Escaped N.M. inmates maybe had inside help

CLOVIS, N.M. -- Five inmates who broke out of a New Mexico jail -- including two accused of murder -- remained on the loose Tuesday, and a prosecutor said investigators were focusing on the possibility that someone inside aided in the weekend escape.

Eight inmates escaped Sunday from the Curry County jail, but one was quickly captured and two others were caught in nearby Texas. District Attorney Matt Chandler said investigators believe some of the remaining escapees could be in west Texas.

"We're still receiving tips that some of the other fugitives, at least one or two of the other fugitives, could be in" the Lubbock area, he said.

Chandler said in a phone interview that New Mexico State Police began looking closely Tuesday at whether anyone inside the jail helped the men escape.

They are "working that angle very hard, and that's going to be a very high-priority focus," he said. Chandler did not say what led investigators to suspect that the inmates might have had inside help. The eight men were discovered missing late Sunday when Clovis police officers noticed two people in orange jumpsuits running near the jail, according to Curry County Sheriff Matt Murray. Authorities believe the men used handmade instruments to cut a hole in the roof near a skylight.

Among the escapees are convicted murderer Edward Salas, 23, of Clovis, and 19-year-old Larry McClendon, who was being held on an open count of murder and aggravated robbery.

Ohio man sentenced for racial hate letters

CLEVELAND -- A man who wrote hundreds of threatening letters over 20 years to black and mixed-race men -- including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter -- was sentenced Tuesday to three years and 10 months in prison.

David Tuason apologized in federal court, saying he never meant to hurt anybody. He said he sent the threatening letters because a black man "stole" the girlfriend he planned to marry.

Tuason, 46, pleaded guilty in May to six counts of mailing threatening communications and two counts of threatening interstate communications. Prosecutors said Tuason, who is of Filipino descent, sent more than 200 hateful letters or e-mails, many to black or mixed-race men seen with white women.

Hundreds of other letters were found in March when federal agents searched Tuason's bedroom at his parents' home in suburban Pepper Pike, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean Valore.

Detroit mayor faces ouster hearing

DETROIT -- Mired in criminal charges for months, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick now finds his political future strapped to a little-used provision in the Michigan Constitution that allows a governor to remove an elected official for misconduct.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a fellow Democrat, confirmed Tuesday what had been in the works for much of the summer: A hearing will begin Sept. 3 to determine if Kilpatrick was seeking private gain when he endorsed an $8.4 million settlement with three fired police officers.

That deal carried confidentiality provisions to keep a lid on steamy text messages between the married mayor and his then-chief of staff, both of whom denied having a relationship during testimony in a whistle-blowers' trial last year. Both were charged with perjury and other counts after the Detroit Free Press published some of the messages, and the mayor was later charged with assault in a separate case involving a confrontation with investigators delivering a subpoena to a friend.

It will be the first time since 1982 that a Michigan governor has considered the removal of an elected official. The target then was a township official who drank too much.

Feds doubt Colo. men were credible threat

DENVER -- Authorities investigating a possible plot to assassinate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention have three men in custody -- including one found with high-powered rifles, three fake IDs and two wigs in a truck -- but they expressed doubts Tuesday that the suspects had posed a credible threat.

The men arrested Sunday face drug and gun counts but are not expected to be charged with making threatening statements, conspiracy or other national-security-related crimes, according to a federal law enforcement official in Denver who spoke on condition of anonymity because the charges have not yet been filed.

Obama will become the first black nominee for president by a major party at this week's convention. One of the men arrested, Nathan Johnson, told a Denver TV station that others involved in the case had made racist statements regarding Obama and had discussed killing him Thursday, the day of his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High.

"He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot," Johnson told KCNC-TV Monday in a late-night interview from jail, where he was being held on drug charges.

When asked whether he felt there was a plot to kill Obama, Johnson said, "Looking back at it, I don't want to say yes, but I don't want to say no." He said he wasn't involved in any plot.

SAT scores remain low

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For a second straight year, SAT scores for the most recent high school graduating class remained at the lowest level in nearly a decade, a trend attributed to a record number of students now taking the test.

The 1.52 million students who took the test is a slight increase from last year but a jump of nearly 30 percent over the past decade. Minority students accounted for 40 percent of test-takers, and 36 percent were the first in their families to attend college. Nearly one in seven had a low enough family income to take the test for free.

"More than ever, the SAT reflects the face of education in this country," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which owns the test and released the results Tuesday.

The class of 2008 scored an average of 515 out of a possible 800 points on the math section of the college entrance exam, a performance identical to graduating seniors in the previous year.

Scores in the critical reading component among last spring's high school seniors also held steady at 502, but the decline over time has been more dramatic: the past two years represent the lowest reading average since 1994, when graduating seniors scored 499.