Race prompted shooting, man says

A suspect in the shootings of a black man and a white woman at a bus terminal earlier this month says he shot the couple because of his religious belief in separation of the races. "I wasn't mad at them or anything," Chris Alan Lindholm said. "I just knew they should die because of what they had done. I think he put his arm around her or something." Lindholm, 23, is being held on a charge of first-degree robbery stemming from the theft of a rental car that authorities think he used to flee Spokane after the Sept. 8 shootings. Spokane police Sgt. Al Odenthal said detectives plan to ask prosecutors to charge Lindholm in the shootings. Miguel Legrada, 29, who is black, and Tracy Raider, 19, who is white, were wounded when a man walked into the downtown Greyhound bus station, pulled a .38-caliber handgun from his belt and fired five shots without warning.

Food prices likely to go up 1 percent

WASHINGTON _ U.S. food prices are likely to climb about 1 percent this year, the smallest increase in a quarter-century, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. Plentiful supplies of meat, a low inflation rate and slow growth in consumer income were combining to limit gains in food prices. Americans are forecast to consume a record 210.1 pounds per person of beef, pork, lamb and poultry this year.

3 teens charged in carjacking death

BATON ROUGE, La. _ Three teenagers have been charged in the shooting death of an economics student whose truck was hijacked at Louisiana State University, authorities said. Kipp Earl Gullett, 18, of Pineville was found slain Tuesday, several hours after his truck was left burning in another section of Baton Rouge, sheriff's deputies said. James Conrad Lavigne, 19, Dale Dwayne Craig, 17, and Zebbie Wayne Berthelot, 16, were arrested Thursday night and charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, simple arson and kidnapping, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said. They were being held without bail.

3-year-old dies in locked car on fire

TROY, N.Y. _ A 3-year-old girl suffocated inside her family's burning car while several neighbors tried to free her, police said. Neighbors said Sheeba Allen was screaming for help and pounding on the windows of the locked car, which was parked in front of her home. Investigators were trying to determine if Sheeba had locked herself in the car or if someone else had locked her in. Troy Police Sgt. John Tedesco declined to say where her parents were at the time. Police think she was playing with matches shortly before the fire started on Friday. A patrolman and members of a boxing club tried to kick in the car's windows, but were unable to because of the pressure created by the intense heat, neighbors said.

Nuclear plant worker electrocuted

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. _ A worker performing tests at the Palisades Nuclear Plant was electrocuted, prompting officials to shut down the plant Saturday while the accident was investigated. Phillip Van Zandt, 41, a senior laboratory technician for Consumers Power Co., was testing a meter that measures the plant's electrical output when he was electrocuted Friday afternoon, said Mark Savage, a plant spokesman. The accident occurred in an area that monitors and controls the plant's steam generators and did not involve the plant's nuclear reactor, Savage said. He did not know how long the plant would be out of service.