Police Seek Clues in Slaying of Florida Family - AOL News

(Nov. 21) – Police are "putting all the pieces of the puzzle together," as they investigate the brutal slayings of young mother and three small children, found in a violent scene at their home in a normally peaceful subdivision in north Florida.

Autopsies were being performed today on the victims, Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said.

The victims' names were not released, but neighbors and relatives identified them as a 28-year-old single mother, her 6-year-old twin daughters and her 3-year-old son.

"Right now I'm still kind of distraught," neighbor David Mount told Tallahassee television station WCTV.

"I really don't believe it, that I'm not going to see those little girls running around, up and down the street anymore," he said.

Mount, who has lived in his home just a few doors down from the victims for the past five years, said the neighborhood has been hit recently by break-ins and other crime, but nothing violent.

The single-story home is located in a relatively new subdivision a few miles from the state Capitol. It is surrounded by dense woods, and McCranie said the neighborhood is made up largely of young families.

"This is a very shocking and unusual case for us," he told The Associated Press.

The bodies were found after police received a suspicious call at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. Authorities had never been called to the home before then, McCranie said.

Police described the scene inside the home.

"There's obvious violence in the home," McCranie told CNN. "How that violence transpired, we're not sure."

He added that authorities hope to release more information about the investigation soon.

"Right now, it's putting all the pieces of the puzzle together," he said.

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Pastor who said Facebook was 'portal to infidelity' had four-way relationship - Telegraph.co.uk

Rev Cedric Miller testified that his wife had an affair with the assistant, and that he and the man's wife were often present at their meetings Photo: AP

Rev Cedric Miller, of Neptune, New Jersey, last week told 50 married church officials to delete their accounts with the social networking site or resign.

Rev Miller, 48, claimed that 20 couples from his 1,100-member church had experienced marital problems in recent months after contacting ex-partners through the site.

But over the weekend Rev Miller's local newspaper disclosed that he "didn't need Facebook to be part of an extramarital affair".

It found transcripts from a criminal trial against the church assistant in 2003, in which details emerged of what Rev Miller has since called "a very painful part of my past".

In the case, which was eventually dismissed, he testified that his wife, Kim, had an affair with the assistant, and that he and the man's wife were often present at their meetings.

"I mean between the four of us," Rev Miller said. "It was just, I mean there was touching ... it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get."

Asked by a lawyer whether he was talking about "sex", Rev Miller replied: "Yes". He described their behaviour as "beyond what was appropriate".

Rev Miller told the court that the meetings between the couples often took place after Thursday Bible study sessions and after church services on Sundays.

He said in a statement: "This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can."

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Pike River mine board denies cutting corners - New Zealand Herald

The Pike River coal mine board has rebutted allegations that money woes compromised safety at the mine.

Chairman John Dow told the Herald last night that Pike River Coal had had adequate funding for all its activities, including safety.

"There has been no slackening in safety standards or safety standards associated with our production activities."

The market was "well aware" additional funding was being sought but that issue was not connected with safety, "which is our first priority".

Mr Dow said he was confident all safety precautions were in place in the mine at the time of the explosion.

Another theory - that the explosion could have been caused by a build-up of coal dust in a methane environment - was also rejected.

"The mine is naturally damp ... It's quite wet, the roof and the walls are naturally wet, so we don't have a lot of dust in the mine because of that."

There were also procedures to deal with the build-up of dust so he didn't think it was a "coal dust activity".

Meanwhile, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn yesterday said he had heard of mine-safety fears before.

Mr Kokshoorn said he would support holding a commission of inquiry. "There's no question in my mind there's got to be an inquiry."

All roads led back to the gas levels, which was why the search and rescue mission hadn't begun.

Mr Kokshoorn was approached yesterday by Gerry Morris of Greymouth, who said he had heard some contractors didn't want to work in the mine because they believed it was unsafe.

Mr Morris, who used to work for Coal magazine, said: "I have heard regularly over the last two or three years that this mine is unsafe, there's far too much gas, there's going to be a disaster here one day."

He said that as a lay person, it was hard to understand how such an event could happen because the company was so stringent on safety.

"Now we've arrived at that day, haven't we, so you can see definitely a change of direction. I think there's a certain number of people that are pulling back at this point because the focus is on those 29 miners."

Andrew Little, secretary of the EPMU union that represents miners, said numerous safety procedures would have been in place, but there must have been a serious breakdown.

Pike River Coal had practices and policies, and the mine itself had sensors and monitors, to ensure gas build-ups did not occur, he said.

"Explosions happen when there is a build-up of gases, and that's one of the obvious questions: How did the gas build-up happen?"

Mr Little said the priority now was the rescue, but once it was over, some big questions had to be asked.

"We should consider that even with the best rules or practices in place, nothing should be discounted as a possibility."

- staff reporters

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Judge orders Gawker.com to take down leaked pages of Sarah Palin's book ... - New York Daily News

Pages from Sarah Palin's upcoming tome, 'America by Heart,' which were featured on Gawker.com ordered pulled by judge.

Sarah Palin's "America by Heart" is nothing to gawk at. For now, anyway.

A judge has ordered Gawker.com to pull down pages it featured from the former Alaskan governor's upcoming book.

According to the injunction, the website must immediately cease "continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages from the book" pending a hearing on Nov. 30.

Gawker has apparently complied, and did so in a very un-Gawker-like fashion, without a witty retort.

The tongue-in-cheek site, which mixes news and gossip and was one of several sites to post images of the book’s pages, was initially defiant when Palin complained about the leak last week. It refused to pull the pages even after receiving a letter demanding it do so, Palin's lawsuit said.

The Fox News commentator wrote via Twitter on Thursday, "the publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?"

Gawker responded in a post of its own, with a title, "Sarah Palin is Mad at Us for Leaking Pages From Her Book." In the post it added, "or skip the totally boring reading and call one of your lawyers. They'll walk you through it."

HarperCollins filed a legal complaint Friday in federal court asking that the site be banned from what it termed "further copyright infringement."

According to the leaked pages, Palin attacks President Obama and "American Idol," and defends the Tea Party movement against claims of racism.

With News Wire Services

msheridan@nydailynews.com; or follow him at Twitter.com/NYDNSheridan

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