Author is arrested in skyscraper climb

NEW YORK - A man climbed part way up The New York Times' 52-story headquarters early yesterday, becoming the third person to scale the skyscraper in less than five weeks. The climber, identified by police as David Malone, made it to the 11th floor of the mid-Manhattan building before descending to a lower level, where he made cellphone calls and talked to police. He was arrested about 5:30 a.m., police said. Malone wrote a book, "Bin Laden's Plan," which argues that Sept. 11 was part of a plot by Al Qaeda to provoke an invasion of Iraq. (AP)

FORT LAUDERDALE - A 12-year-old accused of fatally beating his 17-month-old cousin with a baseball bat after she interrupted a cartoon pleaded no contest yesterday and was sentenced to a juvenile treatment center. Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider said the sentence could be 12 to 36 months, depending on his progress. After his time in the facility, the boy is to remain on probation until he turns 21. (AP)

RALEIGH - A 29-year state employee has chosen to retire instead of lowering flags to honor former Republican senator Jesse Helms. US and state flags have been flying at half-staff since Governor Mike Easley ordered them lowered after Helms died Friday. L.F. Eason III, 51, told his staff at the Standards Laboratory to ignore the order. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that Eason sent workers an e-mail saying he didn't think the order was appropriate because of Helms's "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice." (AP)

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans was the fastest-growing large city in the nation last year, but its population is still about half what it was before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the US Census Bureau said yesterday. Between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, the city's population rose 13.8 percent to 239,124.(AP)