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Hikers around Vallecito Reservoir are being asked to keep an eye out for any signs of a boy who went missing last November.

Family friend Denise Hess tells the Durango Herald people have never stopped searching for 14-year-old Dylan Redwine and they need help.

She asked hikers to be alert for pieces of clothing or anything that appears to be out of the ordinary, the newspaper reported.

"We've been doing searches on almost a weekly basis, particularly after the snow melted off, and we'll continue to do that in the foreseeable future," La Planta County Sheriff's spokesman Dan Bender told the Durango Herald.

Dylan Redwine arrived in Durango Nov. 18, 2012, for a court-ordered visitation with his father, Mark Redwine, during the Thanksgiving break.

Mark Redwine says he last saw Dylan, Nov. 19 before leaving to run errands in Durango. He says he returned home at 11:30 a.m. to find Dylan gone and reported the then 13-year-old missing around 6 p.m. that day.

Dylan was wearing a black backpack, black shirt, black shorts, black Air Jordan shoes, a Duke Blue Devils ball cap and an older-model Verizon flip phone, Hess told the Durango Herald

Click for more from the Durango Herald.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A bookmaker is testifying that he and other bookies were forced to pay James "Whitey" Bulger and his gang to stay in business and if they didn't, they were told they could "wind up in the hospital."

James Katz told jurors Friday at Bulger's trial that he took illegal bets on sporting events from 1971 to 1993. The 83-year-old Bulger is charged in a broad racketeering indictment with participating in 19 murders and committing other crimes.

Katz says he had to turn over customer fees on bets and an additional monthly fee to Bulger's gang.

Katz himself was indicted in the 1990s and says he initially refused to testify to a grand jury about the gang because he feared for his safety. He eventually testified after prosecutors offered him a reduced sentence and protection.

The top administrator at an eastern Idaho high school is standing behind his decision to drop the school's Redskins nickname, but is putting on hold plans to remove signs and logos from the school.

Teton County School District 401 Superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme has scheduled a forum next month to gather comment from parents, alumni and residents about the name change at Teton High School.

He also said he will seek feedback from leaders of the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Tribes.

The decision to delay comes amid criticism of the decision to change the school's longtime nickname.

A Facebook page called "Save the Redskins" had gathered more than 950 local and national followers since it was created Tuesday. Foes of the change have launched an online petition to keep the name.

The jury has begun deliberations in the trial of a Detroit police officer charged in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl.

A Wayne County judge gave final instructions and sent the jury behind closed doors at 10:15 a.m. Friday.

Officer Joseph Weekley is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a raid in May 2010. He told jurors that he was struggling with Aiyana's grandmother when the weapon accidentally discharged.

The jury could convict Weekley of involuntary manslaughter or reckless discharge of a firearm, a misdemeanor. He also could be acquitted.

Prosecutor Rob Moran says there was no interference from grandmother Mertilla Jones. But defense attorney Steve Fishman says Jones has no credibility because she's told different stories about what happened.

The U.S. current account trade deficit widened from January through March as Americans earned less from overseas investments.

The Commerce Department says the deficit increased 3.7 percent in the first quarter to $106.1 billion. That's up a revised $102.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The current account is the broadest measure of trade. It tracks not only the sale of goods and services but also investment flows and how much the U.S. must borrow from foreigners. The first-quarter deficit was equal to 2.7 percent of the total economy, up from 2.6 percent in the previous quarter.

For the first quarter, the deficit in goods fell $3.3 billion. The surplus in services, such as airline travel, increased $454 million. And Americans' surplus in their overseas investments fell $5 billion.

A former Southern California schoolteacher now acknowledges that she had sex with an underage student.

The Ventura County Star (http://bit.ly/19wPNS1 ) reports Malia Brooks pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of committing lewd acts with a child under 14. A day earlier, she pleaded not guilty to five charges. Under the plea-change deal, she'll face up to 12 years in prison instead of a possible 16.

The 32-year-old was a sixth-grade teacher at Garden Grove Elementary School in Simi Valley. She resigned last week and was arrested on Tuesday.

Prosecutors say the married mother of two had sex with a student earlier this year. Her attorney, Ron Bamieh, says Brooks suffered a "manic episode" brought on by memories of teenage abuse. He'll seek a four- to six-year sentence.

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Information from: Ventura County Star, http://venturacountystar.com

Parking is such a precious commodity in Boston that one woman was willing to pay $560,000 for two off-street spaces near her home.

Lisa Blumenthal won the spots in the city's Back Bay neighborhood during an on-site auction Thursday held in a steady rain by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS had seized the spots from a man who owed back taxes.

Blumenthal, who lives in a multimillion-dollar home near the parking spaces, tells The Boston Globe she didn't expect the bidding to go quite so high for the spots she says will come in handy for guests and workers.

The record for a single spot in Boston is $300,000.

The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts is $313,000.

A retired state police colonel identified weapons found hidden in locations connected to James "Whitey" Bulger as prosecutors at Bulger's racketeering trial showed jurors photos and videos of organized crime figures Bulger associated with and an arsenal of guns authorities say his gang used.

Retired state police Col. Thomas Foley Thursday identified weapons found during a 2000 investigation, , including some in a shed behind a South Boston home owned by the mother of Bulger's partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. When investigators searched the shed, they found just one handgun, but later, Flemmi's son led them to a house in Somerville and a storage facility in Florida where investigators say the guns had been moved.

Foley methodically identified dozens of guns through photographs. But prosecutor Fred Wyshak pulled out six machine guns -- one at a time -- so jurors could see for themselves the kind of firepower Bulger's gang had at its disposal.

Foley also testified that the gang collected fees known as "rent" or "tribute" from bookmakers, drug dealers and others to allow them to operate within their territory. When Wyshak asked what the consequences were for not paying, Foley said, "Well, it could range from being put out of business to taking a beating, or actually at times, some people were killed."

Two bookies are expected to testify Friday about how Bulger allegedly forced them to pay him if they wanted to stay in business and not get hurt by Bulger or his associates.

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is charged with a long list of crimes in a 32-count racketeering indictment, including participating in 19 killings in the 1970s and `80s. He was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives after he fled Boston in 1994.

Bulger, now 83, was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.

Foley's testimony came after another retired state police officer, Lt. Robert Long, identified Bulger on several surveillance videos from 1980. The videos showed Bulger meeting with members of his gang, as well as assorted members of the Italian Mafia.

During cross-examination by Bulger's lawyer, Hank Brennan, Foley acknowledged that none of the weapons were found in Bulger's house and neither his fingerprints nor DNA were found on any of them.

Bulger's lead attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., conceded during opening statements Wednesday that Bulger corrupted FBI agents by paying them to tip him off about search warrants, bugs and indictments, but said Bulger was never an FBI informant, as prosecutors maintain.

Prosecutor Brian Kelly said Bulger made millions through drugs, extortion and loan-sharking by instilling fear in drug dealers, bookies and others. Kelly said Bulger was a long-time FBI informant who provided information on the New England Mafia, his gang's rivals.

Carney agreed with the prosecutor's description of how Bulger made his money, but insisted he was never an FBI informant and denied that he killed two 26-year-old women he is accused of strangling or businessmen in Florida and Oklahoma.

The Philadelphia inspector who committed suicide a week after the building he had surveyed collapsed and killed six reportedly recorded a cell phone video in which he blamed himself for the accident.

"It was my fault. I should have looked at those guys working, and I didn't," Ronald Wagenhoffer reportedly said in the video, according to Philly.com

"When I saw it was too late. I should have parked my truck and went over there but I didn't. I'm sorry," he reportedly said in the video obtained by NBC10.

Wagenhoffer, 52, was found shot in the chest in a pickup truck around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Wagenhoffer had inspected the building May 14 and signed off demolition work underway after getting complaints about the site from the public, Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said.

"With the building collapse a week ago, we have no lost seven lives in connection with this tragedy," Gillison told reporters at a news conference. "That man did nothing wrong. The department did what it was supposed to do."

Wagenhoffer reportedly said he couldn't sleep because of the deaths. He is survived by a wife and a young son.

"We strive to protect our citizens by enforcing the building codes. And that's what Ron did," Department of Public Property head Carlton Williams said.

Investigators say a heavy equipment operator with a lengthy rap sheet was high on marijuana when the building collapsed. The operator, Sean Benschop, faces six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of risking a catastrophe. His attorney has said he is being made a scapegoat.

The city's top prosecutor has convened a grand jury to investigate whether anyone else should face criminal charges. A half-dozen survivors have filed lawsuits against the contractor and the building's owner.

A demolition permit indicates that contractor Griffin Campbell was being paid $10,000 for the job. Campbell's lawyer has called him despondent but "absolutely not responsible" for the deaths.

"Our heartfelt condolences go to the family of the inspector," attorney Kenneth Edelin said in a statement. "We also continue to pray for the families of those that were lost, and for the health and speedy recovery of those that were injured."

Click for more from Philly.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

There was plenty of applause heard during the Tony Awards — and perhaps no place louder than from as far away as Pittsburgh.

Six alumni from Carnegie Mellon University took home Tonys in five categories, a glittery haul that was both a school record and a huge source of pride for a theater department that turns 100 next year.

Billy Porter, Patina Miller and Judith Light each took home acting Tonys, while Ann Roth got one for best costume design, and partners Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer won for best lighting design of a play.

"We've had a bumper crop," said Peter Cooke, head of the university's school of drama. "I'm just delighted that they received rewards from their peers. It was just a terrific night."

The six wins means Carnegie Mellon took bragging rights from the better-known Yale University School of Drama, which had four Tony winners Sunday: costume designer William Ivey Long, actor Courtney B. Vance, set designer John Lee Beatty and playwright Christopher Durang.

In addition to Carnegie Mellon winners, there were plenty of alumni serving as presenters and performers: "Newsies" lead Corey Cott graduated last year, "Star Trek" reboot star Zachary Quinto is from the class of 1999, and Megan Hilty, who recently starred on NBC's "Smash," is a 2004 graduate.

"You're looking at a broad continuum of talent that's come out of this school," said Cooke, who has hosted representatives from theater schools as far away as Estonia and Brazil. "They're coming to us to ask, 'What are you doing?' and 'Can you help us?'"

Founded in 1914, the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama is the oldest conservatory training in America and the country's first degree-granting drama institution.

The school is known for its interdisciplinary work, embrace of technology and stress on learning-by-doing, meaning acting students help make the sets and backstage designers get a chance to shine onstage. Alumni come back not just to make speeches but to teach.

"It's a very rigorous program but I have to say it's one of the best in the country because they really just prepare you in all avenues of this business," says Miller, who graduated in 2006. "You do everything. The actors sing. The musical theater students do as much acting as the actors. We were all very well rounded in all aspects of theater."

Graduates include Cherry Jones, Rob Marshall, Ted Danson, Christian Borle, James Cromwell, Blair Underwood, John Wells and "The Book of Mormon" stars Josh Gad and Rory O'Malley, who roomed together as freshmen. Stephen Schwartz wrote "Godspell" and part of "Pippin," which won the best musical revival Tony on Sunday, while on campus as an undergraduate.

The university's graduates have won 29 Tonys to date, which is impressive, but easily dwarfed by Yale, which has had at least 97 Tonys, according to a spokesman, starting at the first awards in 1947 when Elia Kazan was crowned best director for Arthur Miller's "All My Sons."

Eisenhauer has won three of Carnegie Mellon's Tonys, most recently on Sunday for the lighting design of "Lucky Guy." Smitten by the theater bug as a preteen, she said she saw lots of Broadway shows and was blown away by lighting designer Jules Fisher's work in the original "Pippin" in the early 1970s.

She found out he went to Carnegie Mellon, so she applied there. "I wrote my essay to get in — I was asked who I most wanted to meet — and I said Jules Fisher." She got in and got her wish when Fisher came to the campus to teach.

She followed him to New York and he eventually hired her as his assistant, "after, as he put it, I 'stalked' him," she said with a laugh. Later they decided to join forces as co-designers and together have won Tonys for "Assassins," ''Bring in da Noise/Bring in da Funk" and now "Lucky Guy."

"It is a magnet and it perpetuates itself," she said of the school.

The alumni network is very tight and Miller said her teachers are still in contact with her seven years after she graduated. She herself is advising a new crop of soon-to-be graduates, some very likely to grace Broadway.

"I put everything down to the faculty. The faculty is everything in a theater school," said Cooke. "You can have great buildings or lousy buildings. But the person at the front of the class needs to know more than person sitting in the chair. That's how it works."

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Online:

http://www.drama.cmu.edu

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Mark Kennedy can be reached at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Parking is such a precious commodity in Boston that one woman was willing to pay $560,000 for two off-street spaces near her home.

Lisa Blumenthal won the spots in the city's Back Bay neighborhood during an on-site auction Thursday held in a steady rain by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS had seized the spots from a man who owed back taxes.

Blumenthal, who lives in a multimillion-dollar home near the parking spaces, tells The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/13KqntI ) she didn't expect the bidding to go quite so high for the spots she says will come in handy for guests and workers.

The record for a single spot in Boston is $300,000.

The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts is $313,000.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

The world's oldest Jewish person has died in New York City at age 113.

Evelyn Kozak's granddaughter Brucha Weisberger says she died early Tuesday in a hospital after suffering a heart attack the day before.

Gerontology Research Group senior database administrator Robert Young says Kozak was the world's oldest documented Jewish person and the seventh-oldest person in the world.

Kozak was born in the city on Aug. 14, 1899. Her family had moved from Russia to escape anti-Semitic attacks. She was one of nine children.

Weisberger said Thursday her grandmother had five children, 10 grandchildren and nearly 30 great-grandchildren.

Kozak lived in New York, Perth Amboy, N.J., Miami and Pittsburgh.

A rise in food and gas costs drove a measure of wholesale prices in May. But outside those volatile categories, inflation was mild.

The Labor Department said the producer price index rose 0.5 percent in May from April, nearly offsetting a 0.7 percent decline in April from March. Gas prices rose 1.5 percent last month, and food costs increased 0.6 percent.

The index, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer, has increased just 1.7 percent in the 12 months ending in May. That's up from a 0.6 percent year-over-year increase in April, the smallest in 10 months.

Core prices, which exclude the food and energy, rose just 0.1 percent in May. They are up 1.7 percent in the past year, below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent inflation target.

The six jurors and four alternates who eventually will decide whether George Zimmerman committed murder when he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin will have limited contact with the outside world during the two weeks to a month it will take to hold the trial.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson said for the first time Thursday that jurors picked for Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial will be sequestered. They will have limited contact with their families, they will spend the night at a hotel and their actions will be monitored by court security outside the courtroom during the duration of the trial. Prosecutors and defense attorneys resume their fifth day of jury selection Friday.

"You would not be able to participate in day-to-day routine activities," defense attorney Don West told one potential juror.

Some potential jurors have been wary of the prospect of being cut off from the world during the trial.

Jury candidate K-80, a middle-aged white woman, described sequestration Thursday as "my biggest fear." Jurors are only referred to by their jury numbers in court to protect their identities.

Juror E-81, a middle-aged white woman, said when she saw the word "sequester" on the questionnaire in the jury room, "the walls caved in."

"I want to sleep in my own bed," she said. The potential juror also worried about her safety if picked, saying "I'm going to walk out of here with a bulls-eye on me."

The jury candidate appeared to already have made up her mind about the case, decreasing her chances of being picked. Her impression was that Martin's prior use of marijuana and an image of a gun found on his cell phone were indications that "he was going down the wrong path." She also said she believed Zimmerman was just "looking after his neighborhood."

"I believe every American has a right to defend himself," said Juror E-81. "I think the more people armed, the better."

Potential juror B-67, a Hispanic female in her 40s, was allowed to leave courtroom without being questioned by defense attorneys after she said being sequestered would be a hardship with her family and school commitments.

Zimmerman, a 29-year-old former neighborhood watch volunteer, is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming he shot an unarmed Martin in self-defense. A 44-day delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to protests around the nation. They questioned whether the Sanford Police Department was investigating the case seriously since Martin was a black teen from the Miami area. Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.

Attorneys need to find six jurors and four alternates. In Florida, 12 jurors are required only for criminal trials involving capital cases, when the death penalty is being considered.

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Follow Mike Schneider at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

A farewell note left behind by the Santa Monica gunman expressed remorse for the killing of his father and brother but provided no explanation for the rampage that left them and three others dead.

Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said that the three- to four-page handwritten note was found on John Zawahri's body after he was shot and killed June 7 by officers on the campus of Santa Monica College.

The 23-year-old Zawahri also used the note to say goodbye to friends and expressed hope that his mother would be taken care of and receive recompense from his father's estate.

investigators believe mental illness played a role in the killings, Seabrooks said at a news conference Thursday.

"We know his was a troubled life and that he experienced mental health challenges," Seabrooks said. "We believe that his mental health challenges likely played a role in his decisions to shoot and kill both his father and his brother, to set fire to the family home, and to go on a 13-minute shooting spree spanning roughly 1.5 miles and which left five innocent people dead and three people injured."

Zawahri apparently built his own .223-caliber assault rifle, using it to shoot his father and brother before he set fire to their family home, officials said earlier Thursday.

Zawahri's mother was out of the country visiting family in Lebanon during Friday's rampage but cut short her trip and returned home Sunday. She has been interviewed by detectives.

Seabrooks said the semi-automatic weapon appears to have been built with component parts that are legal to obtain, but put together make the rifle illegal in California.

She said he also modified an antique black-powder .44 revolver so that it could hold .45-caliber ammunition; it was loaded during the shooting and he carried it with him in a duffel bag.

Zawahri's rampage ended when police killed him in the Santa Monica College library Friday. To get there, he had carjacked a woman, directing her to the college and having her stop so he could fire at vehicles and strangers. Police still did not know why he chose to go to the college, why he targeted those killed or why he chose that day.

Santa Monica police plan to work with the FBI to understand Zawahri's psychological makeup and motivation, Seabrooks said.

Officials said Thursday that the fire at Zawahri's father's home, which erupted soon after neighbors heard shots fired, was intentionally set.

An official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fires were started in a front living room and atop one of two twin beds in another room. Several boxes of matches were also found in the bedroom.

Firefighters found the bodies of the gunman's father and brother in a back bedroom that was uninvolved in the blaze. The house was found unkempt with files and papers scattered throughout, providing ample kindling.

In Zawahri's bedroom, investigations found illegal zip guns, Seabrooks said. They also found ample evidence of his fascination with weapons, including four replica airsoft pellet guns, knives and gun magazines, said Sgt. Richard Lewis. Investigators also found materials that indicate he likely assembled the weapon.

Police said Zawahri bought a lower receiver that was only 80 percent complete. Because it is not complete and not considered a full weapon, a person isn't required to go through a background check to get one, nor does the part need to have a serial number.

Though Zawahri fired about 100 rounds during the rampage, police said he was carrying 1,300 rounds of ammunition in magazines that were capable of holding 30 rounds each. Such high-capacity magazines are illegal to purchase, sell or transfer in California. Possession is not illegal. He also had a spare upper receiver and the antique revolver with him in a duffel bag.

Zawahri's last reported contact with law enforcement was seven years ago, when bomb-making materials were found at his house during a search prompted by threats to students, teachers and campus police officers at Olympic High, a school for students with academic or disciplinary issues.

The Santa Monica-Malibu school board was briefed at the time by school administrators after police found Zawahri was learning to make explosives by downloading instructions from YouTube, school board member Oscar de la Torre said.

Retired police officer Cristina Coria, who helped serve the search warrant, said Zawahri was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation at the time. She didn't know the outcome of the evaluation.

Police declined to provide further details, saying Zawahri was a minor at the time. But once a person is held for such an exam, they cannot access or possess firearms for five years.

In the case of Zawahri, that prohibition would have expired in 2011.

Police said Thursday that in 2011, Zawahri tried to buy a weapon but was denied by the California Department of Justice, likely because of that 2006 incident.

Despite that denial, Seabrooks said, Zawahri was able to buy the component parts to build his own weapon and obtain an array of magazines.

Santa Monica police said they will work with the ATF to understand how he came to possess these gun components, Seabrooks said.

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Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams .

Disclosure of secret National Security Agency surveillance programs isn't the first time that the government has been caught spying on Americans or that classified government information has been leaked. The Vietnam War and civil rights protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s generated plenty of surveillance and secrecy. And leaks.

But with the rise in Internet usage, there's a far bigger audience now.

Opinion polls suggest Americans may be more forgiving of government intrusion these days.

That may partly reflect increasing acceptance of online social networking sites, which create electronic trails frequently used to target shoppers or voters. But it also may be partly because Washington says electronic snooping may prevent another 9/11-style terror attack, and many Americans may worry more about being safe than about government intrusions.

A high-profile New York Air National Guard airlift wing has promoted sexual abusers instead of punishing them, according to the retired officer who handled claims of sexual assault in the unit.

"I can tell you from my firsthand experiences in this position, the program is BROKE, the commanders do not protect the victims or allow any follow up medical assistance," retired Lt. Col. Sharon Dwyer Stepp wrote in a letter she provided to The Associated Press on Thursday. "The perpetrators do not get punished, but instead are promoted."

Stepp, of Bennington, Vt., sent the letter to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Wednesday after getting "fed up" by the spate of sex scandals roiling the U.S. military. The same day, officials at the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs told the AP the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing was being investigated for "officer misconduct."

Col. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for the division, wouldn't comment on specifics of the investigation or say if it involves sexual misconduct.

Stepp, the Scotia-based unit's sexual assault prevention and response coordinator from 2006-2010, said in her letter that the military's program "is truly ineffective and a waste of tax payers money."

"It still makes me angry that it's happening across the country and they still don't do anything," the 37-year veteran who received an honorable discharge in 2010 told the AP.

Goldenberg said he had no knowledge of Stepp's allegations and couldn't comment on them.

"Our New York Air National Guard takes sexual harassment and sexual assault very seriously at all levels of command," Goldenberg said. "Since 2010 the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program has changed immensely and all incidents are investigated promptly and resolved within the regulatory or legal system."

Goldenberg said there was an allegation last October of sexual misconduct at the 109th, but the Air Force Office of Special Investigation determined that the case didn't rise to the level of sexual assault and didn't conduct an investigation.

A recent Pentagon report said as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has been leading efforts in Congress to overhaul the way the military justice system handles sexual assault cases.

Division officials said the current investigation of the 109th was requested by Maj. Gen. Patrick Murphy, the head of New York's Army and Air National Guard forces, and is being led by Brig. Gen. Deborah Carter of the New Hampshire Air National Guard. Goldenberg said Carter was recently at the unit's base conducting what's called a commander-directed investigation into "several allegations" involving officers in the wing.

The 109th is the only unit in the U.S. military flying "Skibirds," ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules cargo planes capable of landing on snow and ice. The crews and their planes support research efforts on Antarctica.

In 1999, the unit gained international acclaim after Dr. Jerri Nielsen diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer while working at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station. With the next plane not due for months, a crew from the 109th landed in 58-below zero weather that October and brought her out of Antarctica.

The unit also flies regular missions to Greenland and has been deployed overseas in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stepp said she enlisted in the Air Force in 1972, and after two years in the Reserves, joined the New York Air National Guard in 1978 as a staff sergeant. During her time as head of her unit's sexual assault prevention and response officer, Stepp said she brought several sexual harassment and assault incidents to the attention of her superiors at the 109th. None of the victims filed formal complaints because all were worried about the effects it would have on their careers, so no disciplinary action was taken against the abusers, she said.

"I was always the one to ring the bell, to say, `C'mon guys, you can't drop this one. You've got to address it,"' Stepp told the AP.

She supports Gillibrand's proposal, rebuffed this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee, that commanders be removed from the process of deciding whether serious crimes, including sexual misconduct cases, go to trial.

A judge is ready to classify as sex offenders two Ohio high school football players convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl last year.

The hearing by Judge Thomas Lipps Friday in Steubennville is a possible first step for the two teen defendants to be transferred from a state juvenile detention center to a facility that works with sex offenders.

Lipps sentenced Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond in March to time in the juvenile detention system after convicting them of raping the West Virginia girl after an August party celebrating a successful football team scrimmage.

Lipps has said he thinks the boys should be placed in Lighthouse Youth Center-Paint Creek in southern Ohio.

The state Youth Services department says extensive evaluations would precede any transfer.

Two bookmakers are expected to testify in court about how James "Whitey" Bulger allegedly forced them to pay him so they could stay in business.

The bookies are slated to take the witness stand Friday in Bulger's racketeering trial.

On Thursday, jurors were shown a collection of weapons — including six machine guns — that prosecutors say Bulger and his gang used to intimidate people and extort money.

A retired state police colonel testified that Bulger's gang collected fees known as "rent" from bookmakers, drug dealers and others to allow them to operate within their territory.

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is charged with participating in 19 killings in the 1970s and '80s.

John Zawahri left a note apologizing for killing his father and brother but left no explanation for the rampage that left them and three others dead  in Santa Monica, police said Thursday.

The three- to four-page note was found on Zawahri's body after he was shot and killed June 7 by officers on the campus of Santa Monica College, Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said at a news conference.

In the note, Zawahri also said goodbye to friends and expressed hope that his mother would be taken care of.

Seabrooks said investigators believe mental illness played a role in Zawahri's motivation for the killings, but she didn't elaborate.

Zawahri apparently built his own assault weapon, using it to shoot his father and brother before he set fire to their family home, officials said earlier Thursday.

Two officials who were briefed on the investigation said the semi-automatic weapon appears to have been built with component parts that are legal to obtain, but put together make the rifle illegal in California. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

The finding about the component parts was first reported by radio station KFI-AM.

The 23-year-old Zawahri's 15-minute midday rampage spanned a mile between his father's home, where his father and brother were shot to death, and Santa Monica College, where police killed him in the library. Along the way, he fired at vehicles and strangers, fatally wounding three people. One other person was seriously wounded and two others had minor injuries.

On Thursday, an official close to the investigation said the fire at Zawahri's father's home, which erupted soon after neighbors heard shots fired, was intentionally set.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been publicly released, said the fires were started in a front living room and atop one of two twin beds in a room of the house.

Several boxes of matches were also found in the bedroom.

Firefighters found the bodies of the gunman's father and brother in a bedroom that was uninvolved in the blaze. The house was found unkempt with files and papers scattered throughout, providing ample kindling.

In Zawahri's bedroom, investigators found a drill press among other materials that indicate he likely assembled the weapon.

The drill press is used to help finish building the rifle by drilling holes in the lower receiver. A lower receiver that is only 80 percent complete can easily be purchased, and because it is not complete, a person isn't required to go through a background check, nor does the part need to have a serial number.

In California such weapons require a "bullet button" kit, which needs to be added to a lower parts kit to make it legal. The bullet button kit modifies the weapon so that a separate tool must be used to release an ammunition magazine and reload the gun; without such a modification a person can press a button to release the magazine.

Zawahri was carrying 1,300 rounds of ammunition in magazines that were capable of holding 30 rounds each. Such high-capacity magazines are illegal to purchase, sell or transfer in California. Possession is not illegal.

Zawahri's last reported contact with law enforcement was seven years ago, when bomb-making materials were found at his house during a search prompted by threats to students, teachers and campus police officers at Olympic High, a school for students with academic or disciplinary issues.

Retired police officer Cristina Coria, who helped serve the search warrant, said Zawahri was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation at the time. She didn't know the outcome of the evaluation.

Police declined to provide further details, saying Zawahri was a minor at the time. But once a person is held for such an exam, they cannot access or possess firearms for five years.

In the case of Zawahri, that prohibition would have expired in 2011.

The Santa Monica-Malibu school board was briefed at the time by school administrators after police found Zawahri was learning to make explosives by downloading instructions from YouTube, school board member Oscar de la Torre said.