Army proposal would cut tours to 12 months

WASHINGTON -- Soldiers' battlefield tours would be cut from 15 months to 12 months beginning Aug. 1, under a proposal being considered by the Army as part of an effort to reduce the stress on a force battered by more than six years at war.

The proposal, recommended by U.S. Army Forces Command, is being reviewed by senior Army and Pentagon leaders, and would be contingent on the changing needs for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Our top priority is going to be meeting the combatant commanders' requirements, so there may be no decision until we get more clarity on that," Army Col. Edward Gibbons, chief of the command's plans division, said Wednesday. He said the goal was to meet those demands while still reducing soldiers' deployments and increasing their time at home between tours.

Britney Spears comes, leaves L.A. courthouse

LOS ANGELES -- Britney Spears bolted from the courthouse Wednesday before setting foot in her child-custody hearing, which went on without her -- and ended with a court commissioner upholding an order suspending her visitation rights.

The pop star came to the courthouse to seek visits with two little boys, entered the building and went through security screening. But she suddenly stated that she wanted to leave and was driven away, Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said.

Upstairs, Commissioner Scott Gordon went ahead with a closed hearing, and "notice was taken of Miss Spears's absence," Parachini said. Spears's lawyer argued that she be allowed to have visits, and ex-husband Kevin Federline -- who showed up for the hearing -- was asked a few questions that required yes or no answers, Parachini said.

In the end, Gordon made no change to the order suspending her visitation rights. The hearing was not scheduled, and Spears was not ordered to be there, Parachini said.

'Horse for sale' ad found in food classifieds

AKRON, Mich. -- Kristen DeGroat just wanted to sell her horse to another animal lover, but her ad ended up under "Good Things to Eat" in the classified sections of two newspapers.

About a third of the 60 or so calls she received were from people interested in buying horse meat. "It's been enough to turn your stomach," said DeGroat, who eventually sold her 3-year-old mare, Foxy, to a man who wanted a live horse for his grandchildren.

DeGroat's ad, offering the registered pinto for $200 or the best offer, was intended to run Sunday and Monday under the classified ad heading for horses and stables in The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times.

However, human error landed the ad under the food heading in the classified sections of both newspapers. The papers, which have a jointly run classified ad department, corrected the mistake.

Military: F-16s were in area where residents reported seeing UFO

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Fighter jets were training nearby the night dozens of Stephenville-area residents reported seeing a UFO this month, Air Force Reserve officials said Wednesday, backtracking on earlier statements.

The announcement did little to satisfy residents of Texas dairy country who swear that what they saw in the sky Jan. 8 was no airplane. Some said it even bolstered their claims, because several people reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object.

"This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area," said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. "I find it curious that it took them two weeks to 'fess up. I think they're feeling the heat from the publicity."

Officials at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes had been in the area, but on Wednesday they said 10 F-16s were there that day. The officials said they were mistaken and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness."

Big Dig firms to shell out more than $450M

BOSTON -- Contractors will pay more than $450 million to settle the state's lawsuit over a fatal tunnel collapse and to cover the costs of leaks and design flaws in the Big Dig, officials said Wednesday.

Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the consortium that oversaw design and construction of the nation's costliest and most complex highway project, has agreed to pay $407 million, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said in announcing the deal. Several smaller companies will pay about $51 million collectively.

"The citizens of Massachusetts entrusted Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to act as their eyes and ears on the Central Artery Project," Sullivan said. "They grossly failed to meet their obligations and responsibilities to the citizens of Massachusetts and the United States."

Under the settlement, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff will not face criminal charges in the deadly Interstate 90 tunnel ceiling collapse in July 2006. Milena Del Valle, 39, of Boston, was crushed by 26 tons of concrete as she and her husband drove to Logan International Airport.

The deal also does not bar the consortium from receiving future government contracts. Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff was paid more than $2 billion to manage the project.

Texas hospital sent stillborn's body to cleaners with laundry

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A couple filed a lawsuit against a hospital alleging that it sent their stillborn fetus's body with dirty laundry to the cleaners.

The Huguley Memorial Medical Center of Fort Worth staff took 19 hours to find the missing body, which was unpreserved and by then had been crushed and disfigured, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Kourtney McGee of Cleburne went to Huguley in July because she was bleeding in her second trimester, then gave birth to Jacob Dwayne Robinson. According to the lawsuit, staff told McGee and the father, Milburn "Pete" Robinson of Alvarado, that the body would be taken to the morgue.

But when the funeral director arrived, he was told the body could not be found. Hospital staff eventually determined that the body was sent to a commercial cleaner with the laundry, according to the lawsuit.

"How could this happen, that these parents lost their child, lost their son -- then the hospital doesn't have a procedure or policy in place for dealing with it?" the couple's attorney John David Hart told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The lawsuit alleges gross negligence by Huguley, and says the family has suffered emotional distress and mental anguish. It seeks unspecified monetary damages.