Death Penalty: The California Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the death sentence of a Los Angeles man who strangled his 68 year old mother to death after sodomizing her as reported in this Associated Press story. The Court's opinion in People v. Frank Manuel Abilez is here.

Kansas Murderer Dennis Lee Cook, who was convicted of murder in 1982 and released from prison in 2000, has been arrested for the murder of Alyssa Heberton-Merimoto, a University of Colorado student. An Associated Press story by Eric W. Bolin reports that the victim's cries for help were heard over a two-way radio by Karen Houck, who was supervising summer interns mapping a national forest 75 miles from Denver. The girl's body was found last Tuesday.

A Hot Dog Arizona State police officer on patrol near Tucson erroneously pulled over the Oscar Meyer Wiener Wagon after running the plate (YUMMY) and getting a bogus report that it was stolen. Details come from an Associate Press story in the Arizona Daily Star.