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In the Nation

Candidate in S.C. seeks new primary

COLUMBIA, S.C. - U.S. Senate candidate Vic Rawl asked Monday for a new Democratic primary after his loss to Alvin Greene, an unemployed veteran and political unknown who raised no money and had no signs or ads.

The Democratic Party's executive committee plans a hearing Thursday on the protest by Rawl, a former state lawmaker, and could order last Tuesday's vote results overturned. Rawl could also appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Greene, 32, defeated Rawl in the primary to pick the party's challenger to Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), the heavy favorite in the fall. Greene drew 59 percent of the vote to Rawl's 41 percent.

At a news conference, Rawl said he suspected that Greene's victory was due to malfunctioning voting machines or software. Greene did not return a call Monday seeking comment. - AP

Ark. forecasters issued 4 warnings

LANGLEY, Ark. - Before a wall of water swept through a narrow gorge in Arkansas' Ouachita Mountains, worried forecasters sent warnings four times in one hour to advise of the potential for flash flooding.

But those warnings, issued in the middle of the night, never reached vacationing families in a remote campground in the floodwaters' path. The camp had no ranger on-site, no cell-phone service, and no sirens. Deputies at the nearest sheriff's departments were at least an hour's drive away.

As searchers Monday recovered the body of a 20th person, a young girl, killed in the raging torrent early Friday, attention shifted to preventing similar tragedies. Federal and state officials planned to conduct a review to determine what factors contributed to the disaster. - AP

Indictment: N.Y. mayor swindled

NEW YORK - A Republican operative was indicted Monday on charges he exploited his political reputation to swindle $1.1 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, claiming he would use funds to help guard against election fraud but instead buying a house, prosecutors said.

John Haggerty duped Bloomberg and his political advisers into giving the money to the state Independence Party to help with ballot security during the mayor's campaign for a third term, District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said. Haggerty laundered the money and used it for personal expenses in the months after the election, Vance said.

Haggerty now works for Carl Paladino, a businessman running for governor. He pleaded not guilty Monday at his arraignment on charges of grand larceny, money-laundering, and falsifying business records. Defense attorney Raymond Castello said his client spent hundreds of hours doing the job he was paid to do. Bloomberg declined to comment. - AP

Elsewhere:

Dr. Conrad Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of singer Michael Jackson, will keep his California medical license after a judge ruled Monday that he lacked the authority to revoke it. Murray is accused of giving Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol last June.