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Abducted Md. girl, 11, is found dead

SALISBURY, Md. - The body of a Maryland girl who authorities say was abducted by a registered sex offender was found yesterday near the Delaware state line after thousands of volunteers fanned out to look for her.

The body of Sarah H. Foxwell, 11, was found about 4 p.m., Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said at a news conference. He offered few other details.

A registered sex offender, Thomas J. Leggs Jr., has been charged in her kidnapping. Leggs, 30, is a former boyfriend of the girl's aunt, who is her legal guardian. The sheriff said Leggs had been uncooperative and "of no assistance to our investigators." A public defender representing Leggs has not returned a call seeking comment.

Lewis said the girl was last seen Tuesday night at her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. - AP

Obama, in Hawaii, visits Marine base

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii - President Obama and Michelle Obama visited military members and their families yesterday at a Marine Corps base near their rented vacation home on Oahu.

The couple made the unannounced stop as military members ate their Christmas meal. The president walked through the dining hall and thanked men and women in uniform for their service.

Earlier, he began the first full day of his vacation with a trip to the gym and an exchange of gifts with his family.

The holiday events were interrupted, though, by a briefing for the president on the failed terrorist attack on a Northwest Airlines flight as it was landing in Detroit.

Officials said earlier that work would continue on Obama's agenda during his vacation and that he would receive necessary briefings but that there would be no public events.

Nevertheless, workspace for the traveling White House press corps includes a camera-ready podium with U.S. flags for backdrops should Obama need to address reporters during his stay. - AP

Charity worker is slain in kids' sight

LITTLE ROCK - A Salvation Army worker was shot and killed Christmas Eve in front of his three young children by a man who tried to rob him outside the charity's community center in North Little Rock, a Salvation Army official said yesterday.

Police were looking for the two men who accosted Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise, 40.

Wise and his wife, Cindy, had just adopted their children - ages 4, 6, and 8 - last year, said Maj. Harvey Johnson, area commander of the Salvation Army. The three are siblings who came from an abusive family. They were receiving counseling after their father's death, he said.

Wise had worked for three years in a low-income neighborhood troubled by gangs and drugs, Johnson said. He ran youth programs, a food pantry, and church services. - AP

Elsewhere:

Virginia has been reimbursed $421,708 by the federal government for providing free bus service to President Obama's inauguration. The state says the service carried an estimated 4 percent of those attending the event Jan. 20.