Details on NIU gunman emerge

By CARYN ROUSSEAU and DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press Writers

The man who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University in a suicidal rampage became erratic after halting his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case, police said Friday.

The man, 27-year-old former student Stephen Kazmierczak, was also wielding three handguns during Thursday's ambush inside a lecture hall.

Two of the weapons — the pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun — were purchased legally less than a week ago, on Feb. 9, authorities said. They were purchased in Champaign, where Kazmierczak was enrolled at the University of Illinois.

A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said the other two guns were also legally purchased and traced to the Champaign gun shop, but the ATF was still determining when Kazmierczak picked them up.

Kazmierczak had a valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card, which is required for all Illinois residents who buy or possess firearms, authorities said.

The gunman's father, Robert Kazmierczak, briefly came out of his single-story house in Lakeland, Fla., to talk to reporters.

"Please leave me alone. I have no statement to make and no comment. OK? I'd appreciate that. This is a very hard time. I'm a diabetic and I don't want to go into a relapse," he said before breaking down crying.

He then went back inside his house, which has a sign on the front door that says "Illini fans live here."

President Bush talked by telephone with NIU President John Peters and said people will be praying for the families of the victims and for the Northern Illinois University community.

Campus Police Chief Donald Grady said investigators recovered 48 shell casings and six shotgun shells following the attack in Cole Hall. The gunman paused to reload his shotgun after opening fire on a crowd of terrified students in a geology class, sending them running and crawling toward the exits. He shot himself to death on the stage of the hall.

Kazmierczak, whose first name was earlier listed as Steven, was taking some kind of medication, Grady said.

"He had stopped taking medication and become somewhat erratic in the last couple of weeks," Grady said, declining to name the drug or provide other details.

Correcting information his office released earlier Friday, DeKalb County Coroner Dennis J. Miller said five students, not six, were killed in the rampage, in addition to the gunman. Miller said the higher victim total was the result of confusion over the fate of a patient taken to another county for treatment.

"There was a miscommunication," Miller said.

The motive of the killer, who graduated from NIU in 2006 but was a student there as recently as last year, was still not known. Grady said Kazmierczak was an "outstanding" student while at NIU and authorities were still trying to determine why he would kill. There was no known suicide note.

"We were dealing with a disturbed individual who intended to do harm on this campus," Peters said.

Witnesses said the gunman, dressed in black and wearing a stocking cap, emerged from behind a screen on the stage of 200-seat Cole Hall and opened fire just as the class was about to end around 3 p.m. Officials said 162 students were registered for the class but it was unknown how many were there Thursday.

John Giovanni, 20, of Des Plaines said the gunman calmly fired at the greatest concentration of students.

"He was shooting from the hip. He was just shooting," said Giovanni, who turned and ran so fast that he lost a shoe. "I was running but I was hurtling over people in the fetal position."

Peters said four people died at the scene, including three students and the gunman. The other died at a hospital. The teacher, a graduate student, was wounded but was expected to recover.

Miller released the identities of four victims: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meridan.

Another victim, Gayle Dubowski, a 20-year-old sophomore from Carol Stream, died at a Rockford hospital, Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said.

The killer had been a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois as recently as spring 2007, Peters said. He also said the suspect had no record of police contact or an arrest record while attending Northern Illinois, a campus with 25,000 students about 65 miles west of Chicago.

The gunman was a student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Chancellor Richard Herman said. The university is about 140 miles south of Chicago.

Lauren Carr said she was sitting in the third row when she saw the shooter walk through a door on the right-hand side of the stage, pointing a gun straight ahead.

"I personally Army-crawled halfway up the aisle," said Carr, a 20-year-old sophomore. "I said I could get up and run or I could die here."

She said a student in front of her was bleeding, "but he just kept running."

"I heard this girl scream, 'Run, he's reloading the gun!'"

More than a hundred students cried and hugged as they gathered outside the Phi Kappa Alpha house early Friday to remember Parmenter. Flowers, candles and small notes were left in the snow near Cole Hall. Flags were flying at half-staff. At a house across the street, a hand-drawn banner made out of a sheet said: 'NIU We Pray 4 U'

The campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents and were offered counseling at any residence hall, according to the school Web site.

The school was closed for one day during final exam week in December after campus police found threats, including racial slurs and references to shootings earlier in the year at Virginia Tech, scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Police determined after an investigation that there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened. Peters said he knew of no connection between that incident and Thursday's attack.

Making a Martyr of Bhutto

By ARYN BAKER

Just days before parliamentary polls in Pakistan, leading Prime Ministerial contender and anti terrorism crusader Benazir Bhutto was shot dead during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. "She has been martyred," said party official Rehman Malik. The Associated Press, citing Malik, reported that Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the gunman blew himself up. At least 20 bystanders were killed in the blast. Bhutto was rushed to a hospital But, at 6:16 p.m. Pakistan time, she was declared dead.

""How can somebody who can shoot her get so close to her with all the so-called security?" said a distraught Husain Haqqani, a former top aide to Bhutto, shortly after news of her death flashed around the world. Haqqani, who served as a spokesman and top aide to Bhutto for more than a decade, blamed Pakistani security, either through neglect or complicity, in her assassination. "This is the security establishment, which has always wanted her out," he said through tears.

For the past several months Pakistan has been plagued by a wave of violence that has seen hundreds of civilians killed in similar bombing attacks; and hundreds more military personnel, prompting President Pervez Musharraf to declare a state of emergency. On December 16th, Musharraf lifted the state of emergency, stating that the threat had been contained. The bombings, however, continued. Just hours before her assassination, Bhutto, 54, met with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss the threat of terrorism against both countries.

The U.S. has long supported a return to power by Bhutto, who was perceived to be a moderate willing to work with Washington on the war on terror. She was also seen as a democratic leader who would serve as a counter to the plummeting popularity of Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 military coup. It was thought that a power-sharing deal between the two, in which Musharraf stayed on as president while Bhutto lead as prime minister, would promote stability in this nuclear armed nation of 165 million. But from the day of her arrival in Pakistan after eight years in exile, Bhutto's return has been marred by violence.

On October 18th, a pair of bombs detonated in the midst a welcome home rally in Karachi for the former two-time prime minister, killing some 145 in a deliberate attempt on her life. The organization responsible for the carnage has not yet been identified, but Bhutto said she suspected al Qaeda and some unspecified members of Musharraf's government who did not want to see her return to power. Despite the clear threat to her life, Bhutto continued to campaign publicly with the kind of mass rallies that are the cornerstone of politicking in Pakistan. "I am not afraid," she told TIME last month, "I am ready to die for my country."

Haqqani, now a professor at Boston University, isn't sure what the latest bloodshed means for his country. "Will the Pakistani military realize that this is going to tear the fabric of the nation apart, and so really get serious about securing the country and about getting serious in dealing with the extremist jihadis?" he wondered. But he made clear he feels the best chance for such a policy has just evaporated. "She did show courage, and she was the only person who spoke out against terrorism," he said. "She was let down by those in Washington who think that sucking up to bad governments around the world is their best policy option."

Within hours of the assasination, protests and riots broke out in Pakistan's main cities. In Rawalpindi, vegetable vendor Naeem, 25, said Bhutto's murder would hurt Pakistan's poorest, who were among Bhutto's most loyal supporters. "People were hoping her government would help the lower classes and now she is gone," he said. Syeda Asmat Begum, 73, who lives in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, told TIME that "everywhere sadness prevails. We are in fear that even our leaders are not safe from the bombardment of suicide bombers and bullets."

That was a view felt around the country. In Lahore, where shops and restaurants closed and the streets emptied of people except for the center of town where Bhutto supporters gathered to vent their anger, Majid Iqbal, 26, an engineering student was trying to hitch a ride home because bus services had stopped. "People are very worried," says Iqbal, who called his family in his home village outside the city as soon as he heard the news. "If a leader of a great party is not secure then how can the Pakistani people be secure? At this time Pakistan's future is fragile."

Speaking on television outside the hospital where Bhutto died, the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said, "I myself feel threatened... Are things in control now? Had things been in control, would this have happened?" Bhutto's rival said, "We both were struggling for the same cause, and we had signed the charter of democracy." On camera, he addressed Bhutto's supporters, "I assure you that I will fight your war from now." He said, "It is tragic not only for [her party] but also for my party."

Pakistan can ill afford to sacrifice the few moderate leaders it has left. Bhutto's death will plunge the upcoming elections into uncertainty and the country further into instability. At the news of her assassination, many of her loyalists rioted in the streets of Pakistan. There will be many tense days ahead for the Musharraf government as it deals with this political crisis. And that's good news for terrorism. With reporting by Khuda Yar Khan/Islamabad, Simon Robinson/Lahore and Mark Thompson/Washington

World War II Hiroshima A-bomb Pilot Dies

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press Writer

Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted for six decades after the war that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.

Tibbets died at his Columbus home. He suffered from a variety of health problems and had been in decline for two months.

Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, said Gerry Newhouse, a longtime friend.

Tibbets' historic mission in the plane named for his mother marked the beginning of the end of World War II and eliminated the need for what military planners feared would have been an extraordinarily bloody invasion of Japan. It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in wartime.

The plane and its crew of 14 dropped the five-ton "Little Boy" bomb on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The blast killed 70,000 to 100,000 people and injured countless others.

Three days later, the United States dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Tibbets did not fly in that mission. The Japanese surrendered a few days later, ending the war.

"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

Morris Jeppson, the officer who armed the bomb during the Hiroshima flight, said Tibbets was energetic, well-respected and "hard-nosed."

"Ending the war saved a lot of U.S. armed forces and Japanese civilians and military," Jeppson said. "History has shown there was no need to criticize him."

Tibbets, then a 30-year-old colonel, never expressed regret over his role. He said it was his patriotic duty and the right thing to do.

"I'm not proud that I killed 80,000 people, but I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did," he said in a 1975 interview.

"You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. We were at war. ... You use anything at your disposal."

He added: "I sleep clearly every night."

Tibbets took quiet pride in the job he had done, said journalist Bob Greene, who wrote the Tibbets biography, "Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War."

"He said, 'What they needed was someone who could do this and not flinch — and that was me,'" Greene said.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born Feb. 23, 1915, in Quincy, Ill., and spent most of his boyhood in Miami.

He was a student at the University of Cincinnati's medical school when he decided to withdraw in 1937 to enlist in the Army Air Corps.

After the war, Tibbets said in 2005, he was dogged by rumors claiming he was in prison or had committed suicide.

"They said I was crazy, said I was a drunkard, in and out of institutions," he said. "At the time, I was running the National Crisis Center at the Pentagon."

Tibbets retired from the Air Force as a brigadier general in 1966. He later moved to Columbus, where he ran an air taxi service until he retired in 1985.

The National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton plans a photographic tribute to Tibbets, who was inducted in 1996.

"There are few in the history of mankind that have been called to figuratively carry as much weight on their shoulders as Paul Tibbets," director Ron Kaplan said in a statement. "Even fewer were able to do so with a sense of honor and duty to their countrymen as did Paul."

Tibbets' role in the bombing brought him fame — and infamy — throughout his life.

In 1976, he was criticized for re-enacting the bombing during an appearance at a Harlingen, Texas, air show. As he flew a B-29 Superfortress over the show, a bomb set off on the runway below created a mushroom cloud.

He said the display "was not intended to insult anybody," but the Japanese were outraged. The U.S. government later issued a formal apology.

Tibbets again defended the bombing in 1995, when an outcry erupted over a planned 50th anniversary exhibit of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution.

The museum had planned to mount an exhibit that would have examined the context of the bombing, including the discussion within the Truman administration of whether to use the bomb, the rejection of a demonstration bombing and the selection of the target.

Veterans groups objected, saying the proposed display paid too much attention to Japan's suffering and too little to Japan's brutality during and before World War II, and that it underestimated the number of Americans who would have perished in an invasion.

They said the bombing of Japan was an unmitigated blessing for the United States and the exhibit should say so.

Tibbets denounced it as "a damn big insult."

The museum changed its plan and agreed to display the fuselage of the Enola Gay without commentary, context or analysis.

He told the Dispatch in 2005 that he wanted his ashes scattered over the English Channel, where he loved to fly during the war.

Newhouse confirmed that Tibbets wanted to be cremated, but he said relatives had not yet determined how he would be laid to rest.

Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, and three sons — Paul, Gene and James — as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grandson named after Tibbets followed his grandfather into the military as a B-2 bomber pilot currently stationed in Belgium.

Profitable Jobs You Can Do From Home

Ysolt Usigan, ClassesUSA

In today's world of high connectivity, anyone can do virtually anything from home. In fact, the International Telework Association and Council reports that approximately 23 million people work at home at least part time, a number expected to increase as workplace technology becomes more and more seamless. If clocking in from your kitchen is the right choice for you, read on for telecommuting tips from successful home-office professionals.

Computer Software Production

Scott Testa knew that the competition for landing a convenient telecommuting job was tough, so he used education to distinguish himself.

After earning a Ph.D. in education through Drexel University's online program, Testa founded numerous software companies. He currently works from home as the chief operating officer of Mindbridge Software.

His biggest driver of success? The mindset that working from home must reflect the same initiative and motivation you would have if you were physically in the office. "Dress for work and keep the same hours you typically would in the office," he advises.

Marketing and Public Relations

Shannon Cherry, a marketing and public relations firm owner who does much of her work via e-mail, is accustomed to using the Internet for advancement -- she even earned her master's degree in communications administration from the University of Memphis online.

If you wish to secure an in-demand telecommuting position, Cherry stresses the power of effective communication. "It's important that you learn to brand yourself early on," she asserts. "That means you need to market your uniqueness."

Along with her master's degree, what distinguishes Cherry is her trustworthiness and reliability. "I suggest taking that a step further," she adds. "Market yourself by using stories or testimonials to clients or prospective employers. And network like crazy."

Financial Consulting and Sales

Anthony Shafer, a commercial finance consultant for LoanFight, Inc., usually works in his home office from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., or even as late as 1 a.m. "With time differences, I have to get a hold of people at all hours of the day," he explains.

Shafer admits that TV can be a distraction, although it's actually a requirement for his job. "I keep CNBC on so I can follow the financial world," he says. Understanding the line between work and play is key to staying focused.

Also important are desire and devotion, says Shafer, who is currently working on his business information systems degree from DeVry Online. "You've got to be a salesman, and do it with a serious desire to please people," he says.

Graphic Design

Most graphic design work available to telecommuters is on a freelance basis, which means missing out on benefits like health insurance, steady salary, and job stability.

Jill Sabato, a recent graduate of the School of Visual Arts, tried freelance design projects when she was in between jobs. "When you've got bills to pay, it's not a good idea to count on the money you'll make from a project," she says. "Who knows when you'll get another assignment?"

If you do find a company with which you're comfortable, be sure to give your best. "If you freelance for a company that knows your work and is happy with it, stick with them," says Sabato. "Keep in contact so they know they can always count on you for projects."

Billionaire Warren Buffett weighing choices for '08 endorsement

By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer

Someday soon, Warren Buffett may have to apply his legendary stock-picking skills to the candidates clamoring for his endorsement in the 2008 presidential race.

For now, the plainspoken Nebraska billionaire appears to be enjoying his role as an unaffiliated kingmaker, raising money for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton while promising to do the same for her chief rival, Barack Obama. He's even heaped praise on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently left the Republican Party and might join the race as an independent.

"As the markets often would follow Buffett's investments, I think that same mentality would follow his political activities, too," said Joseph Marbach, a Seton Hall University political science professor.

An outspoken critic of economic inequality in the U.S., Buffett is using his newfound political prominence as a platform to speak out on the obligation of the privileged to help the poor.

The 76-year-old Buffett is one of the world's wealthiest men, ranked third by Forbes Magazine behind Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim.

In 1956, armed with $105,000 raised from a handful of friends and relatives, Buffett founded the investment company now known as Berkshire Hathaway. Today, the company has assets of nearly $262 billion and owns more than 60 subsidiary businesses including insurance, clothing, candy and furniture.

In 2003, Buffett served as a top economic adviser to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger's first campaign for California governor, but he advised Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign a year later. He's also been active in several Nebraska contests.

When it comes to investing dollars in candidates, Buffett clearly favors Democrats. He's donated $65,600 to federal candidates since 1992, almost all of it to Democrats with a handful of contributions to moderate Republicans like Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays, according to Federal Election Commission records available through the nonpartisan Web site opensecrets.org. He gave $4,000 to Clinton's Senate campaign in 2000, and $5,000 to Obama's political action committee, Hope Fund, in 2005.

Buffett's political involvement reached a new level this year, as he began more forcefully criticizing the Bush administration's foreign and tax policies.

Buffett helped Clinton pull in at least $1 million at a New York fundraiser last month, and has said he would do the same for Obama later this year. But in a recent Time magazine interview, he also said he dreamed of a Bloomberg-Schwarzenegger presidential ticket.

"That would be one hell of a team, wouldn't it?" he said.

Buffett's political views have at times been controversial in the business world, particularly on the subject of taxes. He's made no secret of his belief that rich people have a duty to pay more taxes and that President Bush and Republicans in Congress have erred by pushing tax cuts for the wealthy.

"If you're in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent," Buffett told attendees at the Clinton fundraiser.

On Friday, Clinton's campaign announced her support for cracking down on a tax loophole known as "carried interest" that allows some Wall Street investment managers to pay lower tax rates, citing concerns raised by "many finance and tax experts, including billionaire financier Warren Buffett."

In 2003, Schwarzenegger had to distance himself from Buffett after the billionaire was quoted criticizing Proposition 13, California's landmark initiative that keeps property taxes artificially low. The measure is revered by Republicans and many homeowners in the state, but it has also been blamed for badly underfunding public schools.

"I told Warren if he mentions Prop. 13 one more time he has to do 500 sit-ups," Schwarzenegger said at the time.

Dubbed the "Oracle of Omaha" by his many admirers, Buffett is revered in the business world. His annual investment lecture draws at least 25,000 people to Omaha.

Buffett grew up a Republican like his father, Howard, who represented Nebraska's 2nd District in Congress from 1943-49 and 1951-53. The younger Buffett switched parties during the early 1960s, saying his views on civil rights aligned more with Democrats.

Andy Kilpatrick, the stockbroker who has chronicled Buffett's life in "Of Permanent Value: the Warren Buffett Story," said Buffett's political activity seems to be attracting more attention now than it has in the past.

Kilpatrick attributed the new interest in part to Buffett's growing visibility as a philanthropist, particularly his plan to donate most of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

While carefully withholding a formal endorsement, Buffett has said he'd be happy with either Clinton or Obama as president. Federal Election Commission records show that Buffett donated the maximum $4,600 to Clinton's campaign in January, while no donations to Obama have yet been reported.

University of Nebraska at Omaha political scientist Loree Bykerk said Buffett's reluctance to officially back either Clinton or Obama suggests he still believes the race for the Democratic nomination is wide open. When he does decide, Bykerk said, the endorsement will carry that much more weight.

"Insofar as he's seen as to be an excellent decision-maker, very competent, down to earth, and with Middle American values, there's almost no downside to that endorsement," she said. "He's a name almost anyone would be happy to be associated with."

Al Gore's son arrested in California on drug suspicion

Associated Press

Al Gore's son was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of possessing marijuana and prescription drugs after deputies pulled him over for speeding, authorities said.

Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius about 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway when he was pulled over at about 2:15 a.m., Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

The deputies said they smelled marijuana and searched the car, Amormino said. They found less than an ounce of marijuana along with Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall, which is used for attention deficit disorder, he said.

"He does not have a prescription for any of those drugs," Amormino said.

Gore was being held in the men's central jail in Santa Ana on $20,000 bail.

Kalee Kreider, a spokeswoman for his parents, did not immediately return phone messages to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The son of the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee also was pulled over and arrested for pot possession in December 2003, in Bethesda, Md., while he was a student at Harvard University.

He completed substance abuse counseling as part of a pretrial diversion program to settle those charges.

The youngest of Al and Tipper Gore's four children and their only son, Gore lives in Los Angeles and is an associate publisher of GOOD, a magazine about philanthropy aimed at young people.

Surprising Jobs With Six-Figure Pay

By Steve McGookin

It's always been true that if you want to earn more money, you should think about going back to school.

But how many people realize that so many teaching posts could carry six-figure salaries?

According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor showing average salaries for a range of occupations, six categories of teachers are included in the rankings showing jobs where the average of the top earners (the 90th percentile) is in excess of $100,000 annually.

They range from math teachers to those who impart knowledge about home economics. In math, for example, the official Labor Department definition of jobs done by those in that teaching category is "teach courses and/or pursue academic research pertaining to mathematical concepts, statistics and actuarial science and to the application of mathematics in solving specific problems and situations." So each teaching group specifically includes university and college lecturers at the postsecondary level, rather than high school teachers.

The data also show, of course, that the true average wage for all the teachers included in the data set is between $55,000 and $65,000 a year. But the ranking measure--the average of the higher-earning individuals in each category--puts teachers of certain subjects into the six-figure range.

In order of their average salaries for top earners, the subjects most in demand are computer science, sociology, psychology, mathematics, history, languages and home economics. In terms of numbers as defined, there are 44,570 math teachers and 36,630 computer science teachers, but just 4,330 home economics teachers.

Some of the occupations on the list probably won't seem that much of a surprise. For example, commercial pilots come at the upper end of this particular ranking, with a high-end average of just over $115,000, roughly the same as insurance sales agents. Those are the only two of the listed categories to exceed that average figure.

Market research analysts (those who "research market conditions to determine potential sales of a product or service [and] may gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution") come next, followed closely by real estate agents.

While commission-based jobs are obviously subject to greater fluctuations in income levels than those that have a graded salary structure, it is certainly interesting--given the often cyclical nature of the home sales market--that loan officers (in addition to real estate sales agents) are highly placed. A loan officer's job is to "evaluate, authorize or recommend approval of commercial, real estate or credit loans [and] advise borrowers. [The category] includes mortgage loan officers and agents, collection analysts, loan servicing officers and loan underwriters."

In terms of the connection between commission and income, also in the ranking--albeit lower down the scale, with a high-end average of $101,030 is the general category of "sales representatives" (definition: "sell goods, for wholesalers or manufacturers, to businesses or groups of individuals"). Sales representatives also make up the biggest single category by number, with 1,488,990 so defined by the Labor Department.

Coming in at the bottom end of the ranking is the category that includes the 3,330 employees defined as "farm, ranch and other agricultural managers." The Labor Department defines them as employees who "manage farms, ranches, aquacultural operations, greenhouses, nurseries, timber tracts, cotton gins, packing houses or other agricultural establishments for employers." Their high-end average is $100,050, just less than double the true average for all employees in that category.

Va. Tech shooter was laughed at

Associated Press

Long before he boiled over, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was picked on, pushed around and laughed at over his shyness and the strange way he talked when he was a schoolboy in the Washington suburbs, former classmates say.

Chris Davids, a Virginia Tech senior who graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., with Cho in 2003, recalled that the South Korean immigrant almost never opened his mouth and would ignore attempts to strike up a conversation.

Once, in English class, the teacher had the students read aloud, and when it was Cho's turn, he just looked down in silence, Davids recalled. Finally, after the teacher threatened him with an F for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded "like he had something in his mouth," Davids said.

"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China,'" Davids said.

Cho shot 32 people to death and committed suicide Monday in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. The high school classmates' accounts add to the psychological portrait that is beginning to take shape, and could shed light on the video rant Cho mailed to NBC in the middle of his rampage at Virginia Tech.

In the often-incoherent video, the 23-year-old Cho portrays himself as persecuted and rants about rich kids.

"Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats," says Cho, who came to the U.S. in 1992 and whose parents work at a dry cleaners in suburban Washington. "Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."

Among the victims of the massacre were two other Westfield High graduates: Reema Samaha and Erin Peterson. Both young women graduated from the high school last year. Police said it is not clear whether Cho singled them out.

Stephanie Roberts, 22, a fellow member of Cho's graduating class at Westfield High, said she never witnessed anyone picking on Cho in high school.

"I just remember he was a shy kid who didn't really want to talk to anybody," she said. "I guess a lot of people felt like maybe there was a language barrier."

But she said friends of hers who went to middle school with Cho told her they recalled him getting picked on there.

"There were just some people who were really mean to him and they would push him down and laugh at him," Roberts said Wednesday. "He didn't speak English really well and they would really make fun of him."

Virginia Tech student Alison Heck said a suitemate of hers on campus — Christina Lilick — found a mysterious question mark scrawled on the dry erase board on her door. Lilick went to the same high school as Cho, according to Lilick's Facebook page. Cho once scrawled a question mark on the sign-in sheet on the first day of a literature class, and other students came to know him as "the question mark kid."

"I don't know if she knew that it was him for sure," Heck said. "I do remember that that fall that she was being stalked and she had mentioned the question mark. And there was a question mark on her door."

Heck added: "She just let us know about it just in case there was a strange person walking around our suite."

Lilick could not immediately be located for comment, via e-mail or telephone.

Regan Wilder, 21, who attended Virginia Tech, high school and middle school with Cho, said she was in several classes with Cho in high school, including advanced-placement calculus and Spanish. She said he walked around with his head down, and almost never spoke. And when he did, it was "a real low mutter, like a whisper."

As part of an exam in Spanish class, students had to answer questions in Spanish on tape, and other students were so curious to know what Cho sounded like that they waited eagerly for the teacher to play his recording, she said. She said that on the tape, he did not speak confidently but did seem to know Spanish.

Wilder recalled high school teachers trying to get him to participate, but "he would only shrug his shoulders or he'd give like two-word responses, and I think it just got to the point where teachers just gave up because they realized he wasn't going to come out of the shell he was in, so they just kind of passed him over for the most part as time went on."

She said she was sure Cho probably was picked on in middle school, but so was everyone else. And it didn't seem as if English was the problem for him, she said. If he didn't speak English well, there were several other Korean students he could have reached out to for friendship, but he didn't, she said.

Wilder said Cho wasn't any friendlier in college, where "he always had that same damn blank stare, like glare, on his face. And I'd always try to make eye contact with him because I recognized the kid because I'd seen him for six years, but he'd always just look right past you like you weren't there."

On Wednesday, NBC received a package containing a rambling and often incoherent 23-page written statement from Cho, 28 video clips and 43 photos — many of them showing Cho, in a military-style vest and backward baseball cap, brandishing handguns. A Postal Service time stamp reads 9:01 a.m. — between the two attacks on campus.

The package helped explain one mystery: where the gunman was and what he did during that two-hour window between the first burst of gunfire, at a high-rise dorm, and the second attack, at a classroom building.

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," a snarling Cho says on video. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said Thursday that the material contained little they did not already know. Flaherty said he was disappointed that NBC decided to broadcast parts of it.

"I just hate that a lot of people not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," he said.

On NBC's "Today" show Thursday, host Meredith Vieira said the decision to air the information "was not taken lightly." Some victims' relatives canceled their plans to speak with NBC because they were upset over the airing of the images, she said.

"I saw his picture on TV, and when I did I just got chills," said Kristy Venning, a junior from Franklin County, Va. "There's really no words. It shows he put so much thought into this and I think it's sick."

There has been some speculation, especially among online forums, that Cho may have been inspired by the South Korean movie "Oldboy." One of the killer's mailed photos shows him brandishing a hammer — the signature weapon of the protagonist — and in a pose similar to one from the film.

The film won the Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. It is about a man unjustly imprisoned for 15 years. After escaping, he goes on a rampage against his captor.

Authorities on Thursday disclosed that more than a year before the massacre, Cho had been accused of sending unwanted messages to two women and was taken to a psychiatric hospital on a magistrate's orders and was pronounced a danger to himself. But he was released with orders to undergo outpatient treatment.

Also, Cho's twisted, violence-filled writings and menacing, uncommunicative demeanor had disturbed professors and students so much that he was removed from one English class and was repeatedly urged to get counseling.

___

Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed, Vicki Smith, Sue Lindsey and Justin Pope in Blacksburg, Va.; Matt Barakat in Richmond, Va.; Colleen Long and Tom Hays in New York; and Lara Jakes Jordan, Sarah Karush and Sharon Theimer in Washington contributed to this report.

Study: Britain has worst drug abuse problem in Europe

Yahoo News (AFP)

Britain has the worst level of drug abuse in Europe, and the second highest level of drug-related deaths, a report said Wednesday.

The value of trade in illegal drugs is estimated at five billion pounds a year, according to the study by Professor Peter Reuter of Maryland University in the US and Alex Stevens of Kent University in Britain.

The study showed that around a quarter of 26 to 30 year-olds have tried "class A" banned drug such as heroin or cocaine at least once, and around 45 percent of young people have used cannabis.

Overall, Britain has the highest number of addicts with 0.85 percent of the population -- more than twice that of European countries such as France and Sweden (0.4 percent) or Germany and the Netherlands (0.3 percent).

The lowest rates of drug abuse are in Poland and Germany, said the study.

In terms of deaths linked to drug abuse, Britain comes second only to Denmark -- although both are well behind the United States and Australia. France has the lowest number of acute drug-related deaths.

Drugs are cited in the deaths of 34 people per million of Britain's adult population.

The British government has underlined its commitment to fighting drug abuse.

"We are determined to continue tackling drug misuse through enforcement, education, early intervention and treatment," Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said.

He said Britain was spending "unparalleled sums" on drugs strategy "which has been vindicated by record numbers of people in drug treatment and significant falls in drugs misuse and drug related crime.

"We are proud of our record and intend to build on our success," he said.

However, the new report was scathing about efforts to cut drug abuse through education.

"There is little international or UK evidence to suggest that drug education and prevention have had any significant impact on drug use," it said.

Its authors urged the government to focus efforts more on developing treatment and harm reduction programmes, which it said had been shown to reduce levels of crime, ill-health and death linked to drugs.

Timeline of Virginia Tech shooting rampage

Gunman opened fire in dorm, then unleashed barrage in second building before dying

SOURCE: msnbc.com; all times are approximate

7:15 a.m.: Gunfire reported

A gunman, apparently carrying two handguns, enters West Ambler Johnston Hall, a coed dormitory that houses 895 people, and opens fire. At least one person is reported killed at the scene. Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, Va., tells MSNBC TV that the shooting started on the fourth floor of the dorm. She says a resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put.

9:15 a.m.: Second onslaught

As police are investigating the first shooting, reports of a second shooting at Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away, are received.

Two law enforcement sources tell NBC News that the a gunman entered the classroom building and chained the doors shut, making it harder for students to get out -- or police outside to get in.

Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum later says that the gunman concluded the attack by taking his own life.

9:26 a.m.: E-mail warning

Campus police send out an e-mail warning to faculty and students stating there has been a shooting at West Amber Johnston.

"Police are on the scene and are investigating," it says. "The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case."

9:50 a.m.: 'A gunman is loose'

Campus authorities issue a second e-mail alert, warning, "A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows."

10:15 a.m.: Banging heard

Tech student Steve Hanson tells the Associated Press that he was working in a lab in Norris Hall when he heard what he thought was loud banging from construction.

10:16 a.m.: Another alert

Campus authorites issue a third e-mail alert, saying that all classes have been canceled and restating that anyone on campus should "remain where there are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus."

10:52 a.m.:'Multiple victims'

Authorities send out a fourth e-mail alert stating "There has been a multiple shooting with multiple victims in Norris Hall." It erroneously states that police are seeking a "second shooter" and warns that "all people in university buildings are required to stay inside until further notice. All entrances to campus are closed."

Noon: Partial evacuation

Faculty and staff on two sides of the campus are evacuated and told to go home immediately, the Roanoke Times reports.

12:15 p.m.: 'Monumental' tragedy

Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger reads a statement at a news conference saying, "The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions." Police Chief Flinchum draws gasps when he announces that at least 21 people are dead.

At least 33 dead in rampage at Virginia college

15 others wounded in one of worst mass shootings in U.S. history

NBC, MSNBC and news services

A gunman killed 32 people in two shooting incidents Monday at a college in Virginia in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. The gunman also was killed, and at least 15 other people were injured.

The shootings, which rang out just four days before the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School bloodbath near Littleton, Colo., spread panic and confusion at the college, where students and employees angrily asked why the first e-mail warning of the shootings did not go out to them until after the rampage was over.

More than 50 victims
Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News that the gunman was dead after he shot more than 50 people at two locations on campus. Thirty-two, including the gunman, were confirmed dead.

Hospitals reported that five of the 15 injured were in stable condition; the conditions of the others were not immediately reported.

Investigators told NBC News that they had so far been unable to positively identify the gunman, whose face was disfigured when he was killed. He carried no ID or cell phone, and an initial check on his fingerprints came up empty.

Witnesses described him as a man in his 20s, wearing a maroon cap and a black leather jacket. A spokesman for the FBI in Washington said there was no immediate evidence to suggest that the incident was a terrorist attack, “but all avenues will be explored.”

“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” said Charles Steger, president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, in southwest Virginia. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”

President Bush said in a brief televised statement: “Schools should be places of sanctuary and safety and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community. Today, our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech.”

Warnings came too late
Steger and law enforcement authorities gave this account of the day’s events:

The rampage began about 7:15 a.m. ET at West Ambler Johnston, a coeducational residence hall that houses 895 people The gunman, armed with a 9-mm pistol and a .22-caliber handgun, killed two people there before making his way two hours later to Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building on the opposite end of the 2,600-acre campus.

About 9:15, the gunman chained the doors of the classroom building so his potential victims could not escape and police could not enter. Once inside There, he shot more than 50 people in multiple classrooms.

Not until 9:26 a.m. did the first warning to students and employees go out by e-mail, according to the time stamps on copies obtained by NBC News. By then, the shooting was over.

The first e-mail had few details. It said: “A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.” The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.

Maurice Hiller, a student, told The Associated Press that he went to a 9 a.m. class just two buildings away from the engineering building and that no warnings were coming over the outdoor public address system on campus at the time.

Inside the engineering building, an “unreal” and bloody scene was unfolding.

“None of us thought it could have been gunshots,” a student who identified himself as Trey Perkins told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing in a telephone interview. “... I’m not sure how long it lasted. It seemed like a really long time.”

Perkins said the gunman never said a word. “He didn’t say, ‘Get down.’ He didn’t say anything.” He just started shooting.”

The gunman left that classroom and then tried to return, but students kept him out by bracing the door closed with their feet. “He started to try to come in again and started shooting through the door,” Perkins said, but hit no one.

“I got on the ground and I was just thinking, like, there’s no way I’m going to survive this,” Perkins said. “All I could keep thinking of was my mom.”

Until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard drove his pickup into a Luby’s Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

The deadliest previous campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police.After Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech, all entrances to the campus were closed. The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children at the Inn at Virginia Tech. It also made counselors available and planned a convocation for Tuesday at the Cassell Coliseum basketball arena.

Campus, community left stunned
Jamal Albarghouti, a graduate student, said that instead of fleeing, he began shooting video footage on his cell phone.

“I’m from the Middle East, so I’m not used to this sort of thing, but I’ve been in similar situations,” Albarghouti told MSNBC-TV.

“I heard many gunshots,” perhaps 10 to 15 in just 30 seconds, he said. “I don’t know who made the shots, whether it was the cops or the shooter.”

Albarghouti and other students described a stunned campus and surrounding community after the shootings.

Derek O’Dell, a sophomore biology major, told MSNBC-TV that it was “very surreal.”

“At first, I thought it was joke,” O’Dell said. “You don’t really think of a gunman coming on campus and shooting people.”

Albarghouti said: “Everybody here is sad, and you can see that all over. ... We are really looking forward to the end of this, when Blacksburg becomes a really nice town once again.”

Bomb threats last two weeks
Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but that they had not determined a link to the shootings.

Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.

“The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed,” Perino said.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff’s deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.

The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

22 dead in Va. Tech shooting rampage

Associated Press

A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. The gunman also was killed.

“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”

The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

Some but not all the dead were students. One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, said Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum.

The name of the gunman was not released. It was not known if he was a student.

NBC's Pete Williams said two law enforcement officials told him the gunman killed himself. They also said the gunman used two 9-mm handguns during the rampage, Williams reported. He said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was trying to track the weapons.

Up until Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police. In the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo., in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

After Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech, all entrances to the campus were closed.

The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children at the Inn at Virginia Tech. It also made counselors available and planned a convocation for Tuesday at the Cassell Coliseum basketball arena.

After the shootings, students were told to stay inside away from the windows.

“There’s just a lot of commotion. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on,” said Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the dorm where shooting took place.

Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. Kanode’s resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put.

“They had us under lockdown,” Kanode said. “They temporarily lifted the lockdown, the gunman shot again.”

“We’re all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what’s going on,” Kanode said.

Madison Van Duyne, a student who was interviewed by telephone on CNN, said, “We are all in lockdown. Most of the students are sitting on the floors away from the windows just trying to be as safe as possible.”

Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but they had not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff’s deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.

The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.