Ex-mayor shot by gunman dies

KIRKWOOD - The former mayor of this St. Louis suburb who was wounded when a gunman opened fire at a City Council meeting in February has died of complications of his injuries. Mary Jo Wich, a spokeswoman for St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis, said Mike Swoboda died yesterday morning. He would have turned 70 this month. Officials say Charles "Cookie" Thornton killed a police officer outside City Hall on Feb. 7, then burst into a council meeting and killed another officer, two council members, and the public works director. He shot and wounded the mayor and a reporter. Swoboda was shot twice in the head and was hospitalized for weeks. (AP)

PASADENA - Two teenage girls have been accused of stabbing a 75-year-old man to death in a robbery that netted them $15, and police say the mother of one of the teens put them up to it. Dannette R. Gillespie, 38, gave knives to her 15-year-old daughter and Vanessa Anne Ocampo, 19, then waited in their car while the teens robbed and killed Eugene Palma, according to a probable cause warrant. All three were charged with capital murder Friday and were being held without bail. Palma, a bar owner, was found stabbed several times in the driveway of his home in this Houston suburb Wednesday. He did not know the women, police said. (AP)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE - A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite was launched yesterday. A Delta 2 rocket carrying the GeoEye-1 satellite lifted off at 11:50 a.m. Video on the GeoEye website showed the satellite separating from the rocket moments later on its way to an eventual polar orbit. The satellite makers say GeoEye-1 has the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system. It can collect images from orbit with enough detail to show home plate on a baseball diamond. (AP)