Nation digest 11/06/01

Ex-sergeant pleads innocent to espionage

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A retired Air Force sergeant accused of attempted espionage pleaded innocent Monday in federal court.

Brian P. Regan, of Bowie, Md., could receive life in prison if convicted of the attempted spying. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee set a trial date for March.

The indictment against Regan alleges that he improperly used a classified government computer network called Intelink to obtain secret images of missile facilities in two unidentified countries.

Man gets 132 to 264 years for school attack

YORK, Pa. -- A man who burst into an elementary school with a machete and attacked 11 children, the principal and two teachers was sentenced Monday to 132 to 264 years in prison.

William Michael Stankewicz, 56, of Johnson City, Tenn., had asked the judge for the death penalty, which was not an option. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and others charges in September in the Feb. 2 attack.

Stankewicz could have gotten a sentence of up to 360 years.

Artificial heart patient dines out with mayor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Between big bites of collard greens and a cheesesteak, the world's first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart thanked God on Monday for giving him the courage to make medical history.

"The biggest risk I have ever taken in my life was this risk, and it paid off big," said Robert Tools, 59.

He had lunch with Mayor Dave Armstrong at Big Hopp's as part of a local promotion encouraging people to dine out in the wake of Sept. 11 to help the economy.

Tools received the artificial heart on July 2 at Jewish Hospital. Three other patients around the country have received the plastic-and-titanium AbioCor pump.

Massachusetts A-G dislikes Microsoft deal

BOSTON -- Massachusetts' attorney general said his state would not sign on to a proposed settlement in the antitrust case against Microsoft because it does not protect competing software makers.

"Microsoft will use this agreement to crush competition," Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said Sunday. He said Massachusetts would not approve the proposed agreement between the software giant and the U.S. Department of Justice without "major changes."

He also said he did not expect those changes to happen before today's deadline, set for Massachusetts and 17 other states taking part in the case to respond. He said he expected to press for changes in the settlement before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kottelly.

-- From wire reports