Nation briefs 10/02/02

Texas man executed for rape, slaying of girl

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- An inmate was executed Tuesday for raping and strangling a 10-year-old girl he abducted in 1990 from a flea market where he and the girl's parents were vendors.

Before the lethal injection, James R. Powell, 56, smiled and nodded to friends and relatives who watched through a window a few feet away. He did not acknowledge his victim's father or stepmother.

Powell was convicted of killing Falyssa Van Winkle, who was with her parents when she disappeared from the flea market after telling them she was going to buy peanuts.

Five hours later, the Lake Charles, La., girl's body was found 55 miles away, face down under a bridge, her wrists bound and a rope tied around her neck. Authorities said she had been raped.

Powell was arrested two days later.

Magazine publisher sues Rosie O'Donnell

NEW YORK -- The publisher of Rosie magazine sued Rosie O'Donnell for $100 million Tuesday for abruptly pulling out of the venture last month.

Gruner + Jahr Printing and Publishing Co. said in court papers that the former talk show host breached her contract and publicly disparaged the magazine when she quit Rosie on Sept. 18.

A call to O'Donnell's spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

The publisher and O'Donnell had been feuding for months about the magazine's direction.

Rosie debuted in April 2001. The joint venture gave O'Donnell and G+J each a 50 percent stake in the business.

Man sentenced for fatal road rage punch

TAMPA, Fla. -- A man who killed another motorist with a single punch during a road rage episode was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.

Gary Durham was also sentenced Monday to an additional five years of probation. He pleaded guilty in July to throwing the punch that killed Timothy Gibbs. Durham had faced up to 30 years on a manslaughter charge because past convictions on theft and other charges led him to be classified as a habitual offender.

Durham, 26, and Timothy Gibbs, 48, got out of their cars and argued angrily after they nearly had a wreck Oct. 24.

Durham punched Gibbs and he fell, hitting his head on the pavement. He died nine days later in a hospital.

Agreement ends Falwell lawsuit over church limits

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell's church and the state of Virginia agreed to end Falwell's federal lawsuit over an 18th-century law limiting how much land a church can own.

Lawyers on both sides in Falwell's suit agreed Tuesday that the law does not apply to the Thomas Road Baptist Church, which plans to expand. The church was incorporated in April after U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon struck down another state law that had barred churches from becoming corporations, which are not subject to the land limits.

Billionaire TV Guide publisher dies at 94

PHILADELPHIA -- Walter H. Annenberg, the billionaire philanthropist who made much of his fortune by introducing TV Guide to America's living rooms during television's golden age, died Tuesday at 94.

Annenberg was ambassador to Britain under President Nixon, a noted art collector, and a silent power broker in the Republican Party, as well as one of its biggest contributors.

The publishing magnate died at his home in suburban Wynnewood of complications from pneumonia, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania -- one of two leading communication schools he endowed.

Forbes magazine listed him as one of the wealthiest Americans, ranking him No. 39 in 2002 with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.

Annenberg inherited The Philadelphia Inquirer and two racing publications from his father in 1942. He went on to build Triangle Publications into a multibillion-dollar business encompassing newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations.

-- From wire reports