TheState.com: Nation

Okla. Senate OKs gives 'personhood' to embryos

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:32 EST

The Oklahoma Senate has overwhelmingly approved an anti-abortion "personhood" bill that declares life begins at conception.

The vote Wednesday upset doctors who fear the proposed law will jeopardize reproductive medicine.

The bill now heads to the House, where it is expected to pass. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin typically won't comment on pending legislation, but she has described herself as strongly "pro-life."

The bill provides embryos and fetuses with "all the rights privileges, and immunities" of other citizens.

Republican Sen. Brian Crain says it's modeled after a 1986 Missouri law that was later determined by the U.S. Supreme Court to be constitutional.

Probe: NYC teacher had students write to inmate

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:02 EST

Investigators say a New York City teacher had her students make Christmas cards for an incarcerated felon.

The special commissioner of investigation for city schools says Queens public school teacher Melissa Dean asked her fifth-graders to make holiday cards for someone who was lonely.

The commissioner's report was issued Wednesday. It says Dean mailed the cards to a friend serving time at the upstate Groveland Correctional Facility for weapons charges and violating an order of protection.

Some of the cards included students' names and addresses. The package of cards was intercepted by prison officials, who called the school principal. That triggered the investigation.

Dean was removed from the classroom. The Department of Education is seeking to fire her.

2 New England utilities agree to buy wind power

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:57 EST

Energy companies Northeast Utilities and NStar have agreed to buy more than a quarter of the power produced by the long-planned Cape Wind offshore wind farm as a condition of a proposed merger, state officials announced Wednesday.

The announcement is a huge boost for the 130-turbine Cape Wind project, which would be located about 5 miles off Cape Cod in Nantucket Sound and aims to be the nation's first offshore wind farm.

The Cape Wind project has sold half its power to the Massachusetts utility National Grid but has struggled to find buyers for the rest of the power, posing a major obstacle to its efforts to secure financing. As part of the deal announced Wednesday, the combined Northeast Utilities-NStar company would buy 27.5 percent of the electricity Cape Wind produces under a 15-year contract.

State Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan said the agreement shows the administration's commitment to clean energy.

The agreement between the state and the utilities also calls for a four-year freeze on base energy distribution rates and a one-time $21 million credit for ratepayers. Attorney General Martha Coakley said the deal would save Massachusetts consumers an estimated $217 million.

NYPD ups security around Israeli locations

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:37 EST

A spokesman for the New York City police says it has heightened security around Israeli government offices and synagogues.

Paul Browne said Wednesday there were no specific threats. He said the security measures were put in place as a precaution amid mounting tension with Iran over its nuclear advances.

Browne said the NYPD regularly adjusts its counterterrorism strategies based on events overseas.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer also called on the State Department to increase scrutiny of Iran's U.N. mission in New York to uncover possible plots.

Israeli minister: Iran near 'point of no return'

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:22 EST

Israel's deputy prime minister says it's time for tougher sanctions against Iran before its nuclear program advances to what he calls "the point of no return."

Silvan Shalom spoke to reporters in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday after addressing the state's Legislature. His comments came as Iran claimed it has achieved two major advances in its program to master production of nuclear fuel.

Shalom says Iran will continue to proceed with its nuclear program until the world acts because Iranians believe it will give them "an insurance policy to their regime." He says Iran's latest claims show no intention to abandon plans for a nuclear bomb.

Shalom says Israel and the world couldn't live with Iran having the ability to develop a nuclear bomb.

Amnesty: Libyan militias commit war crimes

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:32 EST

Armed militias now rule much of Libya, Amnesty International said Wednesday, accusing them of torturing detainees deemed loyal to the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi and driving entire neighborhoods and towns into exile.

Amnesty International quoted detainees as saying "They had been suspended in contorted positions; beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars, and wooden sticks and given electric shocks with live wires and taser-like electroshock weapons."

At least 12 detainees had died since September after torture, Amnesty said. "Their bodies were covered in bruises, wounds and cuts and some had had nails pulled off," the group said.

The report is a fresh blow to Libya's new government, the National Transitional Council, which helped lead the anti-Gadhafi uprising that broke out one year ago this week and spiraled into a brutal, eight-month civil war.

Since the war's end with the capture and killing of Gadhafi last October, the NTC has struggled to extend its control over the vast desert nation. It has largely failed to rein in the hundreds of brigades that fought in the war, many of which now run their own detention centers for those accused of links to Gadhafi's regime.

Pa. hospital sorry about disabled transplant case

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:52 EST

A Philadelphia hospital says it's sorry for the way it handled a dispute over whether a disabled 3-year-old girl was eligible for a kidney transplant.

The parents of Amelia Rivera say doctors initially told them she wasn't eligible because of a mental disability caused by a rare genetic defect. A blog post by her mother, Chrissy Rivera, spawned a public outcry. But last month her parents said she was being considered for the procedure.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Riveras released a joint statement Wednesday.

The hospital says it regrets it "communicated in a manner that did not clearly reflect" its policies or intent and apologizes for the Stratford, N.J., couple's experience. The Riveras say they'll hold the hospital in high regard.

No decision on the girl's candidacy has been made.

Family of murdered inmate sues Hawaii, prison

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:52 EST

The family of a Hawaii inmate stabbed to death at a private prison in Arizona sued the state of Hawaii and prison operator Corrections Corporation of America on Wednesday.

The legal action came after two gang members attacked Bronson Nunuha in his cell on Feb. 18, 2010, when a prison employee left the door open at Saguaro Correctional Center, according to the suit filed in Circuit Court.

Nunuha was stabbed more than 140 times with two different weapons. The attackers also carved the name of their gang into his chest.

"It's still hard for my family," Davina Waialae, Nunuha's mother, said at a press conference on the lawsuit. "My grandson has to grow up without a dad."

Nunuha was serving a five-year sentence for burglary and property damage. He was nine months away from finishing his sentence when he was killed.

Qantas first-half profit drops 83 percent

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:57 EST

Qantas Airways Ltd. said it planned to slash 500 jobs after it posted an 83 percent drop in first-half profit on Thursday. The Australian airline blamed rising fuel costs and a series of strikes that temporarily grounded its fleet for the loss.

Qantas said net profit for the six months to Dec. 31 was 42 million Australian dollars ($45 million), down from AU$239 million in the same period a year ago.

A bitter labor dispute last year resulted in months of rolling worker strikes and prompted the airline to temporarily ground its entire fleet. The strikes cost the airline $194 million, Qantas said.

CEO Alan Joyce also said the high Australian dollar had made it difficult for the airline to do business, and said fuel costs for the six-month period were AU$2.2 billion, up AU$444 million, or 26 percent, from the same period a year ago.

The airline said it would cut 500 jobs, withdraw some international flights and revamp its catering and engineering businesses to cope with the financial challenges. None of the positions that are being cut will be moved offshore, Joyce said.

7 indicted in deaths of Phoenix-area couple, man

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:42 EST

A man from the Phoenix suburb of Mesa has been indicted in the deaths of an Arizona couple and another homicide last month.

Maricopa County prosecutors announced Wednesday that 31-year-old Michael Lee Crane was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Lawrence and Glenna Shapiro.

The couple, both in their 70s, was found bound and burned beyond recognition in their home on Jan. 30 in the wealthy area of Paradise Valley.

The 15-count indictment also charges Crane and an unnamed accomplice with first-degree murder in the death of Bruce Gaudet, who was found dead inside a burning Phoenix condominium on Jan. 26.

Five other people also are indicted in the cases. Authorities say they face charges including theft, trafficking in stolen property and hindering prosecution.

Iowa visit offers opportunities to Chinese leader

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:37 EST

The vice president of China is spending a good deal of his U.S. trip in Iowa, a state better known for hosting American presidential candidates than major heads of state. So why is this rural place playing such a big role in the leader's historic tour of the United States?

The answer lies in the way Xi Jinping (shee jeen ping) likes to do business - by building personal relationships - and in Iowa's rich agricultural industry, which is closely tied to China's.

"He's very outgoing, very personable," said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who met with Xi in 1985, when a Chinese delegation visited Iowa to study farming practices and again last year, when Branstad led a trade mission to China.

"People that meet him like him," the governor said. "He made friends instantaneously in Iowa."

Branstad was two years into his first term as governor in 1985 when he met Xi, who was then a rising communist party leader from an agricultural province in northern China. Both were in their 30s.

Co-founder of Taco John's restaurants dies at 92

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:22 EST

The co-founder of the Taco John's restaurant chain has died.

The Schrader Funeral Home in Cheyenne says Harold W. Holmes died Feb. 10 from heart complications at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. He was 92.

Holmes was born in Chariton, Iowa, on Nov. 14, 1919, and grew up in the Cheyenne area.

He undertook a wide range of business ventures that included selling furniture, operating a diaper service and manufacturing campers.

In 1969, he and his wife started Taco John's International with another husband-wife team in Cheyenne. Taco John's now has more than 400 restaurants in Wyoming and 24 other states.

Police officer in Ariz shooting has shot 6 others

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:37 EST

An Arizona police officer who fatally shot a man holding a baby had been involved in six previous shootings since 2002, including five that were fatal, authorities said Wednesday.

Scottsdale police Officer James Peters was one of several officers called to a home in the Phoenix suburb on Tuesday night after neighbors reported a man holding a baby was threatening them with a handgun, Chief Alan Rodbell said.

Peters is a 12-year veteran of the police force who has served on its SWAT team. In three of his previous six shootings, other officers also fired at suspects.

A list compiled by The Arizona Republic shows Peters' first shooting was in 2002, when he was one of three SWAT officers who shot and wounded a domestic violence suspect after a standoff. Between 2003 and 2010, he was involved in five fatal shootings.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office investigated his previous shootings and ruled them justifiable, Rodbell said. In one instance, he received the department's medal of valor for killing a suspect who was holding a store employee hostage after hijacking a doughnut truck driver.

2 convicted in health care fraud sentenced

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:02 EST

Two former executives of health care company Canopy Financial Inc. who pleaded guilty to defrauding investors out of $75 million have been sentenced to prison.

Former President and CEO Jeremy Blackburn was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison. Former Chief Technology Officer Anthony Banas received a 13-year sentence. Both men pleaded guilty in 2010 to one wire fraud count.

According to court documents, Blackburn and Banas used false information about Canopy's financial condition to obtain about $75 million from several investors in 2009. They also allegedly pocketed about $18 million from accounts meant to pay people's medical bills.

The then-Chicago-based company declared bankruptcy in 2009.

The 34-year-old Banas is to report to prison April 18. The 38-year-old Blackburn begins serving his sentence March 20.

Business Highlights

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:02 EST

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Eurozone calls for tighter Greek surveillance

BRUSSELS (AP) - Greece has made progress convincing the rest of the eurozone that it should get a $170 billion bailout - but the country's austerity efforts will need much tighter surveillance, the chairman of the eurozone's finance ministers said Wednesday.

During a 3 1/2 hour conference call between the finance chiefs of the 17 countries that use the euro, the ministers received assurances from Greece that it had found a further $424 million in cuts on top of austerity measures already agreed.

They also welcomed written commitments from the leaders of the two Greek parties that make up the coalition government to implement promised cuts and reforms after elections, expected in April.

APNewsBreak: Old Detroit rape kits to be tested

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:57 EST

More than 1,000 once-forgotten rape kits that were part of a trove found in a Detroit police property storage facility are expected to be reviewed and possibly tested for DNA in crimes dating to the 1980s, a state police official said Wednesday.

DNA found in the kits that doesn't belong to rape victims will be loaded into the FBI's Combined DNA Index System - or CODIS - to search for matches that could lead to arrests, State Police Director of Forensic Science John Collins told The Associated Press.

"We've identified a sample set of kits. We're expecting next week for this wave of kits - in the low thousands - to come in," Collins said.

The rape kits are about half the size of a small pizza box. They contain documentation, supplies for technicians, swabs and other items to collect samples. They are part of more than 11,000 found in 2009. Nearly 10,000 rape kits still await possible review.

"We are moving at a pace that allows us to make decisions as smart as possible, but at the same time doing our due diligence," Collins said. "Our lab system takes in between 1,500 to 2,000 rape kits a year. We have victims being victimized today that we want to be able to respond to."

Payroll tax cut: Ironing out the final details

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:12 EST

Calling quits to a bruising election-year fight, negotiators on Capitol Hill worked into Wednesday night ironing out final details of an agreement to extend a cut in the payroll taxes paid by most Americans. The legislation also would renew jobless benefits for millions more.

The $150 billion measure taking shape represents a tactical retreat for Republicans, who are generally unenthusiastic about the legislation but eager to move beyond the issue. With campaign season starting, they don't want President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress to be able to claim the GOP was standing in the way of a middle-class tax cut.

Lawmakers hoped to officially unveil the measure Wednesday night so it could be voted on Friday in the House and then quickly pass the Senate. It would represent a rare burst of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress.

The legislation would continue a 2 percentage point cut in the Social Security payroll tax, renew jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week for people languishing for long periods on unemployment rolls and protect doctors from a huge cut in their Medicare reimbursements.

Obama was getting his licks in before the agreement was announced.

Obama to join black history museum groundbreaking

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:52 EST

President Barack Obama and former first lady Laura Bush will celebrate the groundbreaking for a new national museum showcasing black life, art and history on the National Mall.

The Smithsonian Institution announced Wednesday that Obama will speak at the Feb. 22 groundbreaking for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Actress Phylicia Rashad will host the event.

Early construction work has already begun at the museum site near the Washington Monument. Officials have said the museum is on track to open in 2015. Congress has pledged to provide half the cost of the $500 million museum project.

Designers for the project have been planning a layered bronze structure with a stone base.

Bush serves on the museum's advisory council with Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones and others.

Jan. card payments wobble, but trend is positive

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:52 EST

The nation's six biggest credit card companies reported mixed results for customer payments in January, splitting evenly between those that had lower defaults and those with increased write-off rates.

But even with the small upticks, analysts say the long-term trends point to continued improvements as the companies keep tight reins on problem customers and remain cautious about lending.

Standing out among the pack is Discover Financial Services, which reported a sharp drop in defaults, to 2.75 percent of balances on an annualized basis, from 3.15 percent in December. Discover's late payments also edged down, to 2.31 percent of balances, from 2.32 percent the prior month.

Only American Express Co. has lower rates, with its January defaults at 2.2 percent of balances and late payments at 1.4 percent.

All of the major companies saw spikes in defaults, known as charge-offs in the industry, and late payments, or delinquencies, during the Great Recession. Moody's Investors Service estimates the six banks wrote off more than $75 billion in uncollectible balances in 2009 and 2010 alone.

Manufacturers providing outsize boost to economy

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:42 EST

American factories are humming - and driving the economy forward.

Manufacturers have been hiring more consistently than other employers, for jobs with better-than-average pay. They just had their best month of growth in five years. And more factory output has raised demand in some other industries, such as shipping, leading to further hiring.

"The manufacturing sector is on a tear," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

It's an optimistic theme that serves President Barack Obama's political needs. On Wednesday, Obama traveled to Milwaukee to salute a company that brought jobs back to the United States. The president has promoted the nation's manufacturing base as an engine of growth and as evidence of a recovering economy.

No one thinks manufacturing will return to its 1950s peak. After all, the factory sector now makes up barely one-tenth of the economy.

Explosives found in pickup near Kansas Statehouse

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:32 EST

Several homemade bombs were found Wednesday in a pickup truck parked near the Kansas Statehouse that had specialty license plates issued only to U.S. military paratroopers, and police said they arrested the owner inside an underground tunnel connecting the Capitol to an office building.

Capitol Police spokesman Patrick Saleh said the incident was not connected to another arrest Wednesday of a man who allegedly phoned in a threat to Gov. Sam Brownback's office from a Topeka motel.

"Neither one of them was armed, and neither of them offered any resistance," Saleh said.

Saleh said officers went to investigate the pickup after receiving a call from a state employee about it being parked in a restricted lot outside the Kansas Judicial Center, south of the Statehouse, without the normal state worker tag. An officer saw suspicious objects inside, including an empty gun holster, and authorities called in the Topeka Police Department's bomb squad.

Saleh said the homemade explosives were made with household materials and designed to spray shrapnel once they were detonated. He didn't have further details, but called them "actual explosives."

Summary Box: Stocks fall, gas prices high

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:42 EST

GAS GUZZLES: The price of oil climbed to its highest level in five weeks after Iran said it would cut off some exports of crude to Europe. The average retail price for a gallon of gas is $3.52, according to AAA. This time a year ago, gas was $3.12.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 97 points to close at 12,781. It was the worst one-day decline for the Dow this year.

TROUBLE IN FARMVILLE: Zynga, the maker of popular Facebook games like FarmVille, fell 18 percent after reporting a loss for the fourth quarter. It was Zynga's first earnings report as a public company. Zynga closed at $11.80, still above the initial public offering price of $10 but well below Tuesday's record high of $14.35.

Congress nears deal to extend wage-tax cut, jobless benefits, 'doc fix'

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:42 EST

WASHINGTON — Congress is calmly inching toward approving a payroll tax cut and other help for the struggling economy without the bitter rancor that's colored economic debates since President Barack Obama took office three years ago.

Lawmakers are widely expected to give bipartisan approval this week to extending the Social Security payroll tax cut, now scheduled to end Feb. 29, through the end of the year.

They're also likely to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed and to stave off a huge planned cut in Medicare payments to physicians.

All this is being done without the down-to-the-wire brinksmanship that characterized other Obama-era budget battles. This fresh outburst of comity was sparked by today's unpredictable politics and economics in an election year.

"The public wants action, and the economy needs help," said Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a center-left research group.

Chile experts: Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is hottest

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:42 EST

There are super-hot chile varieties. And then there's the sweat-inducing, tear-generating, mouth-on-fire Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.

With a name like that, it's not surprising that months of research by the experts at New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute have identified the variety as the new hottest pepper on the planet.

The golf ball-sized pepper scored the highest among a handful of chile breeds reputed to be among the hottest in the world. Its mean heat topped more than 1.2 million units on the Scoville heat scale, while fruits from some individual plants reached 2 million heat units.

"You take a bite. It doesn't seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty," Paul Bosland, a renowned pepper expert and director of the chile institute, said of the pepper's heat.

Researchers were pushed by hot sauce makers, seed producers and others in the spicy foods industry to establish the average heat levels for super-hot varieties in an effort to quash unscientific claims of which peppers are actually the hottest.

Weeping widower of murdered woman testifies

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:22 EST

The weeping widower of a woman murdered 26 years ago testified Wednesday about a love triangle that prosecutors believe led his former lover - then a Los Angeles police officer - to kill his wife.

Defendant Stephanie Lazarus avoided the gaze of witness John Ruetten as he said he never considered Lazarus to be his girlfriend, even though they had a long sexual relationship.

"What was your understanding of the relationship?" Deputy District Attorney Shannon Presby asked.

"We were good friends," Ruetten said. "We saw each other on and off, and on some of those occasions we had sexual intercourse."

The tall, gray-haired Ruetten was overcome several times during his testimony, pulling tissues from a box on the witness stand to wipe his eyes as he spoke of Sherri Rasmussen, his murdered wife.

American Airlines' AMR posts $1.1 billion 4Q loss

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:12 EST

AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, said Wednesday that it lost $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter as it wrote down the value of planes and other property and paid more for jet fuel.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, said that the results compared with a loss of $97 million a year earlier, when AMR still hoped to avoid bankruptcy by cutting costs.

The most recent loss included $768 million in special items, including $725 million from write-downs of aircraft that the company had announced two weeks ago. It also took a $43 million hit as it changed assumptions on recognition of revenue in its frequent-flier program.

Excluding special items, AMR said it would have lost $209 million, compared to an after-items loss of $69 million a year ago.

American is the nation's third-biggest airline, and it has presented a business-as-usual face since becoming the latest in a long string of U.S. airlines to file for bankruptcy protection. Even though it is still losing money, the airline is benefiting from higher ticket prices and decent demand for travel.

Counterfeit drugs becoming big business worldwide

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:27 EST

The discovery that a fake version of the widely used cancer medicine Avastin is circulating in the United States is raising new fears that the multibillion-dollar drug-counterfeiting trade is increasingly making inroads in the U.S.

The criminal practice has largely been relegated to poor countries with lax regulations. But with more medicines and drug ingredients for sale in the U.S. being manufactured overseas, American authorities are afraid more counterfeits will find their way into this country, putting patients' lives at risk.

The Avastin discovery follows other recent instances in the U.S. of counterfeiting, involving such drugs as Viagra, the cholesterol medicine Lipitor and the weight-loss pill Alli.

"We do know there are counterfeits continuing to try and make their way onto the U.S. supply chain," said Connie Jung, an associate director in the Food and Drug Administration's office of drug security.

The FDA announced Tuesday it is investigating fake vials of Avastin that were sold to at least 19 doctors and clinics, including 16 sites in California, two in Texas and one in Chicago. Tests showed the vials did not contain the active ingredient in Avastin, which is given intravenously in hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices to treat several types of cancer.

A look at economic developments around the globe

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:22 EST

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Wednesday:

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BRUSSELS - Greece has made progress convincing the rest of the eurozone that it should get a $170 billion bailout - but the country's austerity efforts will need much tighter surveillance, the chairman of the eurozone's finance ministers said.

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WASHINGTON - World Bank President Robert Zoellick said he is stepping down, raising the possibility that a non-American might be chosen for the first time to head the 187-nation lending organization.

Marriott 4Q profit falls on timeshare spinoff

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:57 EST

Marriott International Inc. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter net income fell 18 percent, hurt by a one-time charge tied to the spinoff of its timeshare business.

The Bethesda, Md., company earned $141 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with $173 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier. Taking out one-time items in both periods, it earned $159 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $135 million, or 35 cents per share in the fourth-quarter of 2010.

Revenue inched higher to $3.69 billion from $3.64 billion the year before.

The results fell short of Wall Street's expectations, and shares fell slightly in afterhours trading after the results were released. According to FactSet Research, analysts expected an adjusted profit of 47 cents per share on revenue of $3.74 billion. They usually exclude one-time items from their estimates.

Revenue per available room - a key measure of health for hotel companies - rose 5.9 percent in the quarter. That metric grew at a faster rate in North America than the rest of the world.

Father of missing hiker returns from Mount Fuji

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:13 EST

The latest search for a man who went missing more than a month ago while hiking on Japan's Mount Fuji was unsuccessful, his father said Wednesday.

Jerry Johnson spoke to The Associated Press after returning to Michigan following a week of searching the 12,388-foot (3,775-meter) peak, which is covered in snow and ice.

"We just need a break," he said.

His son, Matthew, last was seen Jan. 13 on the mountain. Described as an avid hiker and outdoorsman, the 33-year-old software engineer for Eaton Corp. was in Japan on business.

His car was found parked at Mount Fuji. Heavy snow early on prevented rescue crews from continuing their search. Helicopters also have been used in the search for Johnson, who lives in western Michigan.