Louisiana

Navy christens last of 3 ships honoring Sept. 11 sites

AVONDALE, La. – The USS Somerset – last of three Navy ships named for Sept. 11 attack sites – was christened Saturday in honor of the passengers and crew of the plane that crashed short of terrorists’ intended target after passengers stormed the cockpit.

Instead of hitting a target in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, Pa., killing all 40 passengers and crew members.

About two dozen relatives of the passengers heard Rear Adm. David Lewis and other military and shipbuilding officials praise their slain family members at Saturday’s christening at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Avondale, a New Orleans suburb.

The Somerset is one of three amphibious landing docks named after and incorporating steel from the sites where planes taken over by terrorists crashed, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Pennsylvania

Penn State is covered for lawsuits, president says

WASHINGTON – Penn State is adequately covered to handle lawsuits stemming from the sexual-abuse scandal that has enveloped the campus, its president said, repeating that the university hopes to settle many of them “as quickly as possible” even though its insurer has sought to limit claims.

Rodney Erickson told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program in an interview taped for broadcast today that the university has general liability coverage as any institution of its size.

Retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of abusing 10 boys during 15 years in one of the worst scandals in sports history.

Penn State’s general liability insurer sought last week to deny or limit coverage for Sandusky-related claims. Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance argued that Penn State withheld key information needed to assess risk.

3 shot dead in Pa.; girl taken, found safe in Ohio

QUINCY, Pa. – Authorities in south-central Pennsylvania say a man confronting his estranged wife about custody arrangements for their daughter shot her to death and also killed her boyfriend and his mother, then fled with the 4-year-old girl before the two were found about 250 miles away in Ohio.

Thirty-five-year-old Kevin Cleeves was charged Saturday with three counts of criminal homicide and was awaiting an extradition hearing in the Friday night deaths of 25-year-old Brandi Cleeves, 28-year-old Vincent Santucci and 55-year-old Rosemary Holma.

Pennsylvania state police say Cleeves went to Santucci’s house and was asked to leave but instead opened fire. He then took the girl and fled, and an Amber Alert was issued. He was arrested in Austintown in northeastern Ohio, outside Youngstown. The girl is safe.

Mississippi

Black couple says racism forced wedding relocation

JACKSON, Miss. – A Mississippi couple says the church where they planned to get married turned them away because they are black.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson say they had set the date and mailed invitations, but the day before their wedding they say they got bad news from the pastor of predominantly white First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs: Some church members complained about the black couple having a wedding there.

Pastor Stan Weatherford said he was surprised when a small number of church members opposed holding the wedding at the church. Weatherford performed the wedding at another church to avoid having controversy affect the church or the wedding.

Associated Press