The former mayor of a tiny coal town who prosecutors say masterminded a scheme to buy votes with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds, pleaded guilty Thursday to 243 felonies, including vote-rigging and corruption. Wise County Circuit Judge Tammy McElyea made former Appalachia mayor Ben Cooper plead individually to each of the charges against him, which included stealing election records, forging ballots, hindering the rights of citizens to vote freely, voting more than once in an election and violating absentee voting procedures. By the time she reached the 11th charge, Cooper, 64, was saying "guilty" before she had finished reading the charge. "You're getting ahead of me," she said, to which Cooper apologized. During the trial of one of 13 people accused of conspiring with Cooper, prosecutors portrayed the ex-mayor as being the key figure in a plot to rig a 2004 election in ...
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Editor - 23:19:00 11-30-06
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 Barbaric drug war to test new Mexican president |
| Taming bazooka-wielding drug traffickers whose turf war has littered a once tranquil state with corpses and severed heads will be one of Felipe Calderon's toughest tasks as Mexico's new president. A fight ragin.. full News |
Editor - 21:09:00 11-30-06
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| US unveils new citizenship test |
| The US government has unveiled a new citizenship test for immigrants which will focus on the concepts of democracy rather than on historical facts. However, immigrant rights groups have rejected the new test, d.. full News |
Editor - 20:35:00 11-30-06
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| Chinese High Court Rejects Appeals of New York Times Researcher and a Blind Activist |
| Chinese courts on Friday rejected the appeal of a New York Times researcher and upheld the four-year prison term of a blind activist, according to parties connected with the cases. The Beijing High Court delive.. full News |
Editor - 20:17:00 11-30-06
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| Typhoon kills 146 in Philippines |
| At least 146 people have been killed in the Philippines by a mudslide triggered by a typhoon, the Red Cross says. Rains caused by Typhoon Durian brought mud and rocks down hillsides, burying two villages in the.. full News |
Editor - 20:15:00 11-30-06
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| Ex-fugitive 'Bucky' Phillips pleads 'guilty as hell' 44-year-old career criminal charged with shooting 3 troopers, one fatally |
| A day after swaggering into court and admitting killing one state trooper and wounding two others, a former fugitive pleaded guilty Thursday to a jail escape that led to the largest manhunt in state history.“Gu.. full News |
Editor - 20:14:00 11-30-06
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