Nation briefs 6/22

Volunteers keep searching for slain boy

SPRINGFIELD, Neb. -- Wearing masks to protect against blowing dust and the pungent odor of decay, workers picked through a Nebraska landfill in search of the body of a 4-year-old boy who has been missing since January.

The landfill search began two weeks ago after Brendan Gonzalez's father led investigators to a trash bin containing dried blood matching his son's DNA. The bin had been emptied at the landfill Jan. 7, the day after Brendan disappeared.

The father, Ivan Henk, had been staying with Brendan and his mother, Rebecca Gonzalez, in the days before the boy disappeared, Gonzalez told police. She said Henk had taken the boy outside to play that morning, and a short time later, she discovered they and her car were gone.

Henk, 25, was arrested later that day after leading police on a high-speed chase.

During a court hearing April 29, Henk shouted that he had killed Brendan, yelling that the boy was the anti-Christ.

Henk is now serving a one-year sentence on an unrelated misdemeanor charge. He has not been charged in his son's disappearance.

Former teacher gets two years in prison

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A former teacher who had sex with a 15-year-old student during a three-day trip to Las Vegas was sentenced to two years in prison.

Tanya Hadden, 34, pleaded guilty last month in a deal that spared her from a possible eight years in prison. As part of her sentencing, Hadden must register as a sex offender and can no longer teach.

"I think she's relieved it's over," defense attorney Mark McDonald said after Friday's hearing.

Hadden was arrested in May 2002 when she and the boy were found in a hotel in Las Vegas after police questioned her about their relationship. She has admitted having sex with the teen, who is now 16.

Charges against Hadden included two felony counts of lewd acts with a child, four felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a misdemeanor count of child-stealing.

Bay area's rail system now extends to airport

SAN FRANCISCO -- A nearly 7-mile extension connecting the San Francisco Bay area's rapid rail system to the city's airport opens today, three decades after the project began.

Bay Area Rapid Transit trains will roll directly into San Francisco International Airport, picking up and dropping off travelers at the international terminal for a fraction of the cost of a cab ride -- a $4.70 ride to downtown, compared with a $40 taxi fare.

Opposed at times by politicians, environmentalists and airlines that worried about their share of the cost, the project endured fits and starts after it was first proposed in 1972.

Construction began in 1997 but at one point was halted for 18 days -- costing BART more than $1 million -- after an endangered California Garter Snake was found squashed on a construction road.

In all, the extension project finished two years later than projected and about $200 million over budget. In all, the project cost more than $1.4 billion.

Court battles over gay marriage likely to heat up

NEW YORK -- Gay-rights activists liken their mood to that of Germans as the Berlin Wall crumbled. Neighboring Canada has just decided to legalize same-sex marriage, and they have high hopes that Massachusetts' supreme court will soon take a similar step.

They predict litigation will spread to other states, and the end result -- perhaps after years of lawsuits and legislative battles -- will be legalized gay marriage nationwide.

To opponents of gay marriage, however, the American family is what's now in danger of crumbling.

On both sides of the debate, advocacy groups expect that gay couples who marry in Canada -- or any state that legalizes gay marriage -- will attempt to have their marriages recognized elsewhere.

-- From wire reports