BOISE, Idaho -- A longtime sex offender was sentenced to death Wednesday for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old northern Idaho boy after federal jurors who watched video of some of the brutality deliberated just three hours.

Relatives of the victim, Dylan Groene, remained somber as the jury's decision was announced. Duncan murdered Dylan's mother, older brother and his mother's fiance to kidnap him and his younger sister, who was sexually abused along with her brother but survived.

"The jury speaks the mind of the community," U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said. "By the verdict today, they have given voice to the victims."

SEATTLE -- The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Web browser makes it easier for people to surf the Internet without leaving a trace. Companies that sell advertisements online -- including Microsoft -- can electronically gather tidbits about Web surfers' habits, and then use that information to help decide what kinds of ads to show. However, in the newest "beta" test version of Microsoft's forthcoming Internet Explorer 8, which was made available Wednesday, a mode called InPrivateBrowsing lets users surf without having a list of sites they visit get stored on their computers.

The program also covers other footprints, including temporary Internet files and cookies, the small data files that Web sites put on visitors' computers to track their activities.

Both Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's current browser, and Mozilla's recently released Firefox 3, already allow users to block cookies. The top two browsers also let users delete private information such as temporary files and browsing history after the fact. But they can't turn off that collection entirely.

HOSCHTON, Ga. -- In a bid to break a world record for scarecrows and scare up some fun for the fall season, thousands of straw-stuffed newcomers are creeping across this small northeastern Georgia town.

There's a scuba diver, the Georgia Bulldogs football team and -- of course -- the cast of the Wizard of Oz. Even likenesses of Jesus and Elvis popped up.

The 1,700 real residents of Hoschton hope to nearly triple their population with 4,000 scarecrows and break the Guinness World Record for "Most Scarecrows in One Location."

The title belongs to the Cincinnati Horticultural Society's Cincinnati Flower and Farm Fest, which set the record in 2003 with 3,311 scarecrows.

Antique dealer Robbie Bettis and her husband, Fred, are leading the effort for the town's fall festival.

On Wednesday they watched over an assembly line at an old downtown train depot, where about 20 people passed wooden frames among tables of dingy clothes, yellow milk jugs, plastic grocery bags, old hats, twine, ribbon and other donated materials

"We thought if we gave people something fun to do then maybe they will forget about the difficult economy," she said. "Winning the world record is just a byproduct."

Crows and criminals beware: Two men caught knocking over scarecrows were sentenced to build 25 of them, lest they face trespassing charges, Mayor Bill Copenhaver said.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress.

Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that they will soon ask a federal appeals court not to force the president's top advisers to comply with congressional subpoenas next month.

U.S. District Judge John Bates strongly rejected that stance last month, ordering former White House counsel Harriet Miers to testify and White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to turn over documents related to the firing of federal prosecutors.

The House Judiciary Committee responded swiftly, demanding Miers appear Sept. 11 as it investigates whether federal prosecutors were inappropriately fired as part of a White House effort to politicize the Justice Department.

Randy Brooks has long wanted to tour the White House, but he never thought he would get his chance through a chimney.

Brooks, 43, owner of Brooks Chimney Sweeping in Ojai, Calif., is on a team of eight professionals selected to sweep 38 fireplace flues at the White House. Swept every other year, some White House fireplaces rarely get used.

No one gets paid for the job, but that's of little concern to Brooks. He said it marks the apex of his career, like a climber scaling Mount Kilimanjaro or a musician taking center stage at Carnegie Hall.

"It's the Oval Office, the Lincoln Bedroom, the Cabinet Room, the president's personal sleeping quarters. Think of all the decisions that have been made in these places over the years," he said.

LOS ANGELES -- Chico, the meerkat in residence at the Los Angeles Zoo, is alone. Whether that is a tolerable state of affairs is being debated by zoo officials and animal activists.

The meerkat is a highly social creature. The furry mammals forage together, serve as guards and baby sitters for each other, and even strategize about war tactics. And meerkats who violate clan rules suffer a most dire fate -- banishment.

Chico needs company just as his brethren in the wild do, contend local activists.

"Kids ask, 'Where are his friends? He needs to have friends,' " said Janelle Fisher, leader of the Chico Project, which has focused on the lone meerkat since his burrow mate died in January.