OWOSSO, Mich. – A Michigan man charged with killing an abortion protester and a business owner told police he had guns loaded in his truck when he took two nieces and a friend to school just before the shooting spree.

An affidavit unsealed Friday also says 33-year-old trucker Harlan Drake told police he shot 61-year-old Mike Fuoss and 63-year-old abortion foe James Pouillon on Sept. 11 in Owosso, 70 miles northwest of Detroit.

Authorities say Drake didn’t like Pouillon’s graphic signs and held a grudge against Fuoss.

The affidavit says Drake told police he loaded guns into his Ford pickup the night before the shootings, dropped off his nieces and one niece’s boyfriend at school and then shot Pouillon outside the boyfriend’s school. Fuoss was shot later at his office.

‘Drug kingpin’ convicted

by New York jury

The Associated Press

NEW YORK – A Guatemalan designated as one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins has been convicted of cocaine importation and distribution charges.

Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova (HOR’-heh MAH’-reeoh Pah-REH-dess Cor-DOH’-vah) was convicted Friday by a federal jury in Manhattan on charges he led a drug-trafficking syndicate that smuggled tons of cocaine into the country from Central America.

Paredes-Cordova was captured in Honduras in May 2008 while living there under a false identity. Before that, he was designated by the United States as one of the most powerful and dangerous drug traffickers in the world.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the conviction ends a more than decade-long run of crime for Paredes-Cordova. He was prosecuted under a 2003 indictment.

Computers, records seized at ACORN offices

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization’s national headquarters was based in New Orleans.

“This is an investigation of everything – ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law,” Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.

ACORN staff on the scene declined to comment, but an attorney for the group said in a statement the raid was prompted by allegations that former ACORN employees had removed or altered electronic documents and may do so in the future.

Tens of thousands of homes flooded in Mexico

The Associated Press

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico – A week of torrential rain has flooded the homes of more than 200,000 people along Mexico’s Gulf coast, officials said Friday. Residents in some towns complained that no help had arrived.

The flooding in eastern Tabasco state has worsened as rains persist and more rivers overflow their banks. Three people drowned earlier in the week while trying to flee a torrent of water in a drainage canal.

People “are in a desperate situation,” Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said, but he added that many were ignoring pleas to move to shelters for fear their homes would be looted.

The floods affect more than a dozen towns.

Santos Perez Jimenez said no help had arrived in his rural community of Luis Cabrera.

“We’re trying to get our things out as best we can,” Perez Jimenez said. “We’ve radioed for help several times but they have not paid attention to us.”

An estimated 20,000 people were in 100 shelters set up by the state. Others, however, set up makeshift tents on dry land near their soaked homes, fearing looting.

“This is the closest we can be to our stuff. And we are used to these floods,” said Rebecca Rodriguez, who was living under a plastic sheet along a stretch of highway between Tabasco and Veracruz state.

Floods occur yearly in Tabasco despite government efforts to improve infrastructure. In 2007, floods left 1 million homes under water and killed 33 people.