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TUSCALOOSA | Want the inside scoop on crime trends and criminal suspects in your area? The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office unveiled a new Internet-based system Thursday aimed at improving communication between the public and the sheriff’s department. Sheriff Ted Sexton said the program, which relies on e-mail communication, is the first in the state and believed to be one of the first in the country. “With this system, investigators will be able to send e-mails to citizens in a specific geographic location to solicit information on crime or send alerts to warn citizens about crime that has been occurring in...

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Sen. John Edwards (news, bio, voting record), in calling for a series of measures to keep the country safe, says the Bush administration's policy of favoring tax cuts for the wealthy over adequate funding for domestic security is "out of whack." Edwards, a freshman lawmaker and likely Democratic candidate for president, says the country needs a new intelligence agency, improved security for vulnerable targets like nuclear plants and skyscrapers, and better funding and equipment for firefighters, police officers and health care workers. "Against all reason, the administration stubbornly clings to tax cuts...

By James ViciniWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. violent crime rate, which has fallen steadily for years, declined by 15 percent in 2000, the largest annual decrease since the survey started in 1974, the Justice Department (news - web sites) said on Wednesday.According to its annual crime victims survey, the agency's Bureau of Justice Statistics said Americans experienced about 7.4 million violent crimes such as rape, assault and robbery last year, about 1 million fewer than in 1999.Property crimes, which account for about 75 percent of all offenses and which include household burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, fell by 10 percent ...

MONTGOMERY — The official copy of the speech that a defiant Gov. George Wallace gave in a doorway of a building at the then-segregated University of Alabama in 1963 to protest the entrance of two black students will be given to the Alabama state archives on Monday. Al Steineker, a Montgomery resident whose family has been friends with the Wallace family for three generations, said Monday he will donate the official copy of Wallace’s June 11, 1963, speech, which was made to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, who was President John Kennedy’s representative on the tense campus. Wallace’s infamous ...

Tuesday February 27 12:57 PM ET RIAA hires Racicot to help in digital debate LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A recording industry trade group on Tuesday said it hired former Montana Governor Marc Racicot as an outside counsel to help bolster its side in the growing legislative debate over copyrights, triggered by such popular file-sharing services as Napster (news - web sites).``Governor Racicot's communications skills are truly impressive,'' said Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites).Republican Racicot came to public prominence shortly after the November presidential election when he emerged as staunch defender of ...

By Deborah CharlesPINE BLUFF, Ark (Reuters) - With hopes of wooing fellow Arkansans to vote Democratic even though he is not running, President Clinton (news - web sites) on Sunday visited a campaign headquarters and rallied supporters in a final push for Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites).To the cheers of supporters in his home state, Clinton criticized the policies proposed by Republican George W. Bush (news - web sites) and stressed the importance of making sure Americans understood the differences between Gore and Bush before voting on Tuesday.He said to ensure progress made during his eight years ...

Poll: Most Hispanics Want Gore for President MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. Hispanic voters strongly support Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) over Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush (news - web sites) in the states where Latins are most populous, except for Florida where Cubans favor the Texas governor, a survey released on Monday showed.The survey by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute in Claremont, California, a Latino-oriented think tank, questioned more than 2,000 registered Hispanic voters in California, Illinois, Texas, Florida and New York, the most heavily Hispanic states.The poll found that in four of the five states, ...

By Deborah CharlesAACHEN, Germany (Reuters) - President Clinton was honored Friday for his contribution to European unity but his German host warned him not to destroy that cohesion as he decides whether to deploy an anti-missile defense system.Clinton, already warned by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that a U.S. national missile defense (NMD) could trigger a new arms race with Russia, was cautioned by him again after receiving the prestigious Charlemagne Prize in the war-scarred city of Aachen.The comments came before word from Moscow that President Vladimir Putin, who meets Clinton Saturday, might offer to share an alternative Russian anti-missile defense scheme ...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidates Wednesday debated the merits of mosh pits, and whether heaving oneself off a stage into the arms of concert-goers is a test of faith or an undignified display for a White House hopeful.The discussion, dubbed ``surreal'' by one witness, drew uproarious laughter from 500 media representatives in a makeshift work room at WMUR television studios and quizzical looks from some of the five contenders for the Republican presidential nomination more used to dissecting foreign and domestic policy.Only one, radio host and former diplomat Alan Keyes (news - web sites), has actually moshed. As ...