SYDNEY, Australia
Aussie woman jailed for cooking man
Associated Press
A woman who murdered her partner, skinned his body and carved it up to serve to his children was sentenced yesterday to life in prison.
Katherine Mary Knight, a 45-year-old slaughterhouse worker, is a ``very dangerous person,'' Justice Barry O'Keefe said. He ordered that she never be released.
Knight pleaded guilty last month to the February 2000 killing of John Price, 44, at his home near Newcastle, 120 miles north of Sydney.
She stabbed Price at least 37 times, decapitated him, skinned his body and later included his flesh in meals for the son and daughter of the deceased, accompanied by vindictive notes, O'Keefe said. Prosecutors did not suggest to the court that the children ate the meal.
Knight claimed she could not remember what happened in the house.
``In America she would have got the death penalty,'' Price's son, Jonathan told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television. ``In Australia, I think the justice system is too lenient.''
Australia has no death penalty.
WASHINGTON
As fire season ends, some debate when to fight wildfires
Associated Press
Forest Service investigators blamed human errors for the July deaths of four firefighters in Washington's north-central Cascade Mountains. Their report never questioned whether the crew should have even been out there.
But now some conservation, fire ecology and taxpayer watchdog groups say it's time to ask whether the agency is spending costly resources - and putting people in danger - to fight wildfires that are too remote to threaten life and property.
Chris Wood, a senior aide to former Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, said he's doesn't think the agency should adopt a ''let it burn'' philosophy, but a more thoughtful, conservative one.
''The fire threats are far too pervasive to not let this tragedy give us pause,'' said Wood, now the watershed programs director at Trout Unlimited. ''Given the magnitude of the fire threat across the West ñ and it could get worse before it gets better - we need to be thinking very seriously about when we put people in harm's way.''
The issue is not an easy one. The Forest Service says actions are taken based on unique conditions of each fire, and top officials typically defend those decisions.
Jim Furnish, the agency's lead investigator of the deadly fire in Washington state, said managers made the right call. Steep terrain, dry conditions caused by drought and the fire's cause - a campfire, not nature - meant the agency didn't have a choice but fight the fire.
''If you don't do something, (the fire) is going to roll,'' Furnish said. ''Then there will be endless speculation and there will be tremendous Monday-morning quarterbacking.''
TUCSON, Ariz.
Illegal immigrants to benefit from bank easing way to open accounts
Associated Press
Wells Fargo Bank is making it easier for Mexican illegal immigrants to open accounts, but some advocates question whether related confidential records will be secure from INS access.
The San Francisco-based bank on Wednesday became the latest and largest financial institution to announce it will provide services to illegal immigrants by accepting identification cards the Mexican government issues.
''This is a major achievement for the Mexican community here,'' said Ruben Beltran, consul-general of Mexico in Phoenix, whose office was flooded with calls yesterday about the ID cards. Lines of applicants also were longer than normal.
Beltran predicted that ''thousands and thousands and thousands'' of illegal immigrants in Arizona will benefit from the change.
Over the next six months, he expects the number of cards issued in Arizona to increase 30 percent to 40 percent above the current 3,000 per month.
To use the Mexican identification cards, customers also must show a second form of identification to open accounts - like a passport or credit card - and a Social Security number or a federal taxpayer-identification number.
Lacking either of those, they can sign an Internal Revenue Service form for nonresident aliens, putting their home address on file with the IRS.
Kittie Ufford-Chase, program director for the Arizona office of the American Friends Service Committee, said the program is a good idea.
People without documents, she said, ''are so marginalized and so vulnerable that any step that can be made that can help them better survive here and contribute to our economy is a step in the right direction.''
