WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Former U.S. Senator John Edwards goes on trial Monday on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair "would destroy his presidential campaign," prosecutors said in a trial brief.

The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer.

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Jurors will hear opening statements the federal courthouse in Greensboro, N.C.

Edwards, 58, is accused of conspiring to solicit the money, receiving more than the $2,300 allowed from any one donor, and failing to report the payments as contributions.

He faces six felony counts, each carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Edwards admits personal failings but insists he broke no laws.

Edwards' defenders say the government is overreaching with its prosecution of Edwards, the son of mill workers who earned his fortune as a trial lawyer in North Carolina before being elected as a U.S. senator from the state in 1998.

His defense lawyers dispute the Justice Department's interpretation of federal election laws, arguing the donors would have given the money regardless of the campaign and did so knowing it wouldn't be used for campaign purposes.

The money was not spent to influence the election but rather to conceal the affair and resulting pregnancy from Edwards' wife and children, they said.

Edwards never personally received any of the payments, nor did his campaign. The money was used to cover living expenses and medical care for his mistress, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, rather than traditional campaign activities.

"This is expanding the scope of the definition of campaign contribution," said Ron Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University who is not involved in the case. "It is an unprecedented definition."

The defense is expected to call two former Federal Election Commission members who, if allowed by the judge, would testify they believe Edwards did not violate campaign finance laws.

Hampton Dellinger, a former deputy attorney general who has followed the Edwards case, said the campaign finance experts' testimony could be pivotal.

The missing pieces of the case also could be significant, he said. Neither of the two donors whose payments are in question are able to testify.

Fred Baron, who served as Edwards' national campaign finance chairman in 2008, has since died, and heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon is 101 and physically unable to attend the trial. Elizabeth Edwards died in 2010.

A chief government witness will be Andrew Young, a campaign aide who later wrote a tell-all book about Edwards' affair and the efforts to keep it out of the public eye.

Young, who was granted immunity, initially claimed he had fathered a child with Hunter, who is also expected to testify. A lawsuit settlement earlier this year between Young and Hunter called for copies of a videotape purported to show her having sex with Edwards to be destroyed.

Edwards' defense team, recently reshuffled to include the lawyers who represented Hunter in the civil case, has indicated it will attack Young's motives and credibility.

Edwards, who also ran for president in 2004 before becoming John Kerry's vice presidential running mate the same year, has his own credibility issues. He repeatedly denied having an affair and daughter with Hunter, and finally admitted paternity two years after the child's birth.

"This case is not so much the United States v. John Edwards, it's Andrew Young v. John Edwards," Dellinger said. "And I think the jury's determination about which one of them is more credible may be one of the key factors in deciding whether Mr. Edwards is guilty."

The trial could last until late May or early June. A conviction would make what qualifies as a campaign contribution less certain for future candidates, said law professor Wright.

"It's going to mean lots more lawyers employed by campaigns," he said. "There's going to be a lot more legal risk involved in election reporting if the government wins this."

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Heavy rains and snow will pound the eastern United States into Monday, possibly leading to downed trees, power outages and flight delays as a low pressure system from the Gulf of Mexico moves through the region.

Intense precipitation from the Nor'easter storm started Sunday morning, with two to four inches of downpour expected along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, which will make for soggy conditions in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

As for snow, "the areas of concern are western New York, western Pennsylvania, extreme eastern Ohio, parts of northern West Virginia and extreme western Maryland," weather.com reported. Buffalo and Pittsburgh could see six inches or so, while more than a foot is possible in higher elevations.

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"It's going to a very, very intense Nor'easter," said Michael Eckert, senior branch forecaster with the National Weather Service based in Camp Springs, Md.

"Snowfall rates may exceed 1" per hour Sunday night into early Monday, accompanied by thunder and lightning," weather.com added.

"The weather will be going downhill during the day on Sunday," Eckert said.

On Sunday night, the inland side of the weather system will see an influx of cold air, as falling rain morphs into heavy snow that will blanket western parts of New York state and Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia, he said.

Heavy snow could lead to downed branches and even trees. As a result, forecasters expect broken power lines and widespread outages in some areas.

PhotoBlog: Spring Nor'easter to soak Mid-Atlantic states

With the storm came a spate of disruptions. Pro baseball games were postponed in New York and Washington. The space shuttle Enterprise's scheduled arrival in New York City was pushed back. An Earth Day celebration at a park in Virginia Beach, Va., was canceled.

This weather pattern would produce a blizzard if it had come in January, but because the spring air is warmer the storm is not expected to be as severe, Eckert said.

Nevertheless, airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia could see flight delays on Monday due to the storm, said Eckert.

On Saturday, Minnesota had a few small tornadoes that struck in the western half of the state, the National Weather Service said. They caused no injuries but damaged barns near the town of Milan and to a flower shop in Lucan, said Weather Service meteorologist Bryon Paulson. 

"We had everything, rain, nickel-sized hail, small tornadoes and snow," he said. 

The town of Chisholm in northeast Minnesota received nearly 6 inches of snow, after getting a foot a week ago. That followed a mild winter with little snow, he said. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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It's only April, but some extreme heat has arrived over the Southwest U.S. this weekend.

Why is this happening? A major upper-level ridge of high pressure has taken up shop across the region.

This upper ridge provides subsidence or sinking air. Sinking air actually compresses and pressure builds. This build-up in pressure leads to an air mass temperature increase.

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We are forecasting high temperatures in the Desert Southwest to reach the upper 90s and triple-digits; coming close to or exceeding the record highs for the date in some cities.

Cities that could break their daily record highs this weekend including Phoenix, Yuma, Tucson and Las Vegas.

Before this weekend, Phoenix had not reached the century mark in 2012. The average first 100-degree reading comes around May 2. Last year, the city first hit 100 degrees on April 1.

The major warmth won't only be confined to the Southwest but also permeate into the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys of California (Sacramento, Fresno) and also into the heart of the intermountain West (Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, Boise). In fact, record highs may be broken in the Pacific Northwest too including in Portland and Medford, Ore.

Highs across the region are forecast to be 10 to 20 degrees above average.

This intense heat will continue through at least the early part of the work week with some slight mitigation of the heat by midweek.

Look for Wednesday highs in the 90s again in the Desert Southwest, mid to upper 70s in the Salt Lake Valley and 80s to near 90 on the Strip in Vegas.

Will this pattern stick around? Unlike the previous pattern in place, this shift will be relatively short-lived. Computer weather models currently show the western ridge weakening as a new storm system approaches the California coast late Wednesday into Thursday.  

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The $60 LED light bulb is coming down in price – just in time for Earth Day. The bulb's manufacturer and select utilities on Sunday are starting rebates of up to $25, but they still need to convince folks that it’s worth paying upfront to save over time.

The pitch: the 10W bulb will last 30,000 hours and save some $165 over its lifetime compared to a similar 60W incandescent -- plus it's just as bright.

The odd-looking bulb (watch the video above for a demonstration) was unveiled last year and word then was that it'd cost around $60. But the electronics conglomerate Philips this week said its brainchild would be on store shelves with a $50 MSRP, less an instant $10 rebate. On top of that utilities will have rebates of $15-$25 starting on Earth Day.

But that's still at least 15 times more expensive than incandescent bulbs, which are being phased out by a Bush administration law because of their inefficiency.

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The LED bulb did win a $10 million federal prize for lighting efficiency last year. But it was also the only entrant and the Department of Energy contest requires that the winning bulb be sold for $22 or less in its first year on the market.

Phillips, for its part, is bullish on its bulb.

"Because the new bulb is 83 percent more energy efficient than the standard 60-Watt incandescent, consumers can now experience new savings for their pocketbooks," Philips North America executive Ed Crawford said in a statement announcing the rebates.

"We are looking at a wholesale change in buying lighting technology, going from a disposable good to a durable good," he added. "Consumers are no longer looking at a product that will last just six months to a year, they are looking at a product that is much more efficient and will be with them for decades."

The LED light uses only 10 watts of power, and is designed to last 30 times longer than an incandescent. If that holds up, it would mean saving about $8 per year in electricity at four hours of use a day.

Backers hope that LED lights will overtake compact fluorescent bulbs, now the market mainstream, but those are much cheaper at $5 or so a pop. 

Time will tell about claim
Moreover, early problems with CFLs, where many buyers said they lasted far less than advertised, could resurface with LED bulbs.

That 30,000 hour claim "is easy to get away with because it is difficult to know ahead of time how long a bulb will last," says Brian McGraw, an energy policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank espousing free markets and limited government.

"I currently use CFLs in my house," he adds. "I think they likely save some money over incandescent, but suspect the overall effect is pretty minimal."

The institute doesn't support the rebate program either. "Electricity/lighting markets will generally tend towards the best outcome without any interference," says McGraw. "Consumers are adequately prepared to decide what kind of lighting (LED, incandescent, CFL, etc.) and balance that with how much energy each product uses."

McGraw says he'd use LED bulbs if he got them for free, but he doesn't plan on buying any -- mostly because he'd feel the need to take them with him if he moves around over the next few years.

Still, he wouldn't blame anyone opposed to rebates and incentives, especially those subsidized by taxpayers, for using them.

"I don’t think its unprincipled to oppose the passage of a law that gives rebates for purchases like this, but to still take advantage of the rebates," he says. After all, I have to pay taxes, too."

Tester-in-chief tries it
So how does the bulb feel in the real world? At my home, the wife's the tester-in-chief so I swapped the LED bulb into her nightstand lamp and waited for a reaction.

None came, which is a good thing -- in the past, changing to a compact fluorescent came with a groan about the color or lack of brightness.

I prompted her with "You notice anything different" -- to which she said "No."

When I explained the new bulb and its properties she was quite happy to have one.

When I mentioned it was $25 after a rebate, she shouted: "What!"

She calmed down after I explained it was a test bulb from work. And while she hasn't given the bulb back, I don't think she's quite ready to invest in them for the rest of the house.

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A disruptive spring storm already pummeling the Atlantic seaboard Saturday will delay the space shuttle Enterprise’s trip to New York and bring winter-like snow to the Appalachians and Great Lakes, forecasters warn.

Rain that washed out ballgames and festivals in southern Florida was moving north and expected to meet cold air moving south from Canada, forecasters said.

Tornado watches were issued late Saturday in central and southern Florida.

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Severe thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 34 mph struck Delaware, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

Up to 4 inches of rain was forecast Sunday from Washington, D.C., to New York City.

“It’s going to be a very, very intense Nor’easter,” said Michael Eckert, senior branch forecaster with the National Weather Service based in Camp Springs, Maryland.

Winds of 30 to 50 miles per hour are expected on the coast.

“The weather will be going downhill during the day on Sunday,” Eckert said.

Snow is forecast to fall across the Appalachians in West Virginia and reach central Pennsylvania on Sunday night and move up to the Buffalo, N.Y., area by Monday. Snow levels are forecast to be above 1,000 feet elevation by Monday night. Snow was also possible for Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

The Weather Channel warned this would be heavy, wet snow that could cause tree and power line damage, especially after record March warmth sent trees into full leaf far earlier than usual.

Heavy rainfall capable of flooding was also expected Sunday into Monday morning in southern New England and eastern Maine and New Hampshire later Monday.

NASA said Monday's planned arrival of the shuttle has been postponed "until further notice."

The Enterprise is being brought to the city where it has a new permanent home waiting at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

NASA managers are monitoring weather forecasts and will reschedule the shuttle's flight as soon as possible, the space agency said.

The plan is to fly the shuttle atop a carrier aircraft to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. It will be moved by barge to the Intrepid museum for public display.

The museum is at a decommissioned aircraft carrier moored at Manhattan. It's been making room for the shuttle on its flight deck.

This article includes reporting by The Weather Channel, The Associated Press and Reuters.

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A teenager claimed to be dying of cancer but is being accused of faking it to raise money, according to a report out of Texas.

The El Paso Times says that Angie Gomez, 19, was arrested Friday evening and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail after being indicted on a theft-by-deception charge. The newspaper's website said court documents alleged that the amount was more than $1,500 and less than $20,000.

The Times said Gomez, 4 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 65 pounds, told classmates at Horizon High School in Horizon City that she had had leukemia as a child and the disease had reappeared -- and that doctors in January 2011 gave her six months to live.

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Classmates held fundraisers and Gomez got help in forming the Achieve the Dream Foundation, ostensibly to aid families of children with cancer, according to the report.

But six months later, Horizon City police received a complaint that Gomez did not appear to be ill, and an investigation turned up no sign that Gomez ever had cancer.

After subpoenaing bank records for the Achieve the Dream Foundation, investigators estimated Gomez received $17,000 from fundraisers and other donations, the Times reported, saying it was unclear what happened to the money.

The report said police thought Gomez's mother was unaware of the extent of the fundraising.

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A volleyball and soccer ball that washed ashore on an Alaskan island may be the first pieces of debris to arrive in the United States from last year's tsunami in Japan.

The sports balls were spotted by radar technician David Baxter on treeless, windswept Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle said in an agency blog post.

Baxter’s wife translated writing on the soccer ball and traced it back to a Japanese school in an area hit by the tsunami, Helton said.

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He told the Anchorage Daily News the balls were the first tsunami debris retrieved in Alaska.

 

"There have been other items that were suspected, but this is the first one that we're aware of that has the credentials that may make it possible to positively identify it."

Helton, in the NOAA post, said the agency, the State Department and the Japanese Embassy and its Seattle consulate are working to confirm details and set up the return of other debris that comes ashore.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, triggered a 75-foot wall of water that flattened waterfront towns, killing 16,000. Three thousand people are still unaccounted for. The tsunami triggered a crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

U.S. authorities were immediately aware that the clockwise circulation of the Pacific's northern waters would deliver some remnants of that destruction to American shores.

A Japanese ghost ship Ryou-Un Maru turned up earlier in the Gulf of Alaska off Southeast Alaska after a 4,500-mile journey. The U.S. Coast Guard ended sank the vessel April 5.

In January, a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first tsunami debris.

State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska shores will be contaminated by radiation.

This article contains reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Updated at 11:04 p.m. ET: Dozens of items, including strands of hair, a piece of paper and other possible bits of forensic evidence have been found in a SoHo basement in the four days that investigators have been searching for clues in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, NBC New York has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell NBC New York that investigators from the FBI, NYPD and Manhattan district attorney's office have told the Patz family that no human remains have been found. The family was briefed Sunday on the investigation and what has been found at the site.

Investigators discovered a "stain of interest" on a drywall Saturday while taking apart the basement in their search for the remains of Etan, according to law enforcement sources. But by Sunday, a law enforcement source told Reuters that "nothing conclusive had been found."

The stain was discovered Saturday in the ongoing search for clues in the case of the 6-year-old boy who went missing 33 years ago on his short walk to the school bus stop.

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NBC New York was first to report the break in the cold case on Thursday.

By Saturday, investigators had finished ripping up the basement's concrete floor with jackhammers and saws, and were digging through the dirt in hopes of finding the boy's remains, or any other evidence.

See the original story at NBCNewYork.com

It was while investigators were taking apart the basement floor and walls that they found a "stain of interest" on a drywall, according to law enforcement sources. Officers from the NYPD Emergency Services Unit used a chainsaw to cut out a piece of the wall, which is being preserved for analysis at the FBI Laboratory in Virginia. It's not clear how significant it is.

Other debris was also being tested, a process that could last into next week, chief police spokesman Paul Browne said.

At the time of Patz's disappearance, the 13-by-62 basement at 127B Prince Street was being used as a workshop by Othniel Miller, a handyman who was friendly with the Patz family.

Miller, now 75, has been interviewed by investigators several times over the years, but he recently made statements that raised their suspicions, according to law enforcement sources.

In a recent interview with investigators, he blurted out “What if the body was moved?” according to an official.

Sources also say they have evidence to suggest Patz had been in the basement before.

Miller hasn't been named a suspect, and his lawyer says he has nothing to do with the case.

Investigators Saturday were mostly concentrating their search towards the rear of the basement, where a cadaver-sniffing dog recently picked up a scent.

It's unclear what the renewed probe may turn up, if anything.

"We're hopeful that we can bring some level of comfort to the parents, perhaps find some — obviously, the body of this poor child — but evidence that may lead to a successful investigation in this case," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. He was a lieutenant working on organized crime cases when Etan Patz vanished.

As for whether authorities were optimistic, he said, "I really can't say."

Earlier: Etan Patz case: Police dig in basement, question second man in search for boy who disappeared in 1979

Through a lawyer, Miller denied having anything to do with Etan's vanishing, which helped turn missing children into a nationwide cause. Miller's grandson, Tony Miller, said Friday outside his home that his grandfather is a "good guy" who "wouldn't do this."

Investigators have also questioned a second person, Jesse Snell, in connection with the re-examination of evidence. NBC New York has learned that on the morning Patz disappeared in 1979, Snell was observed at the building where police are searching now, and also worked with  Miller. Investigators would not elaborate on why they met with Snell.

The investigation into the disappearance of Patz has stretched through decades and countries, from basements to rooftops and seemingly everywhere in between.

No one has ever been charged criminally — and Etan Patz, the little boy with sandy brown hair and a toothy grin, was declared dead in 2001.

This week, after more than a decade of relative quiet, the case suddenly ran hot again, after the cadaver-sniffing dog picked up the scent.

The investigation has reached similar highs before — only for the trail to go cold for years at a time.

Vanished in 1979
Patz vanished on May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time, two blocks from his home in New York's SoHo neighborhood.

There was an exhaustive search by the police and a crush of media attention. The boy's photo was one of the first of a missing child on a milk carton. Thousands of fliers were plastered around the city, buildings canvassed, hundreds of people interviewed. SoHo was not a neighborhood of swank boutiques and galleries as now, but of working-class New Yorkers rattled by the news.

Etan's parents, Stan and Julie, offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the boy's whereabouts, and sightings were frequently reported, to no avail. In 1986, a child resembling Etan was spotted in Israel, which prompted detectives to circulate his photo there. Nothing came of it.

A name gradually emerged as a possible suspect: Jose Ramos, a drifter and onetime boyfriend of Etan's baby sitter. In the early 1980s, he was arrested on theft charges, and had photos of other young, blond boys in his backpack. But there was no hard evidence linking Ramos to the crime.

Missing persons cases, like homicides, are generally considered cold after six months, but they're never closed. And with seemingly no new leads, the case would go quiet for years. In three decades, 10 detectives have been assigned to head up the case. The FBI and police are working jointly.

"Those cases are still maintained by someone, but the attention they get diminishes over time," said Joseph Pollini, a retired NYPD lieutenant in the cold case squad, now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "There's often nothing you can do, when you have no new leads."

Reviving the case
A fresh lead came in 2000, after Ramos, now in prison in Pennsylvania for sexually molesting two boys in unrelated cases, admitted he was with Etan the day he disappeared. He was said to have told a cellmate: "Etan is dead. There is no body, and there will never be a body."

That prompted police to scour for clues in the building where Ramos lived at the time. They dismantled the furnace and searched it for DNA. But they found only animal traces.

By the next year, father Stan Patz, who never moved or even changed their phone number in the hope their son would reach out, had Etan declared dead in order to sue Ramos in civil court. He was tired of waiting for justice, he said at the time.

A civil judge in 2004 found him to be responsible for the disappearance and presumed death of the boy, after he disobeyed her orders to answer deposition questions under oath for a lawyer representing Etan's parents. Ramos says he didn't do it.

The ruling provided a tiny measure of comfort to the family, though Stan Patz never collected the $2 million the judge ordered Ramos to pay. But the criminal case continues, and prosecutors lacked enough evidence to charge Ramos criminally.

The case was quiet until 2010 when new district attorney Cyrus R. Vance said he was going to revisit it.

Ramos is scheduled to be released from prison in Pennsylvania in November. His pending freedom is one of the factors that has given new urgency to the case.

The basement space being searched sits beneath several clothing boutiques. Investigators began by removing drywall partitions so they could get to brick walls that were exposed in 1979. The work will continue through the weekend.

About 50 law enforcement agents including forensics experts and an anthropologist are on scene. While cadaver-sniffing dogs are capable of detecting scents much older than 33 years, it's also possible the dog picked up an animal scent or was plain wrong.

The swank cobblestone street remained closed off and was a veritable media circus, with trucks and crews parked along the curb and gawking tourists stopping to snap photos.

The Patz family hasn't commented or turned up near the site, though it's visible from their home — they've seen the circus before.

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Charles W. Colson, a man who apparently lived nine lives as a Marine, President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man” and an evangelical prison minister, has died. He was 80.

Read the in-depth story from The New York Times obituary

When Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg was suspected of delivering the so-called Pentagon Papers with top-secret information about the Vietnam War to newspapers, Colson was called on to discredit him.

“Get Colson in,” Nixon instructed his chief of staff in a taped meeting in the Oval Office on June 17, 1971, according to The Washington Post. “He’s the best. It’s the Colson type of man that you need.”

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Going after Ellsberg led to a religious transformation and a seven-month prison term.

His lawyers advised him not to plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges, but Colson did anyway, the Post reported, as “a price I had to pay to complete the shedding of my old life and to be free to live the new.”

According to his web site, chuckcolson.org, Colson spent his final years leading both Prison Fellowship, which he founded, and the Colson Center, an evangelical Christian ministry. He was speaking at a conference at the center when he became dizzy and was then rushed to the hospital. He underwent two hours of surgery to remove a pool of clotted blood on the surface of his brain, his web site said.

He is survived by his wife, Patty, and three children from his first marriage.

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George Zimmerman's lawyer visited him Saturday in a Florida jail as he prepared for his release on bail, which could occur mid-week.  

Attorney Mark O'Mara said it would take several days before Zimmerman is released, as his family has been having trouble putting together enough money for collateral. Zimmerman also must be fitted with an electronic monitoring device and O'Mara must find him a secure location.

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On Friday, a judge set bond at $150,000 for Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. In Florida, which has a "Use a gun and you’re done" law, those convicted of second-degree murder are sentenced to 20 years to life.

During Friday’s hearing, Zimmerman surprised witnesses by speaking out for the first time publicly and reaching out to Martin’s parents, who were in the courtroom.

"I am sorry for the loss of your son," Zimmerman said. He wore a suit, a gray tie and a chain wrapped around his waist. It appeared he also was wearing a bullet-proof vest beneath his white button-up shirt. "I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not."

Zimmerman’s bail set at $150,000; he apologizes to Trayvon Martin’s parents

As the case made international headlines, supporters of Martin’s family accused Zimmerman, a self-proclaimed neighborhood watch guard in his gated community, of racially profiling the teen, who wore a hooded sweatshirt while walking to the home of his father's fiancee. Zimmerman’s defenders point to the fact that he is half Peruvian as proof that he is not racist and say that Martin attacked Zimmerman.

On Thursday, the night before the bail hearing, Zimmerman asked to speak with Martin’s parents, but they refused, NBC Miami reported.

Benjamin Crump, the Martin family lawyer, said the family found it crass that Zimmerman was reaching out for the first time at his bond hearing. Zimmerman said his lawyers had advised him not to speak publicly.

Legal observers across the country, however, said the bond hearing denoted hallmarks of a savvy defense attorney.

Zimmerman’s lawyer interrogated a state investigator about the probable cause affidavit, which outlines the state’s case against Zimmerman. It was an unlikely move for a bond hearing, but it may have highlighted weaknesses in the state’s case, legal observers told The Associated Press on Friday.

Investigator Dale Gilbreath testified that he does not know whether Martin or Zimmerman threw the first punch and that there is no evidence to disprove Zimmerman's contention he was walking back to his vehicle when confronted by Martin. The affidavit says "Zimmerman confronted Martin and a struggle ensued."

But Gilbreath also said Zimmerman's claim that Martin was slamming his head against the sidewalk just before he shot the teenager was "not consistent with the evidence we found." He gave no details.

Lawyers not involved in the case said it was strategically smart because the investigator's statements could be used later to contradict other testimony or to decide how to question other witnesses.

"I thought it was a really great thing to do," said Tom Mesereau, a Los Angeles attorney whose clients have included singer Michael Jackson and actor Robert Blake. "He used the hearing to get information that can only help his defense. What was supposed to be strictly a hearing for bail, he used it as a discovery device, and was able to nail the investigator into making very, very pointed statements about the investigation and about what evidence they have."

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WASHINGTON -- A polluted drainage ditch that once flowed with industrial waste from Lake Charles, La., petrochemical plants teems with overgrown, wild plants today.

A light-rail line zips past the spot where a now-defunct Portland, Ore., gasoline station advertised in 1972 that it had run out of gas.

A smoking Jersey City, N.J., dump piled with twisted, rusty metal has disappeared, along with the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan that were its backdrop.

Photographers revisit sites of EPA's Documerica project to see how things have changed over 40 years

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Forty years after the Environmental Protection Agency sent an army of nearly 100 photographers across the country to capture images at the dawn of environmental regulation, The Associated Press went back for Earth Day this year to see how things have changed. It is something the agency never got to do because the Documerica program, as it was called, died in 1978, the victim of budget cuts.

AP photographers returned to more than a dozen of those locations in recent weeks, from Portland to Cleveland and Corpus Christi, Texas. Of the 20,000 photos in the archive, the AP selected those that focused on environmental issues, rather than the more general shots of everyday life in the 1970s.

Gone are the many obvious signs of pollution — clouds of smoke billowing from industrial chimneys, raw sewage flowing into rivers, garbage strewn over beaches and roadsides — that heightened environmental awareness in the 1970s, and led to the first Earth Day and the EPA's creation in 1970. Such environmental consciousness caused Congress to pass almost unanimously some of the country's bedrock environmental laws in the years that followed.

Today's pollution problems aren't as easy to see or to photograph. Some in industry and politics question whether environmental regulation has gone too far and whether the risks are worth addressing, given their costs.

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has called for the firing of EPA chief Lisa Jackson, while GOP rival Newt Gingrich has said the EPA should be replaced altogether. Jackson has faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill so often the in past two years that a top Republican quipped that she needs her own parking spot.

"To a certain extent, we are a victim of our own success," said William Ruckelshaus, who headed the EPA when it came into existence under Republican President Richard Nixon and was in charge during the Documerica project. "Right now, EPA is under sharp criticism partially because it is not as obvious to people that pollution problems exist and that we need to deal with them."

Environmental laws that passed Congress so easily in Ruckelshaus' day are now at the center of a partisan dispute between Republicans and Democrats. Dozens of bills have been introduced to limit environmental protections that critics say will lead to job losses and economic harm, and there are those who question what the vast majority of scientists accept — that the burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming.

In the 1970s, the first environmental regulations were just starting to take effect, with widespread support. Now, according to some officials in the oil and gas and electric utility industries, which are responsible for the bulk of emissions and would bear the greatest costs, the EPA has gone overboard with rules.

For instance, Documerica photographers captured a wave of coal-fired power plants under construction. Republicans and the industry now say environmental regulations are partly to blame for shuttering some of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants.

Jim DiPeso of ConservAmerica, a group that recently changed its name from Republicans for Environmental Protection, says the EPA is caught in the center of a perfect storm. "This time of greater cynicism about government, more economic anxiety and the fact that the problems are not immediately apparent, has created this political problem for EPA," he said.

In an interview, Jackson said she believes that people in the United States still want to protect the environment. "There's a large gulf between the rhetoric inside the Beltway to do everything from cut back on EPA to get rid of the whole place, and what the American people would actually stand for," she said. "It's very easy to make rash statements without thinking about what that means to the health of everyday Americans."

A 2010 Pew Research Center survey showed that 57 percent of those questioned held a favorable view of the EPA, compared with a 1997 poll that showed 69 percent with a positive view of the agency. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken last year found that 71 percent of people surveyed said that the government should continue provide money to the EPA to enforce regulations to address global warming and other environmental issues.

"We are not done. We still have challenges we have to face," Jackson said.

The agency last year began a volunteer photography project called State of the Environment. More than 620 people have participated and submitted 1,800 photographs, but only a few are at the same sites at the 1970s project.

Images always have spurred environmental consciousness. A 1980s satellite picture of the ozone hole helped lead to a ban on the chemicals in aerosol cans and refrigerants that were responsible. Underwater video of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 opened the public's eyes to the gravity of the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

But a second Documerica project, with professional photographers, would be impossible today, given budget cuts facing the agency and the wariness of industry barring access by photographers.

Lyntha Scott Eiler, 65, shot photographs for Documerica around her then-home in northern Arizona, as well as one of the early emissions testing sites for automobile exhaust in Hamilton County, Ohio. At the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, Eiler got right down in a strip mine "where the shovels were."

"They weren't afraid of the EPA, so it was, 'What else you do you want to get a photograph of?,'" Eiler said. "You probably would have a hard time doing that today."

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Spirit Airlines issued an apology and pulled a racy ad spoofing the Secret Service Colombian prostitution scandal that many people found offensive.

The Secret Service said Friday that three of its agents under investigation for allegations of misconduct in Colombia have resigned, NBC News reported. In all 12 agents have been implicated, including one who was "cleared of serious misconduct" but will still face administrative action, the agency said.

Spirit Airlines' ad featured women in pink bikinis around an agent implying secrecy and the slogan "More Bang for your Buck" for flights to Cartagena, Colombia – the location of the scandal – as well as other destinations.

Read the original story at NBCMiami.com

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At this weekend's ExpoColombia in Miami, community activists said the businesses and tourism being showcased there is what Colombia is all about, not prostitutes.

“I think it would make anybody angry,” activist Fabio Andrade said. "Colombia's more than this. We have worked so hard to change the image of Colombia. We have worked so hard for Colombians to come and tourism to come. The airlines are working very hard to bring tourism to our country, and to do this is denigrating. And people are very offended by this."

12th Secret Service agent implicated in prostitution scandal; three more quit

Spirit Airlines released a statement saying that at the Colombian government’s request, "Spirit pulled its ad yesterday, and we meant no disrespect to our many friends and valued customers."

The airlines flies from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to four cities in Colombia.

Several Colombian-American women told NBC 6 the scandal is embarrassing, but Colombia is not the one with the tarnished reputation in this case.

"I just think it’s an embarrassment for the United States agency. That’s who is guilty. Not anybody else," Martha Yepes said.

Myriam Hernandez noted that every country has prostitutes, "not just in Colombia. It’s everywhere."

"I don’t think it reflects badly," said Lauren Santa Cruz. "I just think people need something to talk about, and this is just something that’s happened."

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Heartbroken customers lined up for meal at a closing San Francisco institution — a 100-year-old Chinese restaurant once known for having "the world's rudest waiter." Diners of decades past say he would verbally abuse patrons, slam down dishes, and chastise complainers. 

Sam Wo, a Chinatown hole-in-the-wall that typified the kind of ethnic eateries for which the city's culinary scene was lauded before it became a trendy haven for foodies, planned to serve its last customers late Friday and into early Saturday.

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David Ho, a descendent of one of the restaurant's original owners, decided to shut down after officials demanded extensive health and safety upgrades.

 

 

 

On Friday, saddened patrons lined down the block to get a seat at one of the eight lunch tables and to mourn the loss of another San Francisco institution over bowls of won ton soup.

"I know change is good, but sometimes you want to hold onto the happy memories," said customer Darlene Lee, 71, who had been coming to the restaurant for 60 years and said its inexpensive fare was comfort food that reminded her of going home.

For those who did not grow up dining at Sam Wo, it became a cultural mainstay in the 1970s through reports by the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen and the "Tales of the City" novels of Armistead Maupin.

Both men immortalized the restaurant by writing about the antics of Edsel Ford Fung, the waiter who was known for verbally abusing patrons and slamming dishes on tables.

"The Soup Nazi is the Dalai Lama compared to Edsel Ford Fung," said longtime patron Sam Begler, as he tucked into pork rolls and chow mein. "He is the Don Rickles of restaurants."

Fung died in 1984 at age 57, but for a long time a sign listing the restaurant's house rules maintained his gruff demeanor. Among its warnings: "No Booze ... No Jive, No Coffee, Milk, Soft Drinks, Fortune Cookies." 

Begler, a caterer who had been dining at Sam Wo since 1976, recalled how Fung would refuse to serve people he didn't like the looks of and chastise customers who dared to complain when they were brought the wrong dishes. It was never quite clear whether his crustiness was genuine or an act, but it was always an experience, especially for locals who wandered in to take advantage of the restaurant's 3 a.m. closing time.

Another devoted customer who showed up to savor the last-day atmosphere, Michael Lyons, said it seemed odd for city inspectors to crack down on Sam Wo's managers now for failing to institute modern food safety techniques, when the restaurant's old-fashioned methods, such as chopping and preparing meat dishes on a wood table near the front door, was part of its charm.

"It's always been a litmus test in a new relationship," Lyons said about people he took to the restaurant. "If they can appreciate the humble character of a place like this, they passed the test." 

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011, newly obtained data shows. Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time. 

While the cases represent just a slice of possible drug use by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, they provide a somber snapshot of the illicit trade in the war zone, including young Afghans peddling heroin, soldiers dying after mixing cocktails of opiates, troops stealing from medical bags and Afghan soldiers and police dealing drugs to their U.S. comrades.

In a country awash with poppy fields that provide up to 90 percent of the world's opium, the U.S. military struggles to keep an eye on its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse.

---

But U.S. Army officials say that while the presence of such readily available opium — the raw ingredient for heroin — is a concern, opiate abuse has not been a pervasive problem for troops in Afghanistan.

"We have seen sporadic cases of it, but we do not see it as a widespread problem, and we have the means to check," said Col. Tom Collins, an Army spokesman.

PhotoBlog: Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts

The data represents only the criminal investigations done by Army Criminal Investigation Command involving soldiers in Afghanistan during those two years. The cases, therefore, are just a piece of the broader drug use statistics released by the Army earlier this year reporting nearly 70,000 drug offenses by roughly 36,000 soldiers between 2006-2011. The number of offenses increased from about 9,400 in 2010 to about 11,200 in 2011.

The overdose totals for the two years, however, are double the number that the Defense Department has reported as drug-related deaths in Afghanistan for the last decade. Defense officials suggested that additional deaths may have been categorized as "other" or were still under investigation when the statistics were submitted.

The data was requested by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and obtained by The Associated Press. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have not yet responded to the request for similar information. The Army reports blacked out the names of the soldiers who were under investigation as well any resolution of their cases or punishments they may have received.

Danger not 'fully acknowledged' by military
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the numbers signal the need for the military leadership to be more vigilant about watching and warning troops in Afghanistan about drug abuse. He said the worry is that "the danger, including the danger of dying, hasn't been fully acknowledged by the military and it needs to be." 

Army officials say they do random drug testing through the service and the goal is that every soldier is tested at least once a year. Top Army leaders have said they have not met that goal, but have been working steadily to substantially increase the number of those tested each year. 

The officials also say the Army's Criminal Investigative Division has quarterly drug statistics that show that drug use by troops in Afghanistan is not greater than that of troops in installations back in the United States and there is less of a variance in drugs used by troops in Afghanistan. 

According to Army data, an average of 1.38 million urine samples have been tested annually over the past five years, while an annual average of 106,000 soldiers were not tested at all. Officials said that regular testing is even more difficult in the war zone because the testing facilities are often far away.

The cases reflect a broad range of incidents, describing accidental overdoses as well as soldiers buying drugs from Afghan troops, stealing morphine from medical aid bags or, in some cases, taking steroids, using drugs prescribed to someone else or taking medications long after their prescriptions had expired.

Drugs bought from Afghan Army, police
In one overdose case, a member of the Kentucky National Guard was found dead of "acute heroin toxicity" at his Afghanistan base after a soldier, also in the Kentucky Guard, bought heroin from a civilian contractor and used it with him. The report found that he also had morphine and codeine in his system. 

Others more often involved soldiers who were found dead and were later determined to have taken a mix of prescription and other opiate drugs.

 

The nonlethal cases range from a soldier failing a random drug test to more organized abuse.

In one case, seven members of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division were found to have smoked hashish and/or ingested heroin numerous times, including some bought from members of the Afghan Army and police. The investigation found that one other brigade soldier acted as a lookout while others used the drugs.

Afghan farmer: I tried, but have to grow poppies to survive

Opium is a key revenue source in Afghanistan, both for the farmers and the insurgency, which can make money selling, transporting or processing the drugs. According to a U.N. report, revenue from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 percent in 2011, to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP. 

Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

 

NEW YORK -- Two women who said they were raped while attending U.S. military academies sued military officials on Friday, accusing them of failing to address widespread problems of sexual assault at the elite schools. 

In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the two women said the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the Army's United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, tolerate sexual assault and discourage victims of attacks from reporting them.

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"Both institutions systematically and repeatedly ignore rampant sexual harassment," the lawsuit filed by Leah Marquet, 20, and Anne Kendzior, 22, stated. "Both institutions have a history of failing to prosecute and punish those students found to have sexually assaulted and raped their fellow students." 

In the lawsuit, Marquet, a former West Point cadet, said she was pressured by upperclassmen to get drunk and raped by a fellow student while she was intoxicated.

Lawsuit claims rape, misconduct at DC Marine Barracks

After she reported an assault, other students taunted her, the lawsuit said, and the school punished her for reporting the incident by forcing her to take out her attacker's trash. She quit West Point after becoming suicidal, the lawsuit said.

Kendzior, who entered the Naval Academy in 2008, said she was raped twice by two different fellow students, both times while she was drunk. Kendzior accused the Naval Academy of forcing her to drop out after she reported the rapes to an academy counselor.

The suit accused former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and four other military officials of failing to implement steps to fight sexual assaults at the schools.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages.

Panetta seeks to curb assaults
U.S. Navy Commander William Marks, a Naval Academy spokesman, declined comment on the lawsuit itself, but said the academy takes every report of alleged sexual assault "extremely seriously" and that its "sexual assault response and advocacy program is among the strongest in the nation." 

Officials at West Point said they could not comment on pending litigation, but that the school takes sexual harassment issues "very seriously."

"Every unrestricted report of sexual assault is thoroughly investigated, the results of the investigation are reviewed by legal experts and appropriate action taken," said Lt. Col. Sherri K. Reed, the academy's spokesperson.

Officials at the Pentagon had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Last month, eight other women filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington saying they were raped, assaulted or sexually harassed while in the military, and were retaliated against when they complained.

The latest lawsuit was filed less than a week after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced new steps to curb thousands of sexual assaults a year within the military.

The case is Karley Leah Marquet v. Robert Gates et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 12-3117.

 

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart, a blogger and commentator who frequently said his life's goal was to "destroy the institutional left," died of heart failure stemming from coronary disease, the Los Angeles coroner ruled Friday. 

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In a statement obtained by NBC News, coroner spokesman Craig Harvey said Breitbart died of natural causes. A toxicology screening showed no prescription or illicit drugs in Breitbart's system. A blood alcohol level of 0.04 percent was found in his system, a negligible amount. 

Breitbart showed no signs of trauma, and foul play is not suspected, Harvey said. The case has been closed.

Breitbart died at the age of 43 on March 2 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after collapsing while walking his dog near his home in Los Angeles.

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A U.S. government contractor sentenced to 15 years prison reached out from prison in Havana to plead for help on Friday.

"Get me the hell out of here," Brian Gross said, using his one phone call for the week to reach out to a reporter rather than his family.

The Maryland native, who has served two and a half years, was convicted of crimes against the state for bringing satellite and other communications equipment onto the island as part of a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba considers such programs an attempt to destabilize the government.

---

Gross has been pleading for parole to visit his 90-year-old mother before she dies of lung cancer.

"It is no longer about Cuban-U.S. relations," Gross said. "It's about my family and me."

Gross gets one call a week, and usually he reserves that for his wife, Judy, but this week he called a reporter instead because he wanted to get the word out about his plight.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was allowed to visit Gross at the prison on Feb. 24, and he later met with Cuban President Raul Castro to seek his release.

Leahy said Castro agreed that Gross "was no spy" The Associated Press reported.

Gross spoke virtually no Spanish and traveled to Cuba five times under his own name before his arrest in December 2009, according to AP.

But Leahy came home with little optimism for Gross' release.

The Gross affair has chilled relations between the U.S. and Cuba, diminishing chances for near-term rapprochement.

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. -- A 2-month-old child was killed and dismembered by a dog in his family's South Carolina home as his father slept, authorities said Friday.

Aiden McGrew's mother called 911 when she got home around 11 a.m. and discovered the boy's leg was severed by a retriever-Labrador mix the family had taken into the home a few weeks earlier, Dorchester County deputies said.

The boy died at the hospital a short time later, Coroner Chris Nisbet said in a news release.

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Nisbet said the boy was bitten and dismembered, but he refused to answer additional questions about the infant's injuries. An autopsy was scheduled for Saturday.

"Today is one of the saddest days in my 20+ years of being in the Dorchester County Coroner's Office as I report to all of you one of the worst deaths I have ever handled," Nisbet wrote in his email to the media, which had the subject line "Today's Nightmare."

McGrew's mother was taking the family's 7-year-old child to the doctor. The father was sleeping in a bedroom with a 3-year-old child, while the baby was in a swing outside that room, Dorchester County Sheriff L.C. Knight said.

Investigators are still trying to sort out how the attack unfolded. The father was being questioned by deputies Friday afternoon, Knight said.

"It's terrible. I don't want to go into details about exactly what happened because the investigation is still ongoing," Knight said. "It was a real bad scene."

The two other children in the home have been taken into protective custody, Knight said. Prosecutors are also following the case and the sheriff expects all the investigators will meet next week to discuss if any charges should be filed.

A woman answering a number listed for the home refused to talk about what happened and told a reporter to not call her back.

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The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a pilot who may have been unconscious when the private plane he was flying crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and sank.

Crews spent about six hours trying to locate Dr. Peter Hertzak, a 65-year-old physician from suburban New Orleans, after his twin-propeller Cessna 421C went down Thursday about 120 miles west of Tampa, Fla.

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The plane was headed from Slidell, La., to Sarasota, Fla., when it started flying around in circles for hours.

Air Force jets were dispatched to look into the plane after the pilot failed to respond to numerous communication attempts by controllers.

The jet crews were unable to see the pilot because of fog and icing that obscured the plane's windows, Coast Guard officials said. The icing is seen as a possible sign that the aircraft lost cabin pressure and the pilot was rendered unconscious.

The plane landed right-side up on the ocean surface and later sank.

Previous story: Downed private plane sinks in Gulf of Mexico

There was no sign that the pilot, believed to be the only person aboard, survived the crash. The search has been called off pending further developments, the Coast Guard said Friday.

"This is one of those unfortunate cases where even though we stood ready to respond, we were unable to effect a rescue," Lane Carter, command duty officer for the Coast Guard’s 8th District command center, said in a news release.

Hertzak was a cosmetic surgeon and OB-GYN from New Orleans and was believed to have been flying to Florida for pleasure, according to media reports.

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NEW YORK -- The FBI and NYPD dug into the concrete floor of a SoHo basement Friday to search for the remains of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old boy who went missing 33 years ago on his short walk to the school bus stop.

NBC New York was first to report the break in the cold case on Thursday.

Investigators have also questioned a second person in connection with the re-examination of evidence. NBC New York has learned that on the morning Patz disappeared in 1979, that man was observed at the building where police are searching now, and also worked with a handyman who authorities are eyeing in the case.

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Officials are searching the basement of a building on Prince Street that is connected to the handyman they say had contact with Patz just before he went missing on May 25, 1979, according to a law enforcement official.

The FBI plans to dig up the entire concrete floor and remove drywall partitions to find blood, clothing or human remains in the building, but law enforcement sources have said investigators will pay specific attention to areas of the basement where a cadaver dog recently picked up scents for human remains.

Read original story, see photos and video on NBCNewYork.com

Dumpsters were brought onto the scene Friday to hold the broken-up concrete. Investigators formed a line from the basement outside to the containers, passing chunks of concrete from one person to the next. By the end of the day, one was filled with debris.

When the floor is removed, the dirt underneath will be sifted for human remains.

The 13-by-62 basement is located at 127B Prince Street, about 200 feet from the building where Patz lived.

Law enforcement sources say investigators have talked to the handyman, Othneil Miller, and that he made statements that raised their suspicions.

In a recent interview with investigators, he blurted out “What if the body was moved?” according to an official.

Sources also say they have evidence to suggest Patz had been in the basement before.

Miller's grandson, Tony Miller, said Friday outside the home that Othneil Miller is a "good guy" who "wouldn't do this." His lawyer, Michael Farkas, said he denies any role in what happened to the boy.

Investigators recently went to the DA seeking a search warrant  based on the new information.

The search for Patz in 1979 was one of the most high-profile missing child cases in New York City history. President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 National Missing Child Day in his honor.

Two years ago, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said he was reopening the case, taking a fresh look at the evidence.

The DA declined to specify at the time why the case was reopened.

Patz was legally declared dead in 2001.

Neighborhood Reacts to New Search for Patz

The prime suspect has long been Jose Ramos, who had connections to Patz's former babysitter. Ramos is serving 20 years in prison in Pennsylvania for another child molestation case.

In the 1980s, U.S. Attorney Stuart GraBois resumed the investigation of Ramos. When GraBois asked Ramos how many times he had sex with Patz, Ramos "broke down," GraBois told 60 Minutes in 2000.

During that questioning, Ramos admitted to having taken a young boy to his apartment on May 25, 1979, and that he later recognized the boy as Patz, declared missing on the news.

But Ramos said the boy had refused his advances, and that he let him go. Without any evidence, GraBois was not able to charge Ramos with the crime.

The Patz family filed a civil case against Ramos, and in 2004 State Supreme Court Justice Barbara R. Kapnick declared Ramos responsible for Etan's murder. The family was awarded $2 million, which they have not collected.

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The "mountain man" who helped his father abduct world-class athlete Kari Swenson in 1984 is reported to be on the run again in Montana.

The U.S. attorney's office in Montana has filed federal drug and weapons charges against Dan Nichols, alleging he participated in a statedwide marijuana distribution ring, The Associated Press reports.

He and his father, Don, were convicted of kidnapping Swenson and killing a rescuer. They hid for months in the wilderness northwest of Yellowstone National Park before they were captured.

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The new indictment said the Nichols and two other men collected 28 firearms, including pistols and semi-automatic and assault-style rifles, to protect their operations, which brought in $1.78 million, The Billings Gazette reported.

Christopher Wayne Williams and Christopher Lindsey, two of the five co-founders of the now-shuttered Montana Cannabis statewide medical marijuana operation, are also charged in the case, but only Nichols is on the run.

"He should definitely be considered armed and dangerous," Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for Montana Rod Ostermiller told the AP. "He is obviously someone who hasn't been compliant with law enforcement in the past."

The kidnapping of Swenson, a world-class biathlete, in 1984 gripped the nation. The elder Nichols was reportedly looking for a wife for his son, then 19, when he snatched Swenson, who was on a training run near the resort town of Big Sky. Here's the AP account of what happened next:

The so-called mountain men had been living continuously in the woods for a year prior to the abduction, growing hidden makeshift gardens, poaching game and generally staying out of sight.

The scheme quickly fell apart when would-be rescuers stumbled upon the camp. In the melee, Dan Nichols accidentally shot Swenson. An armed standoff ensued, and the elder Nichols gunned down Alan Goldstein.

The Nichols evaded capture by living in the Madison Range, until they surrendered when a Madison County sheriff caught up with them.

Swenson, despite diminished lung capacity from the gunshot wound, went on to win a bronze medal in the world biathlon championships.

Both men were convicted. Dan Nichols was paroled after serving six years in prison. Don Nichols, now 81, has a parole hearing next week.

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