Bush says no slight intended in speech

President Bush did not intend to insult Democrats by failing to pronounce their party's full name in his State of the Union address, spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday. In his speech last Tuesday, Bush declared that "I congratulate the Democrat majority." Some Democrats were incensed he did not say "Democratic." The party's proper name is the Democratic Party. Republicans for years have dropped the last two letters of the name as a slight to the party. Bush's prepared text of his speech had the proper name. (Reuters)

Nine anti war protesters were arrested yesterday when they gathered in a House office building to read off the names of American and Iraqi war dead. US Capitol Police spokeswoman Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said the nine were charged with unlawful assembly. Several dozen protesters congregated around a courtyard pool at the Rayburn House office building, throwing yellow roses onto the ice. (AP)

Mississippi

JACKSON -- A federal magistrate denied bail yesterday to a 71-year-old reputed Ku Klux Klansman charged in the 1964 slayings of two black men. James Ford Seale has been jailed since his arrest on kidnapping charges last week. Prosecutors say Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19, were seized and beaten by Klansmen and then thrown into the Mississippi River to drown. (AP)

Missouri

CHESTERFIELD -- A World War II veteran and his family stepped forward yesterday to claim a Powerball jackpot worth $254 million, one of the largest single-ticket lottery prizes in US history. Jim Wilson II, 84, and his wife, Shirley, 79, claimed the winning prize from last Wednesday's drawing, along with their three sons. The St. Louis family has been buying family Powerball tickets for years with the understanding that they'd share any winnings, the Missouri Lottery said. (AP)