Memphis Commercial Appeal details first grade threat.

No evidence exists that a 6-year-old pointed a gun at the head of another first-grader at Grandview Heights Elementary last week, a Memphis City Schools spokesman said.

The family of the supposed victim insisted Monday that their child was terrorized when the other child held a gun on him Thursday at the K-6 school at 2342 Clifton, near Hollywood Street and I-40.

Salt Lake Tribune details rape sentence reduction.

Authorities are investigating whether a controversial Utah judge secretly knocked 10 years off a sex offender's prison sentence.

Third District Judge Leslie Lewis allegedly had an ex parte (one side only) conversation with a defense attorney and subsequently reduced his client's sentence by 10 years without consulting prosecutors.

"We did an investigation regarding allegations of misconduct," Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom said Monday. "We have filed a complaint against the judge before the [state Judicial Conduct Commission.]"

The complaint claims Lewis asked the defense attorney not to tell prosecutors about her plan to reduce the sentence. It also accuses Lewis of altering the date of the sentencing change.

If the allegations are ruled valid, the Utah Supreme Court could reprimand Lewis or remove her from office.

From the San Antonio Express News:

22 -year-old man was shot and killed on his front lawn during a party early Tuesday morning.

It happened around 3 a.m. in the 5400 block of Kensington Run.

According to police, a fight broke out as some partygoers were leaving the party.

Police said that the victim took a baseball bat to one of the cars. Then, 23-year-old Ian Van Buren pulled out a 9 mm handgun and shot the victim in the chest — the victim died on the front lawn of the home.

Police caught the suspect a short time later and charged him with murder. He is being held on $500,000 bail.

While the police still don't have a motive, they said the suspect had marijuana in his car at some point, and that may have played a role.

Boston Globe depicts heroic act.

Seven-year-old Lakeyia Mumford has a scar on her chin, a reminder of the bullet that whizzed through her extended family's Dorchester home.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

A man was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for raping a woman with multiple sclerosis.

Raymond Prinkey, 19, of Saltlick Township, pleaded guilty in July to raping the 66-year-old woman.

Police said Mr. Prinkey entered the woman's home on April 23 using a key he found under a flower pot.

The judge said the plea agreement bothered him because Mr. Prinkey's jail time could have quadrupled if convicted at trial and sentenced to consecutive terms on all four charges he faced.

The victim's family said they were not happy with the plea agreement but approved it to spare the victim the emotional trauma of having to testify at a trial.

New York Daily News documents female crime statistics.

More city schoolgirls are landing in juvenile detention now than a decade ago - while crime among boys is dropping, a new report reveals.

Last year, 1,037 girls younger than 16 entered city detention facilities, up from 772 in 1992, according to the report by the Citizens' Committee for Children.

The 34.3% increase came as the number of boys admitted by the city's Department of Juvenile Justice fell 30%, from 5,769 to 4,023.

From the Indianapolis Star:

Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher wants everyone to read this story about a man who attempted to lure a 12-year-old girl into his car.

Pitcher said a man drove up in a black Dodge four-door with gray pinstripes and asked the girl if she needed a ride. The girl told the man she didn't, and the man asked her if she was sure. Again the girl assured the man she didn't need a ride.

The man drove away, but he returned a few minutes later.

The girl said the man told her that he didn't have a telephone, "but if you come home with me you can use it to call your parents."

She described the man as white, in his 50s, with short gray, bushy hair and a mustache, dark blue eyes and a pointed nose.

Akron Beacon Journal: Woman shot in parking lot

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: N. Clayton student attacked

Chicago Tribune: Cops shoot suspect on W. Side, Student cited in online threat

Cincinnati Enquirer: Woman arrested in elder abuse case

Columbia State: Arrest made in shooting incident

Dallas Morning News: 70 guns stolen from North Texas shop

Detroit Free Press: Bachynski back in court, Fallout hits care center in death of 2-year-old

Indianapolis Star: Murder suspect released by mistake, , Indy man slain answering door, 2 juveniles shot on Westside

Kansas City Star: Meth conspiracy leads to prison sentence

Los Angeles Times: Man dead after shooting in Cerritos

Memphis Commercial Appeal: Victim jailed after alleged retaliation

Miami Herald: Man held in alleged assault on hotel clerk

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: 15 gang members charged, Stabbing victim found near police station

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Five shot in French Quarter bar attack, Student's body found in UNO dorm

Philadelphia Inquirer: Clerk killed in robbery was known for kindness

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Man found fatally shot in car in East Busway parking lot, Man found stabbed to death in Hill District, 2 hurt in North Side shootings, 13-year-old hurt in Homewood shooting

Providence Journal: Ex-city councilor guilty of sexually assaulting teen, Police on Cape probe death of a woman and a young child

San Antonio Express News: Man killed on his front lawn during party

San Jose Mercury News: Mother accused of killing, torturing son

Seattle Times: Man found guilty in shooting that wounded Renton officer

St. Petersburg Times: Autopsy: Couple was fatally stabbed

Tampa Tribune: Police Say Man Kills Parents, Then Self

Tennessean: One arrested after shooting involving off-duty Metro officer, Two intruders shoot Nashville man in the neck

Fort Myers News-Press discusses gubernatorial debate.

Gov. Jeb Bush, Crist campaign chief George LeMieux, Sen. Mel Martinez and running mate Jeff Kottkamp of Cape Coral heaped praise on the attorney general after the debate, saying his hard-hitting talk on not raising taxes and tough law-and-order stance gave viewers some sharp contrasts to Davis.

Bush was irritated that Matthews cited former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, comparing Florida’s decline in crime statistics to the District of Columbia’s improvement, if murder rates were factored out.

“That was completely inappropriate, completely inappropriate,” said the governor.

Former Sen. Bob Graham, who has debated opponents in five statewide races for governor and the U.S. Senate, said Crist “dissembled” about crime and taxes.

Graham said that if Crist doubled the homestead exemption and counties had to cut costs by $2 billion statewide “who’s going to get cut? It’s going to be the police, the biggest single sector of local budgets in Florida.”

From Fox News:

A high school student found a used needle and syringe by the side of a road and jabbed eight fellow students over two days, police and school officials said.

Jabbed students at Bellows Free Academy were urged to be vaccinated immediately against hepatitis B.

The incidents also posed a lower risk of hepatitis C and HIV, but those diseases would not be expected to show in tests for months.

The student who wielded the needle threw it away, officials said. Police have not been able to recover it and don't know whether it was infected, said police officer Frank McCarty.

A 16-year-old student at the public school will be charged with eight counts of assault, police said. The attacks were reported Thursday and Friday, they said.

"He just walked up and stabbed me with a needle and said, 'You now have hepatitis,"' said student Ava Staples. "I'm pretty nervous." She said she planned to get a blood test.

New York Daily News recounts falafel murder.

The tragedy unfolded as Noel and Shannon Gibbons and a pal waited in line for falafel at the kiosk on Sixth Ave. at 53rd St. A man later identified by police as Ziad Tayeh, 23, accused the trio of cutting the line.

"I think I was in front of you," said Tayeh, according to Shannon Gibbons.

"We just ignored him," he recalled. But when they took off in Gibbons' car - a brand-new 2007 Toyota Yaris - Tayeh tailed them through two traffic signals, Shannon Gibbons said.

Twice they pulled over to let him pass, but both times he kept following them, he said. The third time, Tayeh jumped out and stabbed Noel Gibbons in the back before speeding off in his Lexus, cops said.

Police caught Tayeh, of Brooklyn, soon after, and he was arraigned yesterday on second-degree murder charges.

Sacramento Bee reports police request.

Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness stood before reporters Sunday with a plea: Investigators need the public's help in their search for the person who shot and killed a patrol deputy.

"We're desperate for information," McGinness grimly told media assembled for a news conference Sunday afternoon.

Sheriff's Deputy Jeffrey V. Mitchell was overpowered and gunned down early Friday after stopping a white Chevy van in an isolated area south of the Jackson Highway.

From Akron Beacon Journal:

A candidate for state representative has been charged with sexual battery and two counts of sexual imposition after a secret indictment was filed.

John Johnson, 41, of Perry Township, is the Democratic candidate for the 50th District. His opponent is incumbent state Rep. John Hagan, R-Marlboro.

Johnson was indicted and arrested Thursday on charges that he engaged in sexual conduct with a minor female between Jan. 1 and July 1, Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero said Monday.

Johnson was being held in the Stark County jail on $250,000 bond. If convicted of the felony sexual battery charge, he faces one to five years in prison.

"He denies all allegations and looks forward to going to trial," defense attorney Rick Pitinii said.

Republicans seized on Johnson's indictment, calling for him to be removed from the Nov. 7 ballot.

"Few crimes are worse than a felony sex offense," said Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett. "This man is entitled to his day in court, but someone indicted by a grand jury for such a heinous crime is not entitled to be considered for public office."

The Ohio Democratic Party said it would support Johnson being removed from the ballot, something unlikely to happen so close to the election.

"We have done nothing to promote this man's candidacy," said Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Randy Borntrager. "He is not on the sample ballot we send out telling people what our slate is."

Denver Post articulates 508-year term.

Zuri-Kye McGhee, 32, was sentenced today to 508 years for molesting 18 boys and one girl between 9 and 16 years old. He posed as a teenager himself to gain their trust.

Teen-agers and their parents filled the Arapahoe County courtroom as Judge Michael Spear read off his sentences for 80 counts against McGhee, who focused his gaze constantly on the table in front of him.

One mother read a statement from her two sons:

"You're filthy, you're a liar, and you're a punk."

Weeping, another mother testified, "How do you get past the hatred? How do you get past the pain he's caused? ... I wonder how they'll feel five, 15, 50 years from now.”

From the Associated Press:

Just days after the St. Louis Cardinals won the top honor in Major League Baseball, their hometown jumped to first place on a list no one wants to lead: the most dangerous cities in the United States.

The Midwestern city has long been in the upper tiers of the annual ranking of the nation’s safest and most dangerous cities, compiled by Morgan Quitno Press. Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent there from 2004 to last year, when the rate of such crimes rose much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to FBI figures released in June.

“It’s just sad the way this city is,” resident Sam Dawson said. “On the news you hear killings, someone’s been shot.”

The ranking, being released today, came as the city was still celebrating Friday’s World Series victory at the new Busch Stadium. St. Louis has been spending millions of dollars on urban renewal even as the crime rate climbs.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay did not return calls to his office seeking comment Sunday.

Kansas City finished 16th on the most dangerous list, while Lee’s Summit was the 19th-safest city, according to the survey.

“That is just wonderful,” Lee’s Summit Mayor Karen Messerli said of her city’s ranking. “For us public safety is a quality of life issue and we know our citizens deserve the best.”

Attempts to reach Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes Sunday night were unsuccessful.

In 1995 Lee’s Summit passed a $20 million bond issue giving the city, population 90,000, the resources to build a sixth fire station and a state-of-the-art Police Headquarters. The bond issue was also designed to add more personnel to the city’s police force. In 1995, the Lee’s Summit’s Police Department had 106 employees; by 2010 the city hopes to have close to 300.

“The most important thing for me and this council is to stay on top of the best practices for our officers and keep them in the community and proactive when it comes to crime. We have made public safety a top priority,” Messerli said.

Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company specializing in state and city reference books, said he was not surprised to see St. Louis top the list, because it has been among the 10 most dangerous cities for years.

Morgan said the study looks at crime only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000. It doesn’t take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County, which has roughly 980,000 residents.

The safest city in 2005 was Brick, N.J., population about 78,000, followed by Amherst, N.Y., and Mission Viejo, Calif. The second most dangerous city was Detroit, followed by Flint, Mich., and Compton, Calif.

Cities are ranked based on more than just their crime rate, Morgan said. Individual crimes such as rape or burglary are measured separately, compared with national averages and then compiled to give a city its ranking. Crimes are weighted based on their danger to people.

The national FBI figures released in June showed the murder rate in St. Louis jumped 16 percent from 2004 to 2005, compared with 4.8 percent nationally. The overall violent crime rate increased nearly 20 percent, compared with 2.5 percent nationally.

While crime increased in all regions last year, the 5.7 percent rise in the 12 Midwestern states was at least three times higher than any other region, according to the FBI.

Visiting St. Louis on Thursday, FBI director Robert Mueller said it was too early to tell why some types of crime were rising faster in the Midwest.

Mueller said the FBI is working harder to form partnerships with police departments to launch programs such as St. Louis’ Safe Streets task force, which focuses police efforts on problematic neighborhoods.

This year’s ranking was good news for Camden, N.J., which had been named the most dangerous city for the two previous years.

Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said Sunday she was thrilled to learn that her city no longer topped the most-dangerous list.

“You made my day!” said Faison, who has served since 2000. “There’s a new hope and a new spirit.”