Two drivers were sent to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon when one car drifted across South Highway 97 and crashed head-on into an oncoming vehicle, police reported. Redmond Police officers responded to the accident scene near the intersection of South Highway 97 and SW Wickiup Avenue in Redmond, Oregon shortly after 1:30 p.m. June 5. According to Officer Johnny Dickson, a 2000 Cadillac driven by 84-year old Anne Elizabeth Maxwell of Redmond ... [full story]

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has proposed $715 million in state money to direct toward the state's "Road Home" program for Hurricane Katrina recovery. Blanco's budget officer briefed legislators Sunday on the governor's initial plan to help close a $2.9 billion to $5 billion shortfall in the Road Home budget, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Monday. "We've committed $4.6 billion of our own revenues to this recovery," budget official Jerry Luke LeBlanc ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Violent crime in the United States increased 1.3 percent from 2005 to 2006, with every region but the Northeast reporting an increase, the FBI reported Monday. Violent crime rates remained virtually unchanged in the Northeast, the FBI reported in its Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2006, which is based on data from more than 11,000 law enforcement agencies. Property crime decreased 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006, the FBI said. The FBI ... [full story]

HOUSTON -- A man may face charges and may lose his concealed handgun permit after shooting himself in the hand at the High Caliber Gun & Knife Show in Houston. The man knowingly entered the gun show at the George R. Brown Convention Center with a loaded weapon, which is against the law, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday. Event's organizer, Todd Bean, said the man was attempting to disassemble his Glock .40-caliber handgun while shopping ... [full story]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Authorities in Florida were searching for a van Monday that struck and killed a woman who tried to confront the driver after an accident. The van dragged the woman for miles before leaving her dead on the road Sunday night, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. "I don't think there are words that would describe someone who would do this," Mike Jachles, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office told the Sun-Sentinel. Family ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army should create 10 National Guard task forces to respond quickly to domestic emergencies, a RAND Corp. report recommended Monday. "We believe the best way to improve the Army's response to domestic disasters is to empower the National Guard for a regional focus," said Lynn Davis, lead author of the report from RAND, a non-profit research group. "The experience of Hurricane Katrina also demonstrates that new strategies are needed to prepare ... [full story]

MIAMI -- Federal prosecutors in the Florida terrorism trial of Jose Padilla intend to introduce transcripts of phone calls between members of an alleged terror cell. "The phone calls will tell the story of this case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier said in his opening statements in mid-May, The Miami Herald reported. The FBI alleges it intercepted the calls between Padilla and two other defendants between 1994 and 2001, the newspaper said. They were culled ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces in Iraq Monday condemned a posting on an Islamic Web site of identification cards belonging to two missing American soldiers. "We condemn the tactics used by these terrorists, and are using all means available to pursue those responsible," said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, Multinational Force-Iraq spokesman. Above the photo identification cards of Spc. Alex R. Jimenez , 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., is a ... [full story]

SACRAMENTO -- A federal grand jury in California Monday indicted a venerated Hmong general and nine others for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government of Laos. Vang Pao, who commanded the CIA forces in the fight against Communist forces during the Vietnam War, and eight of the defendants are accused of violating the United States' neutrality act by scheming to invade a foreign nation, The Sacramento Bee reported. A 10th suspect, Harrison Ulrich Jack of ... [full story]

ROSTOCK, Germany - Police in Rostock, Germany, turned back left-wing protestors for a third day Monday, with the G-8 summit still two days off. About 1,000 demonstrators briefly blocked entrance to the local immigration office to show their displeasure with the way G-8 nations handle asylum-seekers and to call for more flexible German immigration laws, Der Spiegel reported. Some black-clad protestors, members of the Black Bloc, threw bottles at the riot-gear-clad police, who responded with ... [full story]