National Roundup

California
Home of Apple founder Steve Jobs burglarized
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — More than $60,000 worth of computers and personal items has been stolen from the Northern California home of the late Steve Jobs.

The San Jose Mercury News reports 35-year-old Kariem McFarlin, of Alameda, has been arrested and charged with residential burglary and selling stolen property. He remains jailed with bail set at $500,000 pending an Aug. 20 court hearing.

Santa Clara County prosecutor Tom Flattery won’t say if the items taken from the Palo Alto home on July 17 belonged to Jobs or another family member. The house was surrounded by a temporary construction barrier in July.

The co-founder of Apple Inc. died last year at the age of 56.

Flattery refused to discuss details about the case.

The prosecutor says McFarlin was likely unaware of the home’s significance.


North Carolina
Evangelist Billy Graham treated for bronchitis
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Evangelist Billy Graham is improving as he recovers from bronchitis at a North Carolina hospital.

Nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville report that the 93-year-old Graham is resting comfortably and still is in stable condition.

Doctors say they’re encouraged by Graham’s response to treatment. He had been admitted to the hospital early Sunday.

Spokesman A. Larry Ross says Graham is thankful for the prayers for his recovery. Ross says Graham looks forward to returning to his home in nearby Montreat later this week.

Graham has been working on a new book.


Ohio
Amish on trial want no mention of cults, schisms
CLEVELAND (AP) — Seven of the 16 people charged in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio want any references to a cult or renegade group banned from their upcoming trial.

The defendants asked a federal judge in Cleveland on Monday to prohibit such references as prejudicial. The prosecution will get a chance to respond before the judge rules.

They also want banned any references to a clan, schism, breakaway or splinter Amish group.

The defendants are charged with forcibly cutting the beards and hair of men and the hair of women, acts considered deeply offensive in Amish culture.

The defendants say the attacks were internal church disciplinary matters not involving anti-Amish bias. They have pleaded not guilty and rejected plea bargains that offered leniency.


Pennsylvania
Plastic, penny turn up in Penn St. ice cream
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — The Berkey Creamery at Penn State is warning patrons that plastic pieces and a penny have been found in containers of ice cream.

Creamery officials say one customer found a penny in a container bought in mid-May. Penn State police thought it an isolated incident until three other customers complained of plastic in their containers.

No injuries have been reported.

Creamery manager Tom Palchak says the plastic pieces aren’t components from machines used in production. He says officials are now limiting access to ingredients and increasing surveillance at the production facility.

The Food and Drug Administration is also involved in the investigation.

The creamery produces ice cream, cheese and other dairy products, much of it using milk from the university’s herd.

Berkey bills itself as the nation’s largest university creamery.


Georgia
Skydivers land on off-limit sub base on Atlantic coast
KINGS BAY, Ga. (AP) — The military is investigating after two skydivers missed an airport and landed on a high-security submarine base along Georgia’s coast.

St. Marys Airport officials say they were told Sunday that the U.S. Navy had two skydivers in custody after they landed at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. The base is the East Coast hub for the Navy’s nuclear-missile armed submarines.

Cathy Kloess owns a skydiving business at the nearby St. Marys Airport and tells The Florida Times-Union the skydivers landed on a baseball diamond on base.

Kloess says the Navy doesn’t want skydivers landing on the base, but Navy officials were understanding after an “act of God” like the strong winds that blew the skydivers off-course.

Base security officers released the jumpers after verifying their identities.


Georgia
Jailer fired after Facebook friend requests revealed
WATKINSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in northeast Georgia say a jail deputy was fired and another resigned after they sent Facebook friend requests to an inmate while she was locked up in the county jail.

Oconee County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Lee Weems said Monday that both deputies also had face-to-face conversations of a sexual nature with the 23-year-old inmate.

The Athens Banner-Herald reports that the allegations came to light July 23, the day the inmate was being bonded out of jail. Weems says the inmate told her boyfriend, who told the sheriff.
Authorities say the inmate didn’t have access to her phone or a computer in jail, but a subsequent examination of her computer showed the Facebook friend requests sent by the men.

Weems says there was never any physical contact between the deputies and the inmate.


California
Police: MMA fighter found naked in church
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (AP) — Mixed martial arts fighter and reality show host Jason “Mayhem” Miller was in jail on suspicion of burglary Monday night after deputies responding to reports of a break-in said they found him naked inside a Southern California church.

Miller was being held on $20,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, Orange County jail records showed.

The pastor at Mission Hills Church in Mission Viejo called authorities when he found evidence of a break-in Monday morning, including books and CDs that were strewn about, white powder on the floors and missing boards from a previously broken window, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Deputies arrived and said they found Miller naked on a couch.

“When they asked him his name he responded, ‘Mayhem,’ “ Amormino told the Orange County Register.