for eight of the nine years he played for San Francisco, which won three Super Bowls during his career.

SAND PILE COLLAPSES ON, KILLS 7-YEAR-OLD  BOY: ELLENSBURG, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say a 7-year-old boy who was digging alone in a sand pile near his central Washington home died after the pile collapsed, burying his head, arms and shoulders.

Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana says the parents of Clayton Everley found him half-buried Wednesday afternoon about 100 feet from their house in Roslyn, in an area of their backyard that is covered in sand. They started CPR, and fire department medics continued life-saving measures.

Roslyn is a picturesque mountain town known as the place where part of the 1990s television series "Northern Exposure" was filmed.

DRIVER SPEEDING TO 'GET AIR' IN FATAL WASH. CRASH:  SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. (AP) — Investigators in eastern Washington believe a 16-year-old new driver was speeding to "get air" on a section of road that teens use as jump when he crashed earlier this month, killing two 15-year-old girls in his car.

Court documents show the boy had received his license the day before the Oct. 5 crash in the city of Spokane Valley.

KREM reports the 16-year-old is recovering from injuries and hasn't been charged. The case is being investigated as vehicular homicide.

The teen was giving the two girls a ride from a birthday party on a Saturday night. Investigators believe he was driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone when he lost control and hit a tree along a section of road known as the Ponderosa Jump.

The crash killed McKenzie Mott and Josie K. Freier, both University High School students.


TRAVELERS PUSH US MALARIA COUNT TO MOST IN 40 YEARS: ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. malaria cases are at their highest level in four decades, mostly from Americans bringing home an unwelcome souvenir from their travels.

Malaria is not a big problem in the U.S. — there were only 1,925 cases in 2011, including five deaths. But cases were up 14 percent from the previous year, and the most since 1971.

Nearly all the cases were Americans or foreign travelers bringing it into the country. About two-thirds were infected in Africa, where malaria is common.

Malaria is a deadly tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. It's treatable when caught early.

Travelers can protect themselves by taking malaria drugs before and during a trip. Only a fraction of the 2011 cases took the right drugs.

HAGEL BLASTS STATES ON SAME-SEX BENEFITS POLICY: WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday sharply criticized U.S. states that are defying the Pentagon by refusing to allow National Guard facilities to issue ID cards that enable same-sex spouses of military members to claim benefits.

"This is wrong," Hagel said in a speech in New York.

"Not only does this violate the states' obligation under federal law, their actions have created hardship and inequality by forcing couples to travel long distances to federal military bases to obtain the ID cards they're entitled to," he said.

Hagel said this is causing division among the military ranks.

In his remarks to an Anti-Defamation League centennial dinner speech, Hagel did not name the states that are defying Pentagon policy on this issue. But the Pentagon has cited nine: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

The Pentagon says there are 114 Army and Air National Guard sites in those nine states that are not providing ID cards to eligible same-sex spouses.

Hagel also used his speech to announce that he has directed the Marine Corps to expedite the manufacture and delivery to Israel of V-22 Osprey aircraft, hybrids that take off and land like a helicopter and cruise like an airplane. It is to be the first overseas sale of the Osprey.