Sen. Clinton's brother due in court

NASHVILLE — The brother of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being asked again to appear in court on debts owed to a Tennessee carnival operator whose owners received pardons from President Bill Clinton.

A bankruptcy trustee asked a federal judge on Thursday to schedule a new court date on the allegation that Tony Rodham failed to repay $109,000 in loans from the now-defunct United Shows of America Inc.

Edgar Allen Gregory Jr. and his wife, Vonna Jo, owners of United Shows, received pardons for bank fraud in 2000 after Rodham asked the president, his brother-in-law, to intervene on their behalf.

A report by the Republican-controlled House Committee on Government Reform in 2002 concluded that United Shows paid Rodham $240,000 for undocumented consulting services and that President Clinton was interested in the pardons solely because of his contacts with Rodham. Edgar Gregory filed for bankruptcy in 2002. He died in 2004.

IDAHO

Wolf hunt planned

BOISE — Idaho plans to charge $26.50 per tag for residents who want to bag a wolf in a public hunt — once federal Endangered Species Act protections are lifted. The cost would be $256 for out-of-state hunters.

The Fish and Game Commission also plans a special hunt outside a regular wolf season. Those tickets would be offered to the highest bidder or in a lottery.

The commission approved the plan Thursday at a hastily called special meeting on a package of changes that now must be approved by the Legislature.

Federal delisting may come as soon as this month.

PENNSYLVANIA

50-vehicle crash kills 1 person

ERIE — A chain-reaction crash on a snowy interstate highway involving about 50 vehicles, including an ambulance carrying patients, killed one person Thursday, officials said.

A 10-mile stretch of Interstate 90 was closed for hours in both directions after the early afternoon accident.

Several people were slightly injured, authorities said.

Among the vehicles involved were several tractor-trailers and tanker trucks.

Authorities were not releasing information on the death. It was unclear whether anyone in the ambulance was injured.

Erie was expected to get up to 6 inches of snow Thursday.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Pay raise 'no' vote could backfire

WASHINGTON — It is a Washington ritual. Almost every year, a lawmaker proposes withholding the automatic annual cost-of-living pay increase from members of Congress in the name of fiscal responsibility and populist reform.

Some members vote for it, but the proposal usually fails.

The Senate, at least, may be raising the price of such public displays of self-sacrifice.

In the rush to pass a major ethics bill late last Thursday night, the Senate approved a provision that would deny the pay increase to any individual member who voted against it, even if it passed.

Last year, a senator would have lost $3,100 out of a salary of $165,200.

(The Senate has delayed taking a pay increase this year until after it finishes debating whether to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in nearly 10 years.)

CALIFORNIA

Wheelchair ignites, killing occupant

LANCASTER — A retiree died after his wheelchair caught fire and he couldn't escape, authorities said Thursday.

Harold Jump, 63, was engulfed in flames and suffered burns over more than 75 percent of his body, said county coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey. He was pronounced dead Wednesday at a Los Angeles hospital, Harvey said. The wheelchair's electric motor apparently touched off the fire.

Student's body found in car trunk

SANTA ROSA — The body of a missing Stanford University graduate student was found here Thursday in the trunk of her car and investigators say she may have committed suicide.

Police found the silver Toyota Corolla belonging to Mengyao "May" Zhou, 23, an electrical engineering student missing since Saturday, around 7 a.m. in a parking lot at Santa Rosa Junior College, Sgt. Lisa Banayat said. The car contained some items "that would be consistent with a suicide," she said.