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Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) system has reportedly banned an unidentified teacher from adding a bible verse to her email signature. The teacher was barred from putting John 3:16 in her email signature, one of the most widely known bible verses that reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”The teacher is receiving help from the law firm Liberty Counsel, which noted that LCPS’s policy allows teachers to personalize their signature blocks with “personally-selected pronouns, quotations, pictures or phrases that are intended...

Army deserters told fellow soldier they committed the crime, court papers say. Two U.S. Army deserters were arrested Friday and charged with killing the Rev. Mark McCalla, a former Franklin pastor. First-degree murder charges were filed against Stephen C. Wilson, 19, of Cincinnati, and Daniel R. Smith, 22, of Newport News, Va. The men were captured after 9 p.m. Friday in downtown Columbus, according to Sgt. Dana Norman of the Columbus Police Dept. homicide bureau. The men told a fellow soldier they had shot and killed McCalla, according to criminal complaints filed in Wayne County, W.Va., magistrate court. Wilson and...

MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino woman who accused an American Marine of raping her in November 2005 has not only recanted more than two years after winning a conviction but has also accepted money from him and flown to the United States for good. This happened amid resurgent controversy over the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which allows temporary US military presence in the Philippines. At a press conference Tuesday, lawyer Evalyn Ursua said she was informed on Monday by the mother of her client, “Nicole,” that she had been dropped as legal counsel. But Ursua promised to continue fighting the VFA...

Copy of sworn statement of 'Nicole submitted to Court of Appeals, March 17, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—The Filipino woman who accused an American Marine of raping her in November 2005 has not only recanted more than two years after winning a conviction but has also accepted money from him and flown to the United States for good.

CHATAN, Okinawa — The lawyer for a Marine convicted of raping a woman in the Philippines three years ago denies his law firm had anything to do with her decision last week to recant her allegation. Meanwhile, the senior jurist in the Philippines, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, told media Friday that he suspects anti-military groups in the country pressured the woman to pursue rape charges after the Subic Bay incident. Women’s rights and anti-military activists in the Philippines, however, are claiming the woman’s recantation and subsequent move to the United States raise suspicions that she was coerced by Smith’s lawyers,...

About two dozen protesters angry over a rape case involving a Marine stormed the American Embassy on Sunday, hitting a U.S. government seal on the gate with fists and a brick before surprised policemen pushed them away, police and witnesses said. The protesters demanded the transfer to a Philippine jail of Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted a year ago of raping a Filipino woman but has remained under U.S. government custody and detained at the heavily fortified embassy. Taking advantage of the absence of policemen, who usually stand guard outside the embassy, the protesters ran toward the...

Pathologist Says Meds Killed Smith's Son LOS ANGELES (Sept. 27) - Actress and model Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel Smith, died of a lethal combination of drugs that caused an irregular heart beat, People Magazine reported on its Web site on Wednesday. The report quoted pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was hired by Smith to look into her son's September 10 death, as saying Daniel Smith died from a combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro that led to cardiac dysrhythmia. People Magazine said Wecht got the results of toxicology tests from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Daniel Smith, 20,...

The death of Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son Daniel was caused by a lethal combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro, pathologist Cyril Wecht has revealed to PEOPLE exclusively. Wecht said the drugs caused the cardiac dysrhythmia that led to Daniel's death. Wecht got the toxicology results from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pa., today. Daniel Smith died in his mother's hospital room Sept. 10 while visiting her in the Bahamas three days after she gave birth to a baby girl named Dannielynn Hope. Smith's longtime lawyer, Howard K. Stern, revealed Tuesday that he is the father of the little...

Anna Nicole 'memory loss' over son's sudden death... Anna Nicole Smith frantically tried to revive her stricken son and had to be sedated after he died, her attorney said Wednesday. Authorities termed the death "suspicious" and said criminal charges could be filed. Daniel Smith died Sunday while visiting his mother, a reality TV star and former Playboy playmate, in her hospital room three days after she gave birth to a baby girl. "The devastation and grief over Daniel's sudden death coupled with the sedation has been so extreme that Anna Nicole experienced memory loss of the event," attorney Michael Scott...

OLONGAPO, Philippines - Philippine prosecutors on Tuesday charged four U.S. Marines with rape in what is seen as a test case for a bilateral accord allowing American troops to train here. Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni filed charges of rape against the four Marines before a regional trial court in Olongapo, near the site of the alleged Nov. 1 rape, and sought their arrest and detention without bail. The men, who were on liberty after participating with joint exercises with Filipino forces, are in U.S. Embassy custody. In documents submitted to the court, Jalandoni alleged that Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith raped...

Motorist threatens to sue police for writing his name A Missouri motorist stopped by police threatened to sue them under copyright laws if they wrote down his name. Daniel Smith is said to have told officers his name was copyrighted, and every time it appeared on a document he would launch a £300,000 lawsuit. The 45-year-old allegedly told police if his claim wasn't paid within 10 days, it would cost them £900,000. He said if they failed to pay at that point, judgments would be entered against all parties involved and their property. He was pulled over by police officers...

When Independence police officers arrived at an accident on U.S. 24 Saturday night, they had no idea it might cost them $500,000 to write down the offending driver’s name.But when they asked Daniel Smith, 45, the driver of the striking vehicle, for his driver’s license, he told them his name was copyrighted. Instead of handing them his license, he gave them a piece of paper he had generated on a computer saying that anyone who duplicated his name in any fashion would be subject to a lawsuit.According to police reports, he then told the officers that he would not turn...