Nation digest 05/04/03

Gunshot victim linked to arsenic poisonings

CARIBOU, Maine -- Investigators have information linking a farmer who died of a gunshot wound to the arsenic poisonings at a church lunch that killed one person and sickened more than a dozen others, authorities said Saturday.

The motive was still under investigation.

The shooting of Daniel Bondeson, 53, was reported to emergency officials Friday as self-inflicted, but investigators are awaiting autopsy results before officially announcing the cause of death, said Col. Michael Sperry, head of the Maine State Police.

Fifteen people were hospitalized and the 78-year-old caretaker at Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New Sweden died after drinking arsenic-laced coffee at a church reception on April 27.

Bondeson was not among the roughly 40 people who attended services at Gustaf Adolph on April 27.

Chicago's murder rate on track to be worst in U.S.

CHICAGO -- Chicago is on pace to top the nation's major cities in murders per capita, and Mayor Richard Daley is demanding change to stop the rising toll.

The mayor and top police officials gathered for a late-night meeting following the April 26 killing of 12-year-old Rene Guillen, who was apparently mistaken for a gang member.

Daley pressed the police commanders to find new ways to curb gangs and drugs that drive violence in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods.

As of Friday, Chicago had counted 179 murders this year, 16 more than the same time last year.

The city ended 2002 with 646 murders, second to Los Angeles, which had 653. New York was third with 580. But Chicago's per capita murder rate was the nation's highest among big cities.

Carrier Lincoln departs on last leg of journey

CORONADO, Calif. -- The USS Abraham Lincoln steamed out of San Diego Bay on Saturday for the final leg of its journey home, carrying 3,000 sailors eager to greet parents, family and friends they left nearly a year ago.

The aircraft carrier spent nearly 10 months in the Persian Gulf -- one of the longest deployments of a Navy ship in 30 years -- before docking Friday at North Island Naval Air Station.

The ship is expected to arrive Tuesday.

South Texas family buries last missing serviceman

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Listed as missing in action for a month in Iraq, Army Spc. Edward John Anguiano was buried Saturday after a funeral Mass at a church that overflowed with more than 500 people.

Edward Anguiano, a mechanic in the 3rd Infantry Combat Support Battalion out of Fort Stewart, Ga., was declared missing after the unit he was traveling with, the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss at El Paso, was attacked on March 23 at Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.

Anguiano's remains were found April 24 near the ambush site and positively identified last week.

-- From wire reports