Nation digest 03/16/04

Arrest warrant filed in Ohio highway shootings

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Investigators filed an arrest warrant Monday for a suspect in two dozen highway sniper shootings that have left one woman dead and unnerved motorists for months. The warrant charges Charles A. McCoy Jr., 28, of Columbus, with felonious assault in a Dec. 15 shooting that damaged a house. The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said investigators did not know McCoy's whereabouts. The shootings at vehicles and buildings around Interstate 270, which circles the city, and other highways started in May.

Most distant object in solar system found

LOS ANGELES -- Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of a frozen, shiny red world some 8 billion miles from Earth that is the most distant known object in the solar system. They are calling it a "planetoid," saying it does not meet the definition of a planet. Named Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who created the sea creatures of the Arctic, the planetoid is 800 to 1,100 miles in diameter, or about three-quarters the size of Pluto, and probably half rock, half ice. It is currently three times farther from Earth than Pluto, the ninth and outermost planet.

N.Y. ministers charged for marrying gay couples

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- Two ministers were charged with criminal offenses Monday for marrying 13 gay couples -- apparently the first time in U.S. history that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies. District Attorney Donald Williams said gay marriage laws make no distinction between public officials and members of the clergy who preside over wedding ceremonies. Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with solemnizing a marriage without a license, the same charges leveled against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who last month drew the state into the widening national debate over same-sex unions. Each charge carries a fine of $25 to $500 or up to a year in jail. The ministers will plead innocent at their arraignment March 22 and are prepared to go to trial, said their attorney, Robert Gottlieb.

Police say all Fresno, Calif., victims were shot

FRESNO, Calif. -- All nine of the family members discovered slain in a Fresno home over the weekend had been shot to death, the coroner's office said Monday. The victims were found tangled in a pile of clothes when police went to the home about a child custody dispute Friday. Police said suspect Marcus Wesson, 57, has cooperated with the investigation, but no motive had been determined. Wesson's arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday. Bail was set at $9 million.

-- From wire reports