Enron charged by feds over broadband venture

WASHINGTON -- Federal prosecutors charged two Enron Corp. executives on Wednesday with a scheme to generate false earnings through an Internet movie-on-demand service that flopped.

In a separate action Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged Enron and a former vice president with manipulating natural gas and agricultural commodity prices.

Arrest warrants brought in Houston charge Kevin Howard and Michael Krautz with securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to FBI agents. Both are executives with Enron Broadband Services.

The two men, who still work for Enron, surrendered Wednesday morning to FBI agents.

Jury pool brings protest from sniper suspect

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Attorneys for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo say they will challenge a recent change in jury selection that experts say will make it tougher for Malvo to find poor, less-educated, minority jurors who may be more sympathetic.

Earlier this year, the court clerk in Fairfax County, where the 18-year-old Malvo will be tried, began using voter registration lists as the sole source of potential jurors. Before that, the county used both voter rolls and motor vehicle records.

Court Clerk John T. Frey said he made the change to improve efficiency and save money. The motor vehicle lists are often outdated and include many people who cannot serve as jurors, such as non-citizens and felons, he said.

But Malvo's attorneys said the voter rolls do not reflect the county's ethnic and racial diversity, denying Malvo, who is black, a jury of his peers.

House committee urges appeal over pledge ruling

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee urged the Bush administration on Wednesday to appeal a court decision ruling the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional in public schools.

The committee voted 22-2 on the resolution. Two Democrats, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, voted against it. Eight Democrats voted present, criticizing the resolution as political grandstanding.

"Today's exercise is totally gratuitous," said Scott.

Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco stood by its earlier ruling that the words "under God" violated the Constitution's prohibition against official religion.

The White House criticized the ruling but hasn't said whether it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit Court, which covers nine Western states, has put its decision on hold pending such an appeal.

Shrimp-shell bandages promoted for troops

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Fried shrimp, shrimp scampi, shrimp gumbo -- shrimp bandages?

A company is using crushed shrimp shells in the production of bandages that help stop bleeding wounds on the battlefield.

HemCon, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its bandage last November, is gearing up for production as the military prepares for a possible war in Iraq.

Made partly from shrimp shells, the bandage is designed to promote blood clotting and stop bleeding for up to 48 hours so a patient can be transported to a field hospital for surgery. About half of battlefield deaths stem from blood loss.

Cotton gauze and tourniquets remain standard supplies for military medics. But bleeding from serious wounds can't be controlled with rolls of cotton. Tourniquets, while effective at stopping blood loss, can lead to loss of a limb and can't be used on neck or abdominal wounds.

HemCon's bandage is made with chitosan, the building block of chitin, which helps form the hard shells of many insects and crustaceans. The chitosan in the HemCon bandage comes from the shells of shrimp harvested near Iceland.

--From wire reports