National news briefs

Ex-space shuttle pilot getting married

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida attorney says a couple who were rocketed into the public eye because of ex-astronaut Lisa Nowak are getting married.

Kepler Funk, a Melbourne attorney who represents Colleen Shipman, said Friday that she and former space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein (OH'-fuh-lyn) have gotten engaged. The couple, who now live in Alaska, have not set a date.

Authorities say Nowak, who worked with Oefelein in the space program, drove from Houston to the parking lot of Orlando International Airport in February 2007 to confront Shipman.

Nowak is set to go on trial Dec. 7 on charges of attempted kidnapping, burglary and battery with assault. She was dismissed from the astronaut corps after her arrest and has since been on active duty at a Navy base in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Horse with brand cut out draws outrage

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A domestic horse found loose in Nevada with the brand cut out of its hide is drawing outrage from equine advocates concerned about the growing number of horses abandoned in the wild.

Humane Society officials believe the brand was removed so the 20-year-old mare couldn't be traced to its owner, representing one of the worst cases of abuse involving an abandoned domestic horse in the country.

The animal was found last week near Round Mountain, a remote mining community about 235 miles southeast of Reno. Its brand — which functions like a car's license plate — was removed in a 6-by-8-inch patch from its left hip. The horse is expected to recover and will be transported today to a sanctuary in Lompoc, Calif., operated by the horse advocacy group Return to Freedom.

Police looking for 3 in couple's killing

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Investigators asked the public to be on the lookout Friday for a red van they believe carried three men involved in the deaths of a Florida Panhandle couple who were shot in their rural home while eight of their children slept.

Surveillance cameras showed the van at the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama border, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The children were unharmed.

The sheriff's office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 70s or early 80s.

Morgan said investigators did not know who killed the wealthy couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities, many born to drug-addicted mothers.

Investigators are also awaiting autopsy results on the couple to learn more about the killings, he said.

A woman who lives in an outlying building and helps care for the children called emergency dispatchers from the home. The Billings had 16 children, 12 of them adopted.