Police: Child's body found in SUV is Hudson nephew

Police: Child's body found in SUV is Hudson nephew
By SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 25 mins ago

CHICAGO – Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew was found dead in the back of an SUV on Monday, ending a frantic search that began after the shooting deaths of her mother and brother three days earlier.

The singer and actress was among seven family members and close friends who cried and held hands as they identified Julian King's body from a live image on a television screen at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office Monday afternoon.

Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the boy, like his grandmother and uncle, had been shot. The medical examiner's office planned a Tuesday autopsy.

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said a motive remained unclear Monday but added, "It wasn't a case of a stranger-type homicide."

Police have characterized the slayings as "domestic related" and authorities have been questioning Julian's stepfather, who has been estranged from the boy's mother and is being held on a parole violation. No one has been charged in the slayings.

Julian's body was found shortly after 7 a.m. in the rear seat of the SUV, which matched the one mentioned in an Amber Alert for the boy and was parked on the street in a neighborhood of brownstone homes and apartment buildings.

The vehicle was about 10 miles from the house where the other victims were found, which was where Julian lived and where Hudson grew up.

Hudson had offered $100,000 Sunday for information leading to the safe return of her nephew, the son of her sister, Julia Hudson. Hudson's publicist did not immediately return calls and e-mail messages Monday.

"Miss Hudson wanted to request privacy," Cook County spokesman Sean Howard said after the family left the medical examiner's office. "This is a very trying time for her and her family."

Hudson's aunt, Dorothy Hudson, said the Chicago funeral home she owns with her husband will handle arrangements for the family, but details were pending.

"We're just sad. We're going through this stage where we're just sad and in shock," Dorothy Hudson said.

The Amber Alert had listed William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, as a suspect in a "double homicide investigation." He is not the boy's father and has not been charged in the slayings.

Weis said Monday that Balfour "remains a person of interest."

The chief said he was confident that with two crime scenes, investigators would find important clues.

Balfour, 27, was taken into custody for questioning Friday after the bodies of Hudson's 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donerson, and 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, were found.

On Sunday, Balfour was transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections, where a spokeswoman declined Monday to discuss his parole violation.

Corrections records show Balfour spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. He was expected to remain in state custody until the Illinois Prisoner Review Board looked at his case.

Balfour's mother, Michele Balfour, has said Hudson's mother kicked Balfour out of the family home last winter. She denied her son had anything to do with the killings.

It was unclear whether Balfour had an attorney.

Lynette Louden, 47, said she called police about the SUV across the street from her home on Chicago's West Side after her family's Chihuahua started barking at it early Monday. Some neighbors said they hadn't seen the vehicle before Monday, but Louden said it had been there since at least Saturday.

"I only hoped the body wasn't in there," she said. "When they said that it was, I cried."

Weis said police were waiting for the autopsy to determine how long the boy had been dead, but estimated the vehicle was parked on the street "a couple of days."

When asked how officers could have missed the SUV during their massive search, Weis noted that Chicago is a big city and that the vehicle was "several miles away from the first crime scene."

Steve Peterson, head of the department's Bureau of Investigative Services, said the search for the boy had been centered farther east based on information they had about where Balfour's current girlfriend lives.

Hudson, 27, who won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in "Dreamgirls," returned to Chicago to be with her family during the weekend. She also had identified the bodies of her mother and brother.

Neighbors and well-wishers brought stuffed animals and other items to a makeshift memorial outside Donerson's two-story white clapboard home as news of Monday's discovery spread.

At a candlelight vigil on Monday night, hundreds of people gathered outside the Englewood home. They sang, held hands and cried in the cold as they contributed to an expanding memorial of stuffed animals, balloons and flowers.

"I wanted to come out and support the community in their endeavor and to let Jennifer Hudson know how much we care and we're praying for her," said Doris Jones, who lives in the neighborhood. "It pains all of us to know three lives are gone and we don't know why."

___

Associated Press writers Caryn Rousseau, Don Babwin, Carla K. Johnson and Michael Tarm contributed to this report.

Anchorwoman Attacked In Ark. Dies of Injuries

LITTLE ROCK -- An Arkansas television anchorwoman died Saturday, several days after being found severely beaten in her home, hospital officials said.

Anne Pressly, 26, was discovered Monday morning, half an hour before she was to appear on ABC affiliate KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to her home after she did not answer a wake-up call.

Pressly was beaten around the head, face and neck. She had been unable to communicate with her family or police while being kept sedated in the intensive care unit.

Little Rock police have yet to identify a suspect.

Pressly had a small role in the new Oliver Stone movie "W.," appearing as a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President Bush's speech on an aircraft carrier after the start of the Iraq war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa1yRbO5nNs

Police: Arkansas TV anchorwoman attacked in home

ITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A popular local TV anchorwoman who had a small part in the Bush biopic "W" was in critical condition Monday after being beaten in her home. Police questioned whether she could have been targeted.

KATV anchor Anne Pressly, 26, was found about 4:30 a.m. Monday — a half-hour before she was due to appear on the station's "Daybreak" program. Pressly's mother went to the anchorwoman's house when she didn't answer a wake-up call, Little Rock police spokeswoman Cassandra Davis said.

Asked whether Pressly may have been targeted because of her job, Davis said officers were talking to station employees to determine whether she "has had any problems." Davis would not discuss specifics.

"(It) is possible that it is something other than robbery," Davis said. "Our detectives are talking with co-workers because she was a public figure, because she was on the news, in the media."

In a statement, KATV president and general manager Dale Nicholson said the anchor "is a person who simply lights up the room, by just walking in.

"The KATV family is having to deal with a personal crisis in our lives with the senseless brutality last night to one of our Daybreak anchors, Anne Pressly," Nicholson said. "I know her viewers will join her family as well as the KATV family in praying for a speedy recovery for Anne, who means so much to all of our staff."

Pressly was found unresponsive in her bed and a police report said she was bleeding from her head. Davis said Pressly was in critical condition at a hospital.

Davis said Pressly was stabbed, but KATV cited investigators later in reporting that all of her injuries were from being beaten in the head and upper body.

Pressly appeared briefly in Oliver Stone's new movie about President Bush that opened over the weekend.

She portrays a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" event on an aircraft carrier shortly after the start of the Iraq war. She won the role after being noticed by the casting director when she went to Shreveport, La., where the movie was filmed, to work on a story about it and the city's film industry.

Spokeswoman Kate Hubin for the film company Lionsgate confirmed Pressly's role but declined to comment further.

KATV's Web site notes that Pressly's most notable interview was with Vice President Dick Cheney. Traveling through an Arkansas town, she found the highway blocked in front of a hunting goods store because Cheney was inside. Pressly asked for an interview, which she conducted on the ammunition aisle.

Early Monday afternoon, a man answering a phone number for Pressly's mother, Patricia Cannady, said the family had no comment.

Chrysler's CEO says auto industry ripe for mergers

DETROIT – Chrysler LLC Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said Thursday that a steep decline in U.S. auto sales has created an environment for industry consolidation, but he would not comment on reports that talks are accelerating for General Motors Corp. to acquire his company.

Speaking on the CNBC cable channel, Nardelli said Chrysler has been open about looking for partners and creating alliances, but he would not address the GM discussions.

However, he said the U.S. auto sales slump has set the stage for industry consolidation.

"It certainly creates an environment for consolidation where you can get synergies of productivity that will allow you to be more competitive, not only here in the U.S. market, but on a global basis," he said.

GM has discussed a merger or acquisition with Cerberus Capital Management LP, the New York private equity firm that owns 80.1 percent of Chrysler, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press last week.

The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Thursday night that potential lenders are eager to see the deal finished, and that GM wants it done as early as the end of October.

GM is trying to raise additional capital as it faces potentially huge losses when it reports third-quarter earnings in the coming weeks.

A major player in the deal is J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., one of the largest holders of Chrysler bank debt and one of GM's key lenders, the Journal said.

Another person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press on Thursday that no deal is imminent. Also, GM's board reportedly has been cool to the idea.

Industry analysts also are skeptical of how GM would benefit, but Chrysler has said it has about $11 billion in cash, and GM may be interested in gaining access to that.

Analysts say cash would be the only reason for GM to be interested in taking over Auburn Hills-based Chrysler, a privately held company that doesn't have to report earnings. It lost at least $510 million in the first quarter and $1.6 billion last year. Its sales are down 25 percent so far this year, the worst drop of any major automaker.

Detroit-based GM is burning through than $1 billion in cash per month, with several analysts predicting it will reach its minimum operating cash level of $14 billion sometime next year. Sales are down 18 percent, and the company has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, largely because of tax accounting changes.

All of this comes as U.S. sales have slowed to their lowest point in 15 years, making bankruptcy possible for all of the cash-strapped Detroit Three if things don't turn around soon enough.

Nardelli also said it's possible the U.S. industry could end the year selling around 13 million vehicles, more than 3 million below last year's level. Chrysler has had to reduce factory capacity by 1.1 million vehicles due to the slump, he said.

He said a million people are depending on Chrysler's success, including 66,409 employees, as well as those who work for parts suppliers, dealers, transportation firms and other companies.

"I hope the general public, I hope the leaders in Washington understand the implications of the pressure the industry is under right now," he said.

He said it remains to be seen whether Chrysler will need government help again like it did in the 1970s, and said a reduction in gas prices has been eclipsed by problems for consumers gaining access to credit.

Cerberus bought its stake in Chrysler in 2007 from Daimler AG in a $7.4 billion deal. Cerberus and Daimler confirmed last month that they are in talks for the private equity firm to acquire Daimler's remaining 19.9 percent Chrysler stake.

Officials: Financial crisis can lead to violence

An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide. A 90-year-old Ohio widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.

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In Massachusetts, a housewife who had hidden her family's mounting financial crisis from her husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."

Then Carlene Balderrama shot herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note on a table.

Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation's financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full.

"I've had a number of people say that this is the thing most reminiscent of 9/11 that's happened here since then," said the Rev. Canon Ann Malonee, vicar at Trinity Church in the heart of New York's financial district. "It's that sense of having the rug pulled out from under them."

With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

"A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything. They're losing their homes, they're going into foreclosure, they've lost their jobs," said Virginia Cervasio, executive director of a suicide resource enter in southwest Florida's Lee County.

But tragedies keep mounting:

• In Los Angeles last week, a former money manager fatally shot his wife, three sons and his mother-in-law before killing himself.

Karthik Rajaram, 45, left a suicide note saying he was in financial trouble and contemplated killing just himself. But he said he decided to kill his entire family because that was more honorable, police said.

Rajaram once worked for a major accounting firm and for Sony Pictures, and he had been part-owner of a financial holding company. But he had been out of work for several months, police said.

After the murder-suicide, police and mental-health officials in Los Angeles took the unusual step of urging people to seek help for themselves or loved ones if they feel overwhelmed by grim financial news. They said they were specifically afraid of the "copycat phenomenon."

"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair," Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said. "It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times."

• In Tennessee, a woman fatally shot herself last week as sheriff's deputies went to evict her from her foreclosed home.

Pamela Ross, 57, and her husband were fighting foreclosure on their home when sheriff's deputies in Sevierville came to serve an eviction notice. They were across the street when they heard a gunshot and found Ross dead from a wound to the chest. The case was even more tragic because the couple had recently been granted an extra 10 days to appeal.

• In Akron, Ohio, the 90-year-old widow who shot herself on Oct. 1 is recovering. A congressman told Addie Polk's story on the House floor before lawmakers voted to approve a $700 billion financial rescue package. Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae dropped the foreclosure, forgave her mortgage and said she could remain in the home.

• In Ocala, Fla., Roland Gore shot his wife and dog in March and then set fire to the couple's home, which had been in foreclosure, before killing himself. His case was one of several in which people killed spouses or pets, destroyed property or attacked police before taking their own lives.

"The financial stress builds up to the point the person feels they can't go on, and the person believes their family is better off dead than left without a financial support," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Washington D.C.-based Violence Policy Center.

Dr. Edward Charlesworth, a clinical psychologist in Houston, said the current crisis is breeding a sense of chronic anxiety among people who feel helpless and panic-stricken, as well as angry that their government has let them down.

"They feel like in this great society that we live in we should have more protection for the individuals rather than just the corporation," he said.

It's not yet clear there is a statistical link between suicides and the financial downturn since there is generally a two-year lag in national suicide figures. But historically, suicides increase in times of economic hardship. And the current financial crisis is already being called the worst since the Great Depression.

Rising mortgage defaults and falling home values are at the heart of it. More than 4 million Americans were at least one month behind on their mortgages at the end of June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

A record 500,000 had entered the foreclosure process. And that trend is expected to continue through next year, despite the current programs from the government and the lending industry to refinance delinquent homeowners into more affordable loans.

Counselors at Catholic Charities USA report seeing a "significant increase" in the need for housing counseling.

One counselor said half of her clients were on some form of antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication. The agency has seen a decrease in overall funding, but it has expanded foreclosure counseling and received nearly $2 million for such services in late 2007.

Adding to financially tense households is an air of secrecy. Experts said it's common for one spouse to blame the other for their financial mess or to hide it entirely, as Balderrama did.

After falling 3 1/2 years behind in payments, the Taunton, Mass., housewife had been intercepting letters from the mortgage company and shredding them before her husband saw them. She tried to refinance but was declined.

In July, on the day the house was to be auctioned, she faxed the note to the mortgage company. Then the 52-year-old walked outside, shot her three beloved cats and then herself with her husband's rifle.

Notes left on the table revealed months of planning. She'd picked out her funeral home, laid out the insurance policy and left a note saying, "pay off the house with the insurance money."

"She put in her suicide note that it got overwhelming for her," said her husband, John Balderrama. "Apparently she didn't have anyone to talk to. She didn't come to me. I don't know why. There's gotta be some help out there for people that are hurting, (something better) than to see somebody lose a life over a stupid house."

Article:Oct. 9th - a day that will live in financial infamy:/c/a/2008/10/09/MNOI13EEI4.DTL

Article:Oct. 9th - a day that will live in financial infamy:/c/a/2008/10/09/MNOI13EEI4.DTL

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Oct. 9th - a day that will live in financial infamy

Kathleen Pender, Net Worth

Thursday, October 9, 2008

(10-09) 19:50 PDT --

Fear turned into panic on Wall Street today as sellers indiscriminately dumped shares and potential buyers stood frozen like deer in the headlights.

Exactly one year after it hit its all-time high, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its seventh-straight loss, tumbling 678.91 points, or 7.3 percent, to close at 8,579.19. Since October began, it has fallen almost 21 percent.

Investors seem to be losing faith in the ability of the world's governments and central banks to unfreeze the credit markets and prevent a severe recession.

Also roiling the markets: The Securities and Exchange Commission today lifted its temporary ban on short-selling in almost 1,000 mostly financial companies. Short sellers, who bet against stocks they think will fall, have been blamed for contributing to the stock market collapse.

Today, however, investors abandoned stocks in all industries. Only 12 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 index eked out a gain.

Even IBM, which reported third-quarter earnings that were better than expected and reaffirmed its outlook for the fourth quarter, saw its shares fall 1.7 percent.

Much of the selling is believed to be coming from hedge funds and, to a lesser extent, mutual funds that need to sell stocks to pay off investors who want their money out. These funds are selling "whatever they can," says Stewart Pillette of Pillette Investment Management. Big, blue-chips stocks are often easier to sell than smaller ones, so they are getting jettisoned to raise cash.

Coincidentally, today also marked the six-year anniversary of the end of the last bear market.

During that bear market, which ended Oct. 9, 2002, the Dow fell 38 percent, the S&P 500 lost almost 50 percent and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 78 percent.

Since the current bear market started a year ago, the Dow has lost 39 percent, the S&P is off 42 percent and the Nasdaq is down 41 percent.

All three indexes, however, are still above where they were when the last bear market ended.

Capitulation?

Some analysts say the market appears to be going through capitulation, a period of heavy selling marked by pervasive gloom, when investors ignore good news and throw out the good with the bad. Many, but not all, bear markets end in a capitulation. When everyone who wants to sell has gotten out, a modest influx of buyers can lead to big gains.

The past week's selloff "absolutely" felt like capitulation, says Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. "It's total and complete revulsion. People are chucking out stocks, saying get me out of here. What we're learning is that capitulation doesn't have to happen in one day."

The problem with capitulations is that they are hard to identify, except in retrospect. A lot of selling that feels like a capitulation really isn't, while a real capitulation is not always obvious. Sometimes, though, people get it right.

On Oct. 10, 2002, the Dallas Morning News ran a story entitled "Darkest near the bottom." It started like this:

"Stocks received yet another cruel mugging Wednesday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to a five-year low. So is a selling climax at hand? Once again, there's a growing consensus among Wall Street pros that a day of final capitulation must be near. It had better come soon, though, or there won't be an investor left standing who cares anymore."

The story noted that "even General Electric Co., a paragon of the market, fell $1.35 to $22."

Although the day described did indeed mark the end of the bear market, it wasn't obvious until long after. At year end, news reports were still questioning whether investors had thrown in the towel. In early 2003, the stock market tumbled again, although it never got as low as it did the previous October. It wasn't until March 2003 that the market started its long upward climb.

Another problem with capitulations is that no two are alike.

"This is slow torture capitulation," Pillette says. "It's doing it in a way I've never seen before in my 45 years. Usually you get (days when the market is down 600 or 800) and then you get relief."

Pillette says his analysis of the market suggests it could fall 5 to 15 percent more. "Fear is not rampant yet," he says. "Almost everybody I talk to in the institutional world is expecting a big bounce. Because that's so pluralistic, I doubt that we are going to get it. My guess is we probably get it after the elections."

Nevertheless, Pillette says he has been buying stocks.

"Liquidity is abundant. There is more money sloshing around now than in my memory. It's not working because of a lack of confidence. The confidence is really a function of what bank is going to fail next," he says.

"I'm starting to nibble because I don't know where the bottom is," Pillette explains. "I bought a little Cisco today at $17.50. My thought is, if it goes to $13, I'll buy it on the way down. I'm doing the same with Intel, General Electric. I'm trying to find high-quality stocks that have been thrown away."

Timing it right

Meir Statman, a finance professor at Santa Clara University who studies investor behavior, says he's not going to "stick my neck out" and call this a capitulation.

"The decline in the price (of stocks) justifies the fundamentals," he says. "It's not all just panic."

Yet the odds favor a turnaround, eventually.

"What I know from my studies is that individual investors tend to extrapolate recent trends," Statman says. If stocks are going down, they think stocks will continue to go down.

"I also know that generally, those expectations turn out to be wrong. When people are most pessimistic, the likelihood is greater that the market will go up." But he adds, the odds are not necessarily high. "It's like saying there's a 53 percent chance the market will go up and a 47 percent chance it will go down."

Sometimes, he warns, "people are pessimistic and the market still goes down."

The opposite is also true. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan warned of "irrational exuberance" in the market in 1996. The market continued climbing until 2000.

Many investors have been burned overestimating how soon investors will become rational.

As John Maynard Keynes supposedly said, "Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay liquid," Statman says.

Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.

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Nebraska law lets parents abandon teens

By Jim Kavanagh
CNN

(CNN) -- Frustrated parents are dumping their teenagers at Nebraska hospitals -- even crossing state lines to do it -- and the state Legislature has scheduled a special hearing to try to stem the tide.

Nebraska's "safe haven" law, intended to allow parents to anonymously hand over an infant to a hospital without being prosecuted, isn't working out as planned.

Of the 17 children relinquished since the law took effect in July, only four are younger than 10 -- and all four are among the nine siblings abandoned by a man September 24 at an Omaha hospital.

On Tuesday, a 14-year-old girl from Council Bluffs, Iowa, was abandoned at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, just across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs. The case marks the first time a parent has crossed state lines to abandon a teenager inNebraska, authorities said.

"The few situations we've seen so far demonstrate the need for a change in Nebraska's safe haven law," Gov. Dave Heineman said in a statement Monday. "In the coming legislative session, I will advocate for changes that put the focus back on protecting an infant in danger. That should be our priority." Watch woman explain why she left 15-year-old at hospital »

All 50 states have safe haven laws, but only Nebraska's lacks an age limit. Nebraska's part-time Legislature is adjourned until January, but two state legislative committees will hold a joint hearing November 13 to discuss a remedy.

"They've got a huge problem," said Linda Spears, vice president for policy and public affairs for the Child Welfare League of America. "It's a pretty poorly constructed law to meet its original intent."

When it was introduced in the Legislature, the bill had a presumed age limitation of 72 hours, said Todd Landry, director of the state's Division of Children and Family Services.

"The original intent was to protect infants from the immediate danger of being harmed," he said.

However, the law's final language uses the word "child" and does not specify an age limit, leaving it open to interpretation. Other states' laws specify the maximum age at which a child may be relinquished, ranging from 72 hours in several states to 1 year in North Dakota, according to the National Center for State Courts.

"Clearly in these cases so far that we've seen, none of these children were in any immediate danger of being harmed," Landry said. "It is our opinion that the law does need to be modified."

The law is being abused, Heineman's statement said.

"Safe haven laws were not designed to allow families having difficulty with older youth and teenagers to abandon their children or responsibilities as parents," he said.

The parents may not always be to blame, the Child Welfare League's Spears said.

"The original safe haven laws were created for young moms who are having babies who didn't know how to get help. I think these are families with older kids who don't know how to get help and who are in desperate need," she said.

Most state laws fail to provide for research into who is abandoning babies and why, league spokeswoman Joyce Johnson said.

"Those are the kinds of things we've been wondering about and saying we need to know more about, and you'll never know if you just have a law that says you can anonymously leave a child somewhere, no questions asked," Johnson said.

New Jersey, she said, is an exception. That state's safe haven law provides funding for research and evaluation as well as $500,000 a year for public awareness, according to a September 2007 report by a New Jersey safe haven task force.

The Omaha man who left his nine children, ages 1 to 17, at Creighton University Medical Center was overwhelmed by the sudden death of his wife after the youngest child was born, he told CNN affiliate KETV.

"I was with her for 17 years, and then she was gone. What was I going to do?" Gary Staton said. "We raised them together. I didn't think I could do it alone. I fell apart. I couldn't take care of them."

Staton is just the kind of parent whom safe haven laws fail to help, Johnson said.

"He was grieving, he didn't have a lot of money, and all those children -- he was trying to figure out how to feed them, how to clothe them, and deal with the grief of losing his wife. He needed help," she said.

Heineman and Landry urged Nebraska parents who are having trouble coping to call the United Way's 211 resource line or Boys Town, a nationally known nonprofit child services organization based in Nebraska.

Other options include community and faith-based support groups, crisis hot lines, treatment centers and other services, Landry added.

All AboutNebraska • Parenting • Child Safety • New Jersey

Dow dips more than 500 on worries about financials

By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer15 mins ago

NEW YORK – The misery worsened on Wall Street Tuesday, with stocks piling on the losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in the Dow Jones industrials to more than 875 points amid escalating worries about credit markets and financial sector. The Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent.

Steps by the Federal Reserve to reinvigorate the dormant credit markets ultimately weren't enough to calm nervous investors. News about financial companies only added to their despondent mood.

"The calls I'm getting — every money manager I deal with, and every client I talk to — are just very emotional. This is a very, very emotional time, and most of them are taking steps to shore up their defenses, reducing exposure to stocks just to defend their portfolios," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned in a speech Tuesday that the financial crisis could prolong the difficulty the economy is facing. While his remarks were widely regarded as a sign that an interest rate cut could be in the offing, Wall Street appeared little comforted and focused on his downbeat assessment of the economy.

Earlier, the Fed announced plans to buy massive amounts of corporate debt to jump-start lending in the markets where many companies turn for short-term loans called commercial paper. The evaporation of faith that loans will be repaid has lenders weary and is making it more difficult and expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.

The credit markets did show some slight signs of easing as demand for safe-haven investments decreased, though that seemed to offer little comfort to investors still worried about the decreased levels of lending and their impact on the overall economy. The markets seized up last month after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. declared bankruptcy and the government stepped in to rescue insurer American International Group Inc.

The Fed's latest move to lubricate the credit markets stops short of a broad interest rate reduction that some investors say is necessary to restore confidence in the market. Other market watchers argue, however, that more focused steps like Fed's decision to buy commercial paper are what's needed.

But investors remained worried about financial companies like Bank of America Corp., which fell after slashing its dividend and reporting that its third-quarter profit fell 68 percent. The stock fell $8.45, or 26 percent, to $23.77 Tuesday. It was by far the steepest decliner among the 30 stocks that comprise the Dow industrials.

And a rumor that Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. was pulling out of a deal to acquire up to 24.9 percent of the voting shares of Morgan Stanley sent theinvestment bank's stock tumbling $5.85, or 25 percent, to $17.65. The companies denied the rumor, but the Street was panicky enough that it still sent Morgan Stanley and other financials tumbling.

Investors are fearful that financial companies will continue to face cash shortages even with efforts in Washington and by other governments to resuscitate lending.

"It's such a widespread loss of confidence and, to some extent, a race for the exits," Johnson said.

Stocks ended lower for the fifth straight session. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 508.39, or 5.11 percent, to 9,447.11. The drop came a day after the blue chips fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years. The Dow skidded as much as 800 points on Monday before finishing with a loss of 370.

Broader indexes also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 60.66, or 5.74 percent, to 996.23, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 108.08, or 5.80 percent, to 1,754.88.

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On the Net:

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Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Police: Jobless father kills family, self

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.

Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse.

The two-story rented home is in a gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The shootings were discovered after 8:20 a.m. Monday, after a neighbor called police to report that the wife had failed to pick her up to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore said.

Ed Winter, assistant chief from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, identified the suspect as Karthik Rajaram, 45.

Winter said the victims included Rajaram's mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA. Watch police say the gunman was "embroiled in a financial crisis" »

Also dead were Rajaram's wife, 39, Subasari Rajaram, and their two other sons, 12 and 7. Some of the victims had been shot more than once, and their identities were not immediately confirmed, he said.

"Due to the nature of their injuries, it's been a little difficult," Winter said, adding that there were no signs of a struggle.

Police first found the mother-in-law shot in her bed in a downstairs bedroom, Moore said.

Upstairs, the couple's eldest old son was shot in the master bedroom; the wife in another bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head; the two younger sons in the bedroom they shared, both shot in the head. The 12-year-old was on the floor and the 7-year-old in bed, Moore said.Watch more on what police had to say about tragedy »

The suspect was also in that bedroom, a gun still in his hand.

The killings are thought to have occurred after 6 p.m. Saturday, when the man was last reported seen, Moore said.

Inside the house, police also found three letters, one to law enforcement acknowledging responsibility for the killings, a second to friends and relatives and a third that appears to be the suspect's will, Moore said.

"He attests to some financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for the taking of the lives of his family members and himself as a result of those financial difficulties," Moore said.

Neighbors, family and friends told police that the suspect, who had not worked for several months, had said in recent days he was having had extreme financial difficulties, Moore said.

One of the letters, intended for friends and marked "personal and confidential," detailed his financial transactions that resulted in "an unfortunate, downward spiral," Moore said.

"His narrative is one of talking about this tragedy befalling him and his contemplation of an available exit or solution," Moore said. "One is taking his own life and the other is taking the lives of his family and himself. ... He talked himself into the second strategy, believing that was in effect the honorable thing to do."

Moore said the several-page narrative appeared to have been written over a period of time. "This was something that was not a spur-of-the-moment type of event," he said.

Moore said it was clear to police that the family members were close and "had an affection for each other." He said the parents had given up their master bedroom to their eldest -- who was spending the weekend home from college -- "out of respect."

"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit."

No neighbors reported having heard gunshots, and there was no sign of forced entry at the house, Moore said.

Rajaram was involved in a financial holding company as part owner "at least," Moore said.

There is no evidence he had had any history of mental difficulties, nor was there an indication he had sought counseling, Moore said.

Neighbor Trish Harrison, who lives three houses from the crime scene, said the family had lived in the community for about a year, but kept to themselves and had little interaction with neighbors. The parents were from India, she said.

The Los Angeles Unified School District was making arrangements for crisis counselors to visit the schools attended by the two younger sons.

Economy sheds most jobs since 2003, more cuts seen

(10-03) 21:06 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Jobs are vanishing at the fastest pace in more than five years with pink slips likely to keep stacking higher in the months ahead, an urgent signal the country may be careening toward a deep and painful recession just as Americans prepare to elect a new president.

Whether that's Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, one of them will be dealing with the weakest employment climate in years.

Increasingly skittish employers dropped the ax even harder in September, chopping payrolls by 159,000 — more than double the cuts made just one month before. It was the ninth straight month of job losses. A staggering 760,000 jobs have disappeared so far this year.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, up sharply from 4.7 percent a year ago. Over the last year, the number of unemployed people has risen by 2.2 million to 9.5 million.

"Washington, the labor market has a problem," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "Firms are hunkering down and running as lean as possible. ... We are likely to see more months of job losses before conditions turn around."

The unemployment rate for blacks shot up to 11.4 percent, the highest since late 2003.

Even with Congress' unprecedented $700 billion financial bailout, the faltering economy and the jobs market probably will get worse. Many believe the economy will jolt into reverse later this year — if it hasn't already_ and will stay sickly well into next year.

The unemployment rate could hit 7 or 7.5 percent by late 2009. If that happens, it would mark the highest since after the 1990-91 recession. Some economists say the jobless rate could rise even more before the situation starts to get better.

Pressure is growing on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to do an about-face and lower a key interest rate in a bid to revive the economy. Many now think that will happen at the Fed's next meeting on Oct. 28-29 or even earlier.

The hope riding on such a move would be to spur nervous consumers and businesses to spend more freely again. They've clamped down as housing, credit and financial problems intensified last month, throwing Wall Street into chaos.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials slid 157.47 points after relief over the bailout plan's passage gave way to worries about the economy.

Friday's employment snapshot is the last before America goes to the polls in November.

Mounting job losses, shrinking paychecks, shriveling nest eggs and rising foreclosures all have weighed heavily on American voters.

The economy is their No. 1 concern. An Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this week showed that likely voters now back Obama 48 percent to McCain's 41 percent. They believe Obama is better suited to lead the country through the financial turbulence.

"I will rebuild the middle class and create millions of new jobs by investing in infrastructure and renewable energy," vowed Obama.

McCain pledged to "open markets around the globe for our products, cut taxes and expand domestic production of energy ... I will create jobs and get the economy on the right track."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto called the latest employment figures disappointing "but not unexpected given the shocks to the economy."

The 159,000 tally of total job losses — government and private payrolls — was the most since March 2003, when the labor market was still struggling to get back on its feet after being knocked down by the 2001 recession. Given a small net gain in government employment, the picture was particularly dark for private employers. They cut 168,000 jobs last month, the 10th month of such losses.

The pink slips were widespread.

Manufacturers (especially auto makers), home builders, retailers, securities and investment firms, hotels and motels, accountants and bookkeepers, architects and engineers, and legal services all cut back. So did temporary help firms — usually a barometer of future hiring. That overwhelmed employment gains by the government, in education, health care and elsewhere.

Cost-cutting employers are getting rid of workers as companies chafe under all the economy's problems. Companies announcing layoffs in September included Hanesbrands Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Schering-Plough Corp., Alaska Airlines and Alcoa Inc.

Spooked consumers and businesses have pulled back so much that some analysts fear the economy could stall out — or even worse — shrink in the July-to-September quarter. Many predict the economy will contract in both the final quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, meeting the classic definition of a recession.

"The economy was on the way down even before the latest tightening in the credit crunch," said Nigel Gault, economist at Global Insight.

Wage growth for workers is slowing, meaning they'll be more hard-pressed to spend and help the ailing economy.

Average hourly earnings rose to $18.17 in September, a 0.2 percent increase. That was half the pace logged in the previous month. Over the past year, wages have grown 3.4 percent, but paychecks aren't stretching as far because of high food and energy prices.

Strains on Americans were sorely evident. The number of consumer bankruptcy filings rose about 29 percent in September from a year ago, the American Bankruptcy Institute reported Friday.

The financial crisis that intensified in September is forcing a seismic shake-up on Wall Street.

Lehman Brothers, the country's fourth-largest investment bank, filed for bankruptcy protection. A weakened Merrill Lynch, deciding it couldn't go it alone anymore, found help in the arms of Bank of America. AIG was thrown a financial lifeline. And, the last two investment houses — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — decided to convert themselves into commercial banks to better weather the financial storms. The number of banks that have failed this year are up sharply from last year. On Friday, Wachovia Corp. said it will be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. wiping out Wachovia's previous plan to sell its banking operations to rival suitor Citigroup Inc.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/02/financial/f053356D71.DTL

Jury finds O.J. Simpson guilty on all charges

(10-03) 23:17 PDT LAS VEGAS (AP) --

O.J. Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after he was acquitted of murder in 1995, was found guilty Friday of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Simpson, 61, could go to prison for life.

A weary and somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read by the clerk in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody.

The Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 12 other charges for gathering up five men a year ago and storming into a room at a hotel-casino, where the group seized several game balls, plaques and photos. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one of them said Simpson asked him to bring a gun.

Simpson's co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, was also convicted on all charges.

The verdict came 13 years to the day after Simpson was cleared of murdering his ex-wife and a friend of hers in Los Angeles in one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson has been found guilty on all charges in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room more than a year ago.

The 61-year-old former football faces up to life in prison.

A somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read Friday in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody.

The verdict comes 13 years to the day after Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.

Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart also was found guilty on all charges and taken into custody.

The men were tried on 12 criminal charges.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/03/national/a030435D51.DTL

Bush signs historic rescue package

By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch

Last update: 4:26 p.m. EDT Oct. 3, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The House voted Friday to approve a revised $700 billion bailout plan to stabilize the financial markets, just four days after rejecting the original version.

President Bush immediately signed the measure into law.

Stocks traded sharply higher at midday in anticipation of the bill's passage, but all of those gains were erased after the vote. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7% for the week. See Market Snapshot.

The House's vote follows the Senate's approval on Wednesday and gives the Treasury secretary extraordinary power to buy bad assets from financial companies, boosts federal bank insurance and requires the government to modify some mortgages. It also contains a host of controversial tax breaks and some caps on executive pay.

House lawmakers voted 263 to 171 to pass the bill, reversing the chamber's rejection of it on Monday, which sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a record 777-point freefall.

House leaders were cautiously optimistic before the vote, but uncertainty over its fate lingered until the last minute. Many members said the bill wasn't perfect but that action was needed to get the flow of credit going again and to help taxpayers.

"If we don't act now, those who are least to blame for this mess will suffer the most," said Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill.

Video: Palin, Biden tussle over plan

The best of plans or the worst of plans? Vice-presidential candidates Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin agreed Wall Street's collapse was due to avarice, but differed on the criteria for a rescue plan. (Oct. 2)

Democrats also warned that the economy would suffer without passage of the bill.

"We are facing an abyss," said Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, who chairs a House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets. "The urgency is clear," added House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "We are addressing the real pain felt by Mr. and Mrs. Jones on Main Street," she said, in contrast to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Wall Street.

Bush said that the ultimate cost to taxpayers would be lower than the $700 billion price tag but cautioned that the benefits wouldn't be immediate.

"It will take some time for this legislation to have its full effect on the economy," Bush remarked at the White House.

Paulson pledges 'rapid' action

The core of the plan authorizes the Treasury secretary to buy as much as $700 billion in bad assets from financial companies in a bid to get credit flowing to consumers and businesses. It allows the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to raise its deposit-insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000 and also requires government agencies to modify troubled mortgages. The bill allows regulators to suspend certain accounting rules for securities that some argue have contributed to the credit crisis.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday he will now work with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC to enact the new powers.

"We will move rapidly to implement the new authorities, but we will also move methodically," Paulson said in a statement. "Each situation will be different and we must implement these new programs with a strategy that allows us to adapt to changing circumstances and conditions, and attract private capital," said Paulson. See related story.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the bill demonstrates the government's commitment to support and strengthen the economy.

"The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses," Bernanke said in a brief statement Friday. He added that the central bank will use "all of the powers at our disposal" to mitigate disruptions in the credit markets and foster a strong economy. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the new law should ease fears that have led to disruption in the credit markets.

Banking, financial and business trade groups hailed passage of the bill on Friday.

"This legislation represents a necessary solution to the crisis on Wall Street and in financial centers around the world, and it will ensure that credit is available to consumers and businesses on Main Street," said Edward Yingling, president and chief executive of the American Bankers Association. "It will provide the financial backstop needed to unfreeze the financial markets and provide for greater transparency and accountability for firms that participate in the program."

Drop in Dow had 'chilling' effect

Earlier this week, House Republican Leader John Boehner said on Fox News that the drop in the Dow had a "chilling" effect on many House members and their constituents.

President Bush called about three dozen House members Thursday, the White House said. He heard from some members that they would switch their "no" votes, according to White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

In Friday's vote, 172 Democrats joined 91 Republicans to support the bill. Democrats opposed to the bill numbered 63 on Friday, while 108 Republicans voted against it.

On Monday, only 65 Republicans had supported the White House plan while 133 voted against it.

Some dissenters remained unmoved Friday, however, such as Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., who said Friday morning on the House floor that he wasn't going to give Paulson "a blank check."

Meanwhile, a leading House Democrat said that the bill was just the first step in repairing the financial markets.

"We will be back next year to do some serious surgery on the financial structure," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.

The Senate approved the bill on Wednesday night by a vote of 74 to 25 following the 228 to 205 defeat Monday in the House. Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., returned from the presidential campaign trail to cast their votes for the bill in the Senate Wednesday.

Robert Schroeder is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington. MarketWatch reporter Greg Robb contributed to this story.

Fannie Mae forgives loan for woman who shot herself

(CNN) -- Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home.

Addie Polk, 90, of Akron, Ohio, became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis when she was hospitalized after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon.

On Friday, Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said the mortgage association had decided to halt action against Polk and sign the property "outright" to her.

"We're going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house," Faith said. "Given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate."

Residents of Akron have rallied behind Polk, who is being treated at Akron General Medical Center. She was listed in critical condition Friday afternoon, according to Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.

"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill."

Neighbor Robert Dillon, 62, used a ladder to enter a second-story bathroom window of Polk's home after he and the deputies heard loud noises inside, Dillon said.

"I was calling her name as I went in, and she wasn't responding," he said.

He found her lying on a bed, and he could see she was breathing. He also noticed a long-barreled handgun on the bed, but thought she just had it there for protection. He touched her on the shoulder.

"Then she kind of moved toward me a little and I saw that blood, and I said, 'Oh, no. Miss Polk musta done shot herself,' " Dillon said.

He hurried downstairs and let the deputies in. He said they told him they found Polk's car keys, pocketbook and life insurance policy laid out neatly where they could be found, suggesting that she intended to kill herself.

"There's a lot of people like Miss Polk right now. That's the sad thing about it," said Sommerville, who had met Polk before and rushed to the scene when contacted by police. "They might not be as old as her, some could be as old as her. This is just a major problem." Watch Polk's neighbor describe what he saw »

In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit.

Over the next couple of years, Polk missed payments on the 101-year-old home that she and her late husband purchased in 1970. In 2007, Fannie Mae assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.

Deputies had tried to serve Polk's eviction notice more than 30 times before Wednesday's incident, Sommerville said. She never came to the door, but the notes the deputies left would always disappear, so they knew she was inside and ambulatory, he said.

The city is creating programs to help people keep their homes, Sommerville said. "But what do you do when there's just so many people out there and the economy is in the shape that it's in?"

Many businesses and individuals have called since Wednesday offering to help Polk, Sommerville said.

"We're going to do an evaluation to see what's best for her," he said. "If she's strong enough and can go home, I think we should work with her to where she goes back home. If not, we need to find another place for her to live where she won't have to worry about this ever again."

For his part, Dillon hopes his neighbor of 38 years can return to her home.

"She loves that house," he said. "I hope they can get her back in. That would make me feel better because I don't know what they're going to put in there once she leaves."

He said the neighborhood is declining because so many people have lost their homes.

"There's a lot of vacant houses around here. ... Now I'm going to have a house on my left and a house on my right, vacant," he said. "That don't make me feel good, because we were good neighbors, we trusted each other, and we looked out for each other.

"This neighborhood is shot, to me, from what it used to be," he added.

"When I moved here, if it were like it is now, I would have never moved here. But it was a nice neighborhood. ...

"I'll just tough it out. I'm too old to start thinking about buying another house."

Sommerville said that by the time people call for help with an impending foreclosure, it's usually too late.

"I'm glad it's not too late for Miss Polk, because she could have taken her life," Sommerville said. "Miss Polk will probably end up on her feet. But I'm not sure if anybody else will."

CNN's Jim Kavanagh, Brad Lendon and Mallory Simon contributed to this report.

AP Poll: Obama takes a 7-point lead over McCain

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 19 minutes ago

Barack Obama has surged to a seven-point lead over John McCain one month before the presidential election, lifted by voters who think the Democrat is better suited to lead the nation through its sudden financial crisis, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that underscores the mounting concerns of some McCain backers.

Likely voters now back Obama 48-41 percent over McCain, a dramatic shift from an AP-GfK survey that gave the Republican a slight edge nearly three weeks ago, before Wall Street collapsed and sent ripples across worldwide markets. On top of that, unrelated surveys show Obama beating McCain in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania — three states critical in the state-by-state battle for the presidency.

Several GOP strategists close to McCain's campaign privately fret that his chances for victory are starting to slip away.

These Republicans, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid angering the campaign, point to several factors: Obama's gains nationally and in traditionally GOP states, no McCain gain from the first debate, McCain's struggles with economic issues as the financial crisis has unfolded and deepening public skepticism about his running mate, Sarah Palin.

They said McCain's options for shaking up the race are essentially limited to game-changing performances in the final presidential debates or in Palin's vice presidential debate with Joe Biden Thursday night. Short of that, they said, McCain can do little but hope Obama stumbles or an outside event breaks the GOP nominee's way.

Not all Republican insiders are so pessimistic.

Obama's failure to achieve a double-digit lead and maintain it "has given a lot of hope to Republicans," GOP pollster Whit Ayres said. Yet he also allowed, "You can't have a playing field that leans this heavily toward the Democrats and not be nervous."

Added Neil Newhouse, also a Republican pollster: "If anybody thinks we're in for a straightforward next month of this campaign all they have to do is look back at the last 30 days" of topsy turvy developments.

To be sure, the election is still a month away, plenty of time for anything to happen in politics.

Yet the AP-GfK poll shows McCain faces substantial hurdles.

With the perilous financial situation at the forefront of voters' minds, 60 percent in the survey say it's more important to them to choose a president who would make the right economic decisions than a commander in chief who would make the right decisions on national security. Obama leads among economic voters, with 63 percent support, while McCain is ahead among security voters, with 73 percent.

As the two senators prepared to vote late Wednesday on the administration's $700 billion bailout plan, 16 percent of likely voters said they thought McCain hurt negotiations over the proposal when he bolted back to Washington last week to get involved. Just 5 percent thought Obama did damage when he returned after a summons by President Bush to attend a White House meeting on the crisis.

McCain also lost ground among likely voters on experience, though he still leads on the issue, while Obama's marks ticked up slightly. And McCain slid a bit as voters measured which candidate "cares about people like me," while Obama gained.

Adding to McCain's woes, just 25 percent of likely voters say Palin has the right experience to be president if needed, a huge drop from 40 percent in the previous poll last month. She posted an enormous loss in confidence among Republicans; three in four had called her experienced enough before, but not even half say that now.

"If she was running the helm, she wouldn't know what she's doing," said Caitlyn Pardue, a Republican from Rohnert Park, Calif., who decided last week that she probably would vote for Obama after determining that Palin "doesn't have the breadth of knowledge." Pardue, 60, called McCain's selection of Palin "pretty ill-advised" and added: "It shows irresponsibility to me."

In Port Orange, Fla., Jaimye Strickland just decided this week that she'll probably support McCain — even though she's "hoping and praying" he doesn't end up following Bush's path. "I'm afraid of Obama," the Republican, age 56, said. "He doesn't have the experience that McCain does." She also said she worries that "he has some Muslim ties," even though she knows he's a Christian.

Outwardly, McCain's campaign expresses optimism, and advisers say they expect the race to reset itself several more times.

But privately some advisers acknowledge the increasingly difficult seas he is trying to navigate as the economy dominates the race. The Republican has previously agreed that the subject is not his forte, and historically the party in power loses elections during economic recessions.

Seeking traction, McCain sought to change the story line as the week began by questioning Obama's character, particularly during a crisis.

"A vote for Senator Obama will leave this country at risk," McCain said in a scathing speech. "We need a president who will always tell the American people the truth. ... Country first or Obama first?"

Efforts also were under way Wednesday that suggested McCain and the Republican National Committee would start ramping up TV advertising — and going on the air in more media markets — to close the spending gap in Florida, Missouri and other key states. Industry officials say Obama is shelling out $13 million this week compared with $11 million by McCain and the RNC combined.

Meanwhile, it appears Obama may be padding his edge in the Electoral College vote count in battleground states.

Polls show he has started pulling away from McCain in pivotal vote-rich states that Democrat John Kerry won four years ago and that McCain has made targets this year, including Michigan and Pennsylvania. Surveys also show that Obama is a few percentage points or more ahead in Ohio and Florida, two critical states that Bush won four years ago and that McCain must retain to have any hope of winning the White House.

Quinnipiac University surveys released Wednesday found that Obama's support jumped to 50 percent or more in three of those states: Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Combined, they offer 68 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory on Nov. 4.

At the same time, McCain and his Republicans find themselves in the undesirable position of having to defend traditionally GOP states they hadn't anticipated would be competitive. Obama successfully put Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina into play by pouring money and manpower into the states at levels until recently unmatched by Republicans.

___

AP Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Christine Simmons contributed to this report.