BILLINGS, Mont.

Exxon had assured ruptured oil pipeline was safely buried 

Exxon Mobil Co. had reassured federal regulators and officials from a Montana town since December that an oil pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River was safe, buried deep enough to avoid any accidental ruptures.

Oon Friday night, the pipe failed, spilling an estimated 42,000 gallons into the flooded river. The causeremains under investigation, but the prevailing theory is that the raging Yellowstone eroded the riverbed and exposed the line to damaging rocks or debris.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Family of accused stalker of Palin claims harassment

The family of a 19-year-old man accused of stalking Sarah Palin is alleging harassment by a Pennsylvania state trooper in connection with the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate.

A private criminal complaint filed this week in Tamaqua, Pa., says trooper Thomas Powell showed up at Shawn Christy’s home in McAdoo, Pa., last week and asked the teen if he was planning to attend a book signing featuring Palin and her daughter Bristol at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. The complaint says Powell told Christy, “You would never go to Minnesota, would you?”

The family said the visit occurred shortly before the event was to start and after Christy called mall security, indicating he might attend. He did not go.

An Alaska state magistrate recently extended a restraining order for Palin against Christy and issued one against his father, Craig Christy, who was accused of barraging Palin’s parents with antagonizing telephone messages.

NEW YORK

Clerk’s offices to be open on a Sunday for gay marriages

Saying gay couples should not be made to wait one day longer to wed, New York City officials announced they would open clerks’ offices on Sunday, July 24, to perform the first gay marriages under a new state law.

New York became the sixth and largest state to legalize gay marriage June 24. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation before midnight that Friday night, setting a 30-day clock before the law takes effect on a Sunday, when government offices normally are closed.

Clerks’ offices in all five boroughs will be open for a full day. Volunteer judges will be available to perform ceremonies and review requests to waive the state’s mandatory 24-hour waiting period between when a couple gets a marriage license and when they can get married.

PHOENIX

Prosecutors: Resume forcible medications for Loughner

Federal prosecutors are urging an appeals court to let prison officials resume forcibly giving anti-psychotic medication to the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage.

In court documents filed late Tuesday, prosecutors said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal should lift its order that temporarily bars prison officials from involuntarily medicating Jared Lee Loughner.

Loughner had been forcibly medicated between June 21 and July 1 at a federal facility in Springfield, Mo., after prison officials determined his outbursts there posed a danger.

The 22-year-old college dropout has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords?

LOS ANGELES

Grizzly kills hiker after couple encounters bear and cubs

A hiker in Yellowstone National Park was killed by a grizzly bear Wednesday morning after he and his wife surprised a sow and her cubs on a popular trail.

The unidentified couple were about a mile and a half from the trailhead of the Wapiti Lake trail when they encountered the sow and her cubs. The bear, apparently reacting to the perceived threat to her cubs, fatally attacked the man, park officials said. The woman was unhurt.

Nearby hikers heard the woman’s cries and used a cellphone to call for help. The victim died at the scene. Yellowstone law enforcement and emergency medical personnel responded, as did a park employee who serves as a coroner.

NEVADA CITY, Calif.

Gold nugget’s real, but man’s claim of origin is bogus

A 6.2-pound hunk of gold was auctioned for nearly a half-million dollars in March after a man claimed he found it on his Sierra Nevada property, but it turns out it was actually dug up decades earlier in Australia.

After Jim Sanders’ “find” on his property near Nevada City in California’s Gold Country made news last year, Australian prospector Murray Cox compared pictures of Sanders’ “Washington Nugget” with “The Orange Roughie” he unearthed near Melbourne in 1987, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

They were an exact match, except the Washington Nugget sold for $460,000 in March and Cox originally sold it for $50,000.

Cox contacted Don Kagin, a coin dealer, and mining geologist Fred Holabird, who together auctioned the nugget for Sanders. The two investigated Cox’s claims and determined he was right.

As for how Sanders got his hands on the Aussie gold chunk? The dealers said confidentiality agreements barred them from elaborating.

MARTINSVILLE, Ind.

Boy, 11, is charged in court with killing his brother, 6

An 11-year-old boy charged with murder in the shooting death of his 6-year-old brother is upset and remorseful but does not understand the gravity of the charges he is facing, his attorney said Wednesday.

The boy made his first court appearance wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes and shackles around his waist and legs, sitting with his mother and defense attorney John Boren. The boy faces charges of murder and reckless homicide in the June 30 shooting death of 6-year-old Andrew Frye. 

— From news service reports