Medicare premiums to rise 13 next year
Washington, D.C.
Senior citizens and the disabled will have to pay a monthly Medicare premium of $88.50 next year for doctor's visits and other services. The $10.30 increase amounts to 13.2 percent. The increase in premiums for Medicare Part B was in line with what the government predicted. Even so, the Bush administration tried to lessen the pain of the announcement by touting the new prescription drug benefit that begins Jan. 1. Under the program, millions of low-income Americans will have their prescription drug costs covered almost entirely, and many other beneficiaries should see their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs decrease. (AP)
Virginia
Cattleman acquitted in neighbor's slaying
BOWLING GREEN -- A cattleman was acquitted of murder yesterday after telling jurors he was defending himself from a neighbor who came after him with a 3-foot stick. Prosecutors had argued that John Ames seized a chance to end the feud by shooting the neighbor, Perry Brooks, when he trespassed on Ames's land to retrieve a bull in April 2004. The feud between Ames and Brooks began after Ames bought his sprawling farm in 1986 and built a fence to protect his prized Black Angus herd. Relying on an obscure state law, Ames billed his neighbors for part of the cost of the fence. Brooks never paid, despite a 1991 Virginia Supreme Court ruling siding with Ames. Two court orders had barred Brooks from Ames's property. Testimony indicated that Brooks tore down the fence and Ames repeatedly impounded the neighbor's bull whenever it wandered onto his property.
Tennessee
Police say arrested man had a pilot's uniform
MEMPHIS -- A university student from Egypt was ordered held without bond after prosecutors said they found a pilot's uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport, and a DVD titled ''How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act" in his apartment. The FBI is investigating whether Mahmoud Maawad, 29, had any connection to terrorists. He is awaiting trial on charges of wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number. Maawad, who is in the United States illegally, told the judge he is studying science and economics at the University of Memphis. (AP)
Texas
Jeb Bush's son charged with public intoxication
AUSTIN -- The youngest son of Florida Governor Jeb Bush was arrested early yesterday and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest, law enforcement officials said. John Ellis Bush, 21, was arrested by agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission at 2:30 a.m. on a corner in Austin's Sixth Street bar district, said commission spokesman Roger Wade. He was released on $2,500 bond for the resisting arrest charge, and on a personal recognizance bond for the public intoxication charge, officials said. (AP)
