11-year-old faces felony charge for throwing rock

11-year-old faces felony charge for throwing rock

FRESNO, Calif. -- An 11-year-old girl who threw a rock to defend herself as neighborhood boys pelted her with water balloons is being prosecuted on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Maribel Cuevas says she didn't mean to hurt the 9-year-old boy -- who acknowledged to officers that he started the fight in late April. He was released from the hospital after getting his head stitched up. Maribel already has spent five days in juvenile hall and 30 days under house arrest.

Prosecutors gain email evidence in Rove case

WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors investigating a CIA officer's blown cover gathered e-mail evidence that a top White House intelligence official knew Bush confidant Karl Rove had spoken to a reporter just days before the journalist identified the covert operative. Rove told then-deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley in the July 11, 2003, e-mail that he had spoken with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and tried to caution him away from some allegations that CIA operative Valerie Plame's husband was making about faulty Iraq intelligence.

Enron agrees to settle price-gouging claims

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Bankrupt energy company Enron Corp. has agreed to settle claims that it gouged California and other Western states during the energy crisis of 2000-2001, when the region was hit with blackouts and soaring electricity bills. The company said Friday it would pay up to $1.5 billion, but the exact amount could be far less because of Enron's bankruptcy proceedings.

Schwarzenegger ends deal with fitness mags

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will end his consulting deal with Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines.He was forced to defend his contract with the magazines after a securities disclosure filed this week showed he would be paid at least $1 million a year for five years as a consultant. Critics said the work was a conflict of interest because the publications derive much of their profits from advertisements for dietary supplements. Last year, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to impose restrictions on such substances.

FDA approves brain stimulator for depression

WASHINGTON -- The government on Friday approved a new therapy for the severely depressed who have run out of treatment options: a pacemaker-like implant that sends tiny electric shocks to the brain. The Food and Drug Administration's clearance opens Cyberonics Inc.'s vagus nerve stimulator, or VNS, as a potential treatment for an estimated 4 million Americans with hard-to-treat depression -- despite controversy over whether it's really been proven to work. The pacemaker-like implant has been sold since 1997 to control intractable epilepsy, a much smaller market.

-- From wire reports