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BELTON - Bell County became one of 37 counties included in a state disaster declaration Monday. “We took the steps we needed to take,” County Judge Jon Burrows said about the efforts to help local residents recover from flooding last week. “The governor took the steps he needed to take.”

WASHINGTON - President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from a 2½-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh. Bush´s move came just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. That meant Libby was likely to have to report soon, and it put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby´s allies to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney´s former chief of staff.

CAMERON - State prison parolee and registered sex offender Willie Dwayne Whitfield, 39, of Cameron interrupted his jury trial Monday in Judge Ed Magre´s 20th District Court with a guilty plea to a charge that he sexually assaulted an elderly Cameron woman in her home at night in September. Whitfield had pleaded innocent to the first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of an elderly person. A jury of five women and seven men was seated around noon just before Whitfield decided to plead guilty. Whitfield entered guilty pleas in two counts of the indictment, but pleaded not true to the enhancement paragraph relating to a sexual assault conviction in Tarrant County.

LONDON - At least three physicians were identified Monday among suspects arrested in Britain´s failed car bomb attacks, and authorities announced three new arrests - including a doctor in Australia - as the investigation spread overseas. British media reports said an Indian doctor also was among the eight people in custody and another outlet said at least five of the detainees in Britain were physicians. British police confirmed a Palestinian doctor and Iraqi physician were among those held, while Australian officials said a foreign doctor working there had been detained in the case.

WIMBLEDON, England - Hobbled and hurting and essentially playing on one leg, Serena Williams managed to gut out a three-set victory at Wimbledon on Monday against an opponent who helped by fading right along with the daylight. Williams crumpled to the grass in the second set with a left calf injury, was treated on court, then kept on playing, barely able to move. Given a reprieve by a nearly two-hour rain delay, Williams returned to compete, over her mother´s protests.

BOSTON (AP) - Eric Hinske had a bases-loaded triple and Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run double as Boston´s bats came alive in a 7-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night. Boston salvaged a split of the four-game series after scoring seven runs in the first three games against Texas, which has the second-worst ERA in the major leagues. Coming into the series, the Red Sox had been swept in a three-game series at Seattle.

HOUSTON - Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer and the Houston Astros scored twice in the seventh inning on bases-loaded walks in a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night. Carlos Lee had an RBI single and a towering solo homer and Craig Biggio had three hits, including two doubles, as the Astros won for the seventh time in their last eight home games.