US & World News, Friday 2/15

US & World Summary --- Seven Dead After Shooting Rampage At NIU, Some IDs Released (DeKalb, IL) -- The death toll has climbed to seven in yesterdays shootings at Northern Illinois University. School officials are expected to release more information this morning about the incident which ended with the suicide of the gunman. Investigators say the unidentified 27-year-old man entered a lecture auditorium armed with a shotgun and two handguns. He then opened fire in what University President Dr. John Peters described as a "brief, rapid-fire assault." Peters says the shooter was not currently enrolled at the school but was a graduate student there in the spring of 2007. --- Investigation Near Into Post-Disaster Housing Strategies (Washington, DC) -- A Senate subcommittee is set to investigate post-Hurricane housing strategies. Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu says the Senate Homeland Security Disaster Recovery Subcommittee that she chairs will be launching a thorough investigation of several government agencies. The probe follows word from the Centers for Disease Control that trailers used by FEMA along the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita tested positive for extremely high levels of toxic formaldehyde. Landrieu says the formaldehyde issue will be one of the principal focuses of the investigation. --- Court Decides Not To Arrest Holloway Suspect Despite a hidden camera confession, Joran van der Sloot wont be re-arrested in the Natalee Holloway death. According to his attorneys, van der Sloot made up the story that was captured on videotape. Holloways parents say the confession confirms what they have always thought happened to their daughter. Natalee Holloway disappeared in 2005 while vacationing in Aruba. Van der Sloot has already been in police custody twice over the case while pending charges were never filed. --- Pokemon Suckers Recalled At Dollar General (Orlando, FL) -- Dollar General stores have pulled "Pokemon 10 Valentine Cards and Pops" from store shelves across the country after pieces of metal were found in some Pokemon lollipops. The tainted pops were traced back to Orlando, Florida stores after at least 20 students at a Lakewood, Florida elementary school found pieces of metal in their treats. According to the "Orlando Sentinel," the discovery came one day after a woman in the nearby town of Mulberry reported finding a piece of metal in another Pokemon lollipop she bought at a Dollar General. The bad lollipops were made in China. --- California Man Faces Jail For 911 Call Binge (Hayward, CA) -- A California man is in trouble for allegedly making 30-thousand prank calls to 911 systems. Forty-five-year-old John Triplette was finally arrested by police Wednesday night and reportedly admitted to investigators that he enjoyed annoying the Alameda County 911 dispatchers. Authorities say he would burp and make other bodily noises before hanging up. The calls were eventually traced to his cellphone. --- Arizona Again Leads The Country In ID Thefts (Phoenix, AZ) -- Arizona again tops the nation in the number of identity thefts. Thats according to new numbers from the Federal Trade Commission, which show the state had more than 86-hundred reported cases during 2007. That works out to about 137 cases for every 100-thousand people. Arizona also led the country in 2006 with most of the ID thefts happening in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The report says locally and nationally, credit card fraud was the most common form of identity theft. --- McCartney-Mills Court Proceedings Expected To End Today The Paul McCartney-Heather Mills divorce proceedings could end today in a London courtroom. The former Beatle and his estranged wife have been working on a settlement this week, trying to agree on a financial agreement and custody arrangement for their four-year-old daughter Beatrice. McCartney is worth an estimated one-point-six-billion-dollars, meaning Mills could receive the largest divorce settlement in British history. The couple was married just under four years. (Copyright 2008 by Newsroom Solutions) RNS-02-15-08 0745CST