Uncle: No sign of trouble from killing suspect

A security guard accused of killing his sister, her husband and six others had a history of mental problems and imagined his sister wanted to kick him out of the home they shared, relatives and others who knew him said.

Police say Christopher Speight, 39, killed his sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew and four other people early Tuesday before firing on a police helicopter, hiding in the woods and finally surrendering nearly a day later.

Speight had struggled since his mother died from brain cancer in 2006, his uncle Thomas Giglio said Thursday. Speight's father abandoned them some 30 years ago, and he and his mother were very close.

"There …

Anti-missile system passes test

An experimental Army rocket pinpointed a target missile over NewMexico and destroyed it 50 miles high, the Pentagon said.

The Theater High-Altitude Area Defense system is designed to useground-launched missiles to destroy high-altitude enemy missiles from800 miles away or more, a distance that current U.S. weapons cannotreach.

After six consecutive test failures for the system the …

'Bad rule' that hurt Webb Simpson under review

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Webb Simpson called it a "bad rule." He was penalized a stroke because the ball moved as he was addressing it on the green, costing him one stroke and perhaps his first PGA Tour victory.

The U.S. Golf Association appears to agree. Vice President Thomas O'Toole said Monday there will be talks to modify the rule, with any change taking place at the start of 2012.

"If some other agency — wind or gravity — is known to cause that ball to move, no penalty would be applied," O'Toole said at the U.S. Open media day at Congressional Country Club.

Simpson, leading by one shot, was less than a foot from the cup at the 15th hole on Sunday at the Zurich Classic …

Iran: regional countries should help Iraq

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said Friday that regional nations should fill the security vacuum when the U.S. withdraws its troops from Iraq, but that there is no prospect of sending in Iranian forces.

The United States and Iraq have worked on a deal this year to try to ensure Iraqi security but have disagreed on timing for American troops to withdraw. Iraq has insisted on a timetable, but U.S. President George W. Bush has refused to accept one.

"The United States will soon leave the region, then regional countries should fill the security vacuum, there is no need for interference of other countries," Ahmadinejad said on the final day of …

Local & National scoreboard

AUTO RACING

NASCAR Sprint Cup

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500

Monday

At Pocono Raceway

Long Pond, Pa.

Lap length: 2.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200 laps, 148.6 rating, 195 points.

2. (10) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 200, 104.3, 170.

3. (16) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 200, 94.1, 170.

4. (29) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 200, 79.6, 160.

5. (8) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 200, 122.4, 160.

6. (15) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 200, 97.6, 150.

7. (9) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 200, 104.7, 151.

8. (3) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 200, 109.3, 142.

9. (4) Kurt Busch, …

FIRST OFF; At the Statehouse, the speed's thing

Faster than you can say Jay-Fack, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee unanimously passed Governor Kempthorne's request for a 3 percent pay raise for state employees--in the first week of the legislative session. Rarely do JFAC decisions fail to become law, but the House and Senate do still have to pass the measures.

The Guv was happy. "The committee's unanimous, and fast, approval of my recommendation for expedited state employee raises sends the message that our employees are deeply appreciated as the backbone of our state government," Kempthorne said in a prepared statement.

But Democrats aren't content, and they plan to push for a 4 percent worker-pay increase …

Curacao's historic Jewish population dwindles

The southern Caribbean island of Curacao is home to what is billed as the oldest continually operating synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, but the Jewish community has been steadily declining for years.

Late on a recent Friday, Avery Tracht, cantor of the stately yellow Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, worried there wouldn't be the minimum 10 adults to hold the complete service.

But soon, nearly 20 trickled through the heavy wooden door and singing poured out into the narrow streets of Willemstad's waterfront Punda district.

Jews settled in the then-Dutch colony of Curacao in 1651. They were the descendants of Jews who fled the Spanish …