Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission plans to propose today new rules for reducing the annoyance of unwanted telephone solicitations as it begins to push for the establishment of a national “do-not-call” registry.

With a registry, people could make a single call to get their names removed from many telemarketing lists. The agency is also expected to propose that telemarketers be barred from blocking any identifying information from caller-ID equipment so people could know who is calling.

If approved, the rules could be in place in a year. But first they would be subject to public comment, and the Direct Marketing Association has signaled its strong opposition.

FTC Chairman Timothy Muris says he envisions a toll-free number that people could call to opt out of solicitation lists.

Ex-con killer, son, missing

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Police and relatives searched yesterday for a convicted killer diagnosed with schizophrenia and his 5-year-old son.

Maumelle Police Chief Sam Williams said Louis Peyton Sr., 35, of Maumelle apparently picked up his son, Louis Peyton Jr., who goes by Luke, from school Wednesday afternoon and neither has been seen since.

The boy’s mother, Amber Roach of Ozark, has not lived with him and his father for the last few years. The boy and his father live with Fred Peyton, the boy’s grandfather and Louis Peyton Sr.’s father.

In 1989, Louis Peyton was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a friend. He served two years of a 10-year sentence before he was paroled to a mental health facility. Psychiatric evaluations after the killing led to his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

Least-affordable housing

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.—San Francisco no longer tops the list for least-affordable housing in the nation, a distinction that now falls an hour and a half to the south to Santa Cruz.

That result comes from the National Association of Home Builders, which compiles the list each year by comparing family incomes and home prices for metropolitan areas around the country. The latest survey is based on third-quarter numbers for 2001.

The Santa Cruz metro area’s median income is $65,000, and the median home price is $420,000, up $5,000 from the previous quarterly survey.

San Francisco dropped to second, as its median home price fell $10,000 to $520,000, still the most expensive median home price in the country.

In fact, nine of the 10 least-affordable markets in the nation are in California.

Rampage victims recover

GRUNDY, Va.—Two students wounded in a shooting rampage at the Appalachian School of Law last week that left three people dead have been released from a hospital.

Rebecca Brown, 38, and Martha Madeline Short, 37, were discharged Sunday from Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., said hospital spokeswoman Amy Stevens.

A third student, Stacey Beans, 22, was upgraded from fair to good condition.

Appalachian School of Law Shootings

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)