WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said Monday the fiscal year 2009 budget proposal for the Justice Department is $22.7 billion.The request includes a 6-percent increase from FY 2008 budget law enforcement and prosecution programs, including $492.7 million to improve the department's counterterrorism and intelligence capabilities, Mukasey said in a news release."The fiscal year 2009 budget supports our mission and includes targeted enhancements to ensure the nation's security and to bolster our law ... [full story]

AUSTIN, Texas - Parents who admitted leaving their children unattended in a vehicle so the adults could go drink margaritas were sentenced in one year in a Texas state prison.Beatriz Pedroza, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of endangering a child and driving while intoxicated and will have to complete intensive outpatient care for alcoholism and parenting classes, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Monday.Pedroza is the country illegally, court records said, but won't face deportation, ... [full story]

SEATTLE - The Washington state Department of Transportation used a helicopter to drop explosives and trigger avalanches around Snoqualmie Pass for the first time ever.The move reportedly came because of "unprecedented" snow conditions requiring more aggressive measures to control.The highway between Cle Elum and North Bend, Wash., was closed for about five hours, while crews worked to clear away the snow brought down from the blasts, said department spokesman Mike Westbay.More than 6 1/2 feet ... [full story]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A United Airlines transcontinental flight with smoke in the cockpit made an emergency landing at Missouri's Kansas City International Airport Monday.Flight 871 heading from Washington to San Francisco and then on to Taiwan made the emergency landing after the pilots reported smoke starting to fill the cockpit, the Kansas City Star reported.No injuries were immediately reported and all 227 passengers on board were safe, said KCI spokesman Joe McBride. © 2008 United ... [full story]

Police have arrested a 26-year old Corvallis student of Linn Benton Community College who reportedly told security staff at the college that he had recently bought a rifle and admired school shootings, then allegedly made threats against other students, they announced Monday.   Orion W. Cannon - BCJ photo Orion W. Cannon remains lodged in the Benton County Jail, and is charged with attempted unlawful use of a weapon, police said. According to a news release prepared ... [full story]

Detectives have classified the death of a 51-year old man found deceased in a Clackamas County Jail cell Sunday evening as “non-criminal in nature”, although more details may become available following an autopsy.   Brian Truman Hebener was found deceased, alone, in a jail cell - CCJ photo Brian Truman Hebener was alone in the cell when he was discovered dead about 7:30 p.m., a little more than an hour after he was lodged, Clackamas County Sheriff’s ... [full story]

A 59-year old Oregon City man was found dead of what deputies described as obvious trauma at a Milwaukie Texaco station Monday morning, and detectives are seeking witnesses who may have noticed anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. According to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office, Gurdev Sohi was found deceased at 17869 SE McLoughlin Blvd. in Milwaukie, a Texaco station and Express Oil Lube, about 6:20 a.m., February 4, when they responded to a ... [full story]

Two people from Banks, Oregon, including an 8-month pregnant woman and the father of her unborn child, were killed in a horrific two-vehicle crash on icy Highway 6 Sunday night, police reported. Two children were also sent to the hospital, one with serious injuries.   An 8-month pregnant woman and the father of her unborn child were killed on icy Highway 6 near Banks. The woman's 4-year-old son was seriously injuried, and the man's 6-year-old nephew ... [full story]

Police have released few details related to the death of a 25-year old man who was found Sunday morning in a resident recreation building of a Lake Oswego apartment complex, but have arrested a suspect, another tenant in the same complex, who has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.   Michael David Hessemer - CCJ photo Lake Oswego Police responded to a report of an adult male not breathing at the Mt. Park-area apartment complex at One Jefferson Parkway ... [full story]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A new voice-to-text technology reportedly meets the safety challenges in the United States posed by a more mobile and more connected society.North Carolina's Yap Inc. developed software that converts voice to cellular text messages, an application seen as necessary after a 2007 Zogby poll showed 66 percent of drivers young than 24 years old send text messages while driving, The Washington Times said Monday.A Nationwide Insurance study from 2006 found that one-fifth ... [full story]