news in brief

Judge accepts plea

in school shootings

PADUCAH, Ky. - A judge today accepted pleas of guilty butmentallyill from a teen-ager accused of opening fire on a high school prayercircle group, killing three students and injuring five others.McCracken Circuit Judge Jeff Hines set a sentencing date of Dec.16 for Michael Adam Carneal of Paducah, the 15-year-old charged withthe shootings at Heath High School in West Paducah last Dec. 1.Under a plea arrangement, the judge agreed to accept the pleas oncondition that the maximum penalty - life in prison withoutpossibility of parole for 25 years - would be imposed.Grandmother begsson to return babySALT LAKE CITY - At first, Cheryl Gardner did not believe her sonand daughter-in-law were starving their 20-month-old child, whomtheyallegedly kidnapped two weeks ago from a hospital.Photographs and videotapes of her emaciated grandson changed hermind."It made me cry. It made me sick," Gardner said Sunday at an FBInews conference, where she appealed for her son, Christopher Fink,tosurrender to authorities.Christopher and Kyndra Fink allegedly took their boy, David, fromPrimary Children's Medical Center on Sept. 19, five days afterKyndraFink's family had brought in the severely malnourished child.David weighed 16 pounds, which is about the size of an average 6-month-old, and had been fed only watermelon and lettuce according toa diet his father believed would allow the boy to live forever."We want you all to be brought in safely," Gardner said. "It'stoo cold to have that baby out there. He's so hungry."