Nation briefs 4/9/2005

Post office seeks higher stamp prices

WASHINGTON -- The post office wants an extra 2-cents-worth for its stamps. However, at the same time Friday that the agency proposed the stamp price increase, it also invited Congress to eliminate the need for it. In announcing the rate proposal the Postal Service said it is needed only because a 2003 law requires the agency to place $3.1 billion annually in an escrow account. Postal officials have been urging Congress to drop that requirement and said they will withdraw the rate request if Congress does so.

Woman in Wendy's case has litigious history

No gun found after search of Red Lake High School

RED LAKE, Minn. -- Authorities who had received a tip that a gun had been stashed at the site of a deadly school shooting said Friday they found no such weapon in their latest search. Federal prosecutor Tom Heffelfinger would not disclose what caused authorities to believe there was a gun in the building on the Red Lake Indian reservation. He told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that nothing "would indicate that anybody infiltrated that building after March 21 and planted anything."

Judge imposes nine-year term for spammer

LEESBURG, Va. -- A man convicted in the nation's first felony case against illegal spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday for bombarding Internet users with millions of junk e-mails. However, Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jeremy Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions. Jaynes, 30, was considered among the top 10 spammers in the world at the time of his arrest, and prosecutors said Jaynes' operation grossed up to $750,000 per month.

Montana moves to ban drinking while driving

HELENA, Mont. -- Some Montana motorists, the joke goes, measure distances driven by how many beers they can down along the way. But the long-cherished right to have a cold one behind the wheel is about to end. State lawmakers passed an open-container ban Friday that makes Montana one of the last states to outlaw drinking while driving. It takes effect Oct. 1. The delay is designed to let Montanans get used to the prohibition, which until now had been found only in cities and towns, not out on the open highway.