National news briefs

Alaska teacher dies after animal mauling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Wolves likely killed a teacher jogging alone along a rural Alaska village road, public safety officials said Thursday.

The Alaska state medical examiner listed "multiple injuries due to animal mauling" as the cause of death for Candice Berner, 32, a special education teacher from Pennsylvania who began working in Alaska in August. Her body was found off the road a mile outside the village of Chignik Bay, which is about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The autopsy could not say which animals, but wolves are the chief suspect.

Settlement reached in gun-fair lawsuit

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts sporting club is donating $10,000 to children's charities as part of a deal settling criminal charges in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi during a gun fair.

Christopher Bizilj's parents approved the Westfield Sportsman's Club's plea deal reached Thursday in Hampden Superior Court, where his mother's written description of their grief left the judge visibly shaken.

"We trusted this event would be fun and safe," Suzanne Bizilj wrote in a statement read in court by a family attorney. "My family has been ripped apart, and relationships have been badly damaged."

Three men who arranged the gun fair and provided the weapons are scheduled to stand trial in June.

600 get layoff slips at Honolulu paper

HONOLULU (AP) — Layoff notices have gone out to 600 employees of The Honolulu Advertiser.

The notices say the workers will lose their jobs when owner Gannett Co. sells the newspaper and related assets to Oahu Publications Inc., owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The sale is expected to be completed between April 12 and April 30.

The majority owner of the Star-Bulletin, David Black, has put his newspaper up for sale. However, he has said if a buyer isn't found, the two newspapers will merge and layoffs will occur.

Janitor who killed 2 was heavily armed

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio State University janitor was armed with two handguns and more than 50 rounds of ammunition when he walked into a campus maintenance shop and shot two supervisors before killing himself, police said Thursday.