Across the area

Campaign bus will stop at ASU

The C-SPAN Campaign 2008 Bus will make a stop at Augusta State University on Thursday.

The political cable station's bus tour seeks to inform voters about the 2008 presidential election and to motivate students to vote.

The Young Democrats of Augusta State University is sponsoring the event. The bus will be at the Jaguar Student Activities Center parking lot from 2 to 5 p.m.

Aiken man dies after losing control of car

A 27-year-old Aiken man was killed Thursday in an early morning wreck on South Carolina Highway 278 near Henley Drive.

Lamaas Barfield was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident from multiple body trauma, according to Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton.

Authorities say they believe Mr. Barfield was driving west on Highway 278 at 5:21 a.m. when he lost control in a curve, crossed Henley Drive, then overturned multiple times before being ejected from his Toyota Camry.

Mr. Barfield was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash, the coroner said. Speed is being considered a factor in the wreck.

The accident marked the third fatal wreck in Aiken County this year.

Head injuries kill man ejected from pickup

An Augusta man died Thursday morning after a late Wednesday wreck in which authorities say he lost control of his vehicle on Bennock Mill Road.

Bradley Broome, 19, of the 1100 block of Bennock Mill Road, was driving his pickup in the westbound lane not far from his home about 10:40 p.m., authorities said.

He then crossed the eastbound lanes of traffic and struck a culvert, according to Richmond County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen.

Mr. Broome was ejected from the vehicle and was taken to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital where he died Thursday from head injuries suffered during the accident, Mr. Bowen said.

Men still in hospital from wreck injuries

Two Aiken County men remained hospitalized Thursday night at Medical College of Georgia Hospital after a two-car accident this week.

Dominique O'Connell, 19, of Graniteville, and David Lee Robinson, of Aiken, were injured Tuesday night when a 1988 Dodge Omni was involved in a wreck at the intersection of Gregg Highway and the Aiken Bypass, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Mr. O'Connell's condition was upgraded to serious and Mr. Robinson remained in critical condition Thursday night, a Medical College of Georgia Hospital spokeswoman said.

Bad heating, air unit causes apartment fire

A fire at a south Augusta apartment complex Thursday caused smoke and fire damage to one unit, but caused no injuries, authorities said.

Richmond County firefighters were called to Forest Ridge Apartments, 1850 Apple Valley Drive, at 7:19 p.m. Thursday, said Battalion Chief Tommy Willis.

The fire was quickly extinguished and appeared to have been caused by a faulty heating and air conditioning wall unit, Chief Willis said.

-- From staff reports

FBI reports students had fireworks after all

TAMPA, Fla. - Two Egyptian college students arrested near a South Carolina Navy weapons station last year were carrying low-grade fireworks, as they claimed, not dangerous explosives as charged by federal prosecutors, the FBI has determined.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been in jail since sheriff's deputies found what they called bomb-making materials in the trunk of their car during a traffic stop near Charleston, S.C.

The FBI report was submitted to the court Wednesday by Mr. Megahed's public defender as part of a motion seeking bail. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole declined comment on the filing Thursday.

The University of South Florida engineering students were indicted on federal charges of transporting explosives illegally.

The FBI report said the items - PVC pipe containing sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter - are ingredients for a "pyrotechnic mixture" that burned but didn't explode in tests.

Rapist, murderer gets stay of execution

ATMORE, Ala. - A man convicted in a 1982 kidnap, rape and murder was granted a stay of execution Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court little more than an hour before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

James Harvey Callahan was scheduled to be the first inmate executed since the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.

Mr. Callahan was sentenced to death for the 1982 murder of Jacksonville State University student Rebecca Suzanne Howell, who was abducted from a coin laundry and raped before being strangled and dumped in a creek.

- Edited from wire reports