Charleston Daily Mail

Ready for the Games: ; Soccer Tourney Kicks in Today; 12,000 Players, Coaches and Families Roll Into State for Six-Day Event

More than 12,000 soccer players, coaches and their families are expected to roll into the region today, as a six-day tournament starts in Barboursville. The U.S. Youth Soccer 2009 Region 1 Championships are projected to pump more than $12 million into the local economy. They start with an Olympic-style opening ceremony today at Joan C. Edwards Stadium at Marshall University.

Board Approves Turnpike Toll Hike: ; Drivers Will Pay $2 Per Car Starting On Aug. 1

Drivers will start paying higher tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike next month of $2 for passenger vehicles and $6.75 for five- axle commercial trucks under a motion approved Wednesday by state turnpike officials. But drivers who use West Virginia's EZ-Pass card will get a discount, bringing toll costs down to $1.30 per toll for passenger cars and $5.40 for commercial trucks, the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority decided.

Charleston Population Sags

Inside Sylvester mayor wishes census estimates were correct / 1C Charleston has again experienced a population decline, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates, and if the trend continues West Virginia could soon be one of the only states in the nation with no city larger than 50,000 people.

Ex-Professor Gets Four Years for Passing Secrets

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A federal judge sentenced a retired University of Tennessee professor to four years in prison Wednesday for passing sensitive information from a U.S. Air Force contract to two research assistants from China and Iran. Plasma physics expert J. Reece Roth was found guilty in September on all 18 counts of conspiracy, fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act.

Complaint Against Board Dismissed

KINGWOOD - A three-judge panel has unanimously dismissed a petition seeking the removal of the Preston County Board of Education for incompetence. The judges heard seven hours of testimony Tuesday, following the filing of a petition signed by more than 400 people seeking the board's ouster.

Jackson's Will Leaves Estate to Family, Nothing for Ex-Wife: ; Singer Also Named Mother, Diana Ross As Guardians of Children

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's 7-year-old will was filed in a Los Angeles court, giving his entire estate to a family trust while making his mother the guardian of his children and cutting out his former wife Debbie Rowe. Court documents estimated the current value of his estate at more than $500 million.

Liberty's Crown Pulls in 'Huddled Masses': ; Tickets Sold Out for July 4 Reopening of National Monument Closed Since Sept. 11

NEW YORK - It's crowded. It's hot. You have to climb hundreds of steps to get there. And throngs of people can't wait to visit. Unfortunately, many will have to. Tickets sold out fast for the July Fourth reopening of the Statue of Liberty's crown, closed since shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Pet Python Strangles Toddler

OXFORD, Fla. - A 12-foot pet Burmese python broke out of an aquarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom at a central Florida home, authorities said. Shaunnia Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.

Regional Weather

Hi Lo Otlk Akron 67 54 Cldy

National Weather

Hi Lo Otlk Anchorage 67 50 PCldy

Wild River Rescue

Nation & World

Flight diverted after man disrobes

Individuals Admitted Into Practice of Law

The Tale of the Tape

Police & Courts

Man wanted for alleged attack

Obituaries: ; Obit

Today's Obituaries Adams, Grover Allen, Thomas E. Sr. Blankenship, Rodney Collins, Freda P. Feury, Wayne C. Fields, G. W. Garcia, Mary H. Graham, Carl C. Hodges, Lillian C. Hudnall, Darrell F. Hutchinson, Thomas O. Kingery, Gloria J. Lafferty, Brenda L. McClurg, Eva W. McCormick, Elizabeth H. Meadows, Mary J. Nelson, Sheila R. Proffitt, Roy L. Roberts, Joseph C. Shelton, Eloise Slayton, Robert F. Swindler, Ora L. Thornton, Ralph S. Via, William Watson, William F. Waugh, Joseph S. White, J. W....

France On Guard After Al-Qaida Threat

PARIS - French officials were on guard Wednesday after an al- Qaida affiliate threatened vengeance for President Nicolas Sarkozy's criticism of the face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women. France is maintaining "very great vigilance" toward actions and statements by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or North Africa, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said in a briefing.

Academy Award-Winning Actor Karl Malden Dies: ; He Won an Oscar for His Role in 'a Streetcar Named Desire'

Karl Malden, an Academy Award-winning actor who excelled in plainspoken, working-class roles, including the awkward Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and a brave priest in "On the Waterfront," died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. No cause of death was immediately disclosed. He was 97. Malden's bulbous nose and thinning hair made him one of the most familiar sights in movies and on television for five decades. In the 1970s, he became known to millions of viewers as a police veteran who...

State Briefs

W.Va. State, college split OK'd

Mayor Wishes Census Estimates Were True: ; They List Sylvester with 458 Residents but the Actual Number Is Not Even Half That

Related Charlestons population hovers just above 50,000 /see story on 1A The community of Sylvester has a one-officer police department, seven churches and about 40 street lights. What it doesn't have is the 458 people the latest U.S. Census Bureau population estimates says it has.