ST. LOUIS > Man gets prison for murder • Darel Lotts, 22, of Lake Saint Louis, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the shooting of two men, one of whom died, when a drug deal went awry in July 2008 in St. Louis. In July, a jury convicted Lotts, of the 12500 block of Sparkling Drive, of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the death of Jamar Starks, 22. Witnesses testified that Lotts was trying to buy drugs from Starks' half brother when the defendant tried to rob the men in the 1300 block of Burd Avenue. Lotts shot both men in the back when they tried to flee. Starks, of the 8900 block of Edna Avenue, died at the scene.

ST. LOUIS > Fire victim's name released • Police said Friday that Clifford P. Washburn, 46, was the man killed in a fire in his rented home on the Hill in the 5200 block of Wilson Avenue earlier this week. The name of a female fatality, Allison Garcia, 38, was released earlier but officials had trouble locating Washburn's family. Firefighters summoned to the home Wednesday afternoon found that a fire sometime overnight had burned itself out. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

ST. LOUIS > Tax preparer convicted • Tax preparer Kamiko Monroe, 36 pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in St. Louis to three counts of filing false claims for $652,000 in refunds, prosecutors said. Monroe, of Dellwood, prepared and filed almost 200 electronic returns for tax years 2004-2007 until Internal Revenue Service agents searched her business, Katy's Tax Service, in the 3100 block of Fee Fee Road in Bridgeton. Monroe filed returns with false income amounts, false exemptions and improperly claimed a credit, prosecutors said. She and unnamed others solicited clients to participate in the scam, then shared the bogus refunds with those clients. Many of the co-conspirators have already been prosecuted. Monroe is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19.

EDWARDSVILLE > Man accused of injuring son • Prosecutors allege that an Edwardsville man squeezed and shook his 3-year-old son on Monday, causing injuries that included broken ribs and a retinal hemorrhage. Josh D. Troeckler, 35, of the 200 block of Third Avenue, was charged Friday with aggravated battery to a child, and is being held in lieu of $250,000 bond. Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for the Madison County state's attorney's office, said the child was expected to be released from a hospital on Friday.

BLACK JACK > Firefighters rescue child • A 4-year-old girl was hospitalized in intensive care after a fire Thursday night at the Paddock Village Apartments in north St. Louis County, officials said. The blaze broke out about 9 p.m. in the basement of the town house in the 6800 block of Chesapeake Drive. A woman and two teens escaped, but Black Jack firefighters had to rescue the little girl, said Rob Wohldmann, a battalion chief. He said she was unconscious in a smoke-filled upstairs bedroom. She was taken by helicopter to St. Louis Children's Hospital. Wohldmann said the cause of the fire was not considered suspicious.

GREENE COUNTY, ILL. > Motorcycle crash victim is identified • The Illinois State Police said Friday that Aran A. Weid, 50, of Eldred, Ill., was the motorcyclist killed Thursday afternoon in a collision with a tractor towing a mower on Illinois Route 108 west of Carrollton. Police said it appeared that Weid was at "highway speed" and using his headlight, as required, and that the tractor displayed the required safety warning devices.

ST. CHARLES > Sex offender walks into school • A sex offender was arrested after entering Hardin Middle School in the St. Charles School District. Donald L. Tate Jr., 33, has been charged with misdemeanor trespassing. St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said the only explanation Donald L. Tate Jr., 33, offered for why he walked into the school on Monday was that he wanted to use the library. St. Charles Superintendent Randal Charles said Tate ignored signs directing him to check in with the office. He said Tate was able to enter a door that had not locked properly, and he was confronted immediately by a staff member. The staff member asked Tate to leave, Charles said. When he didn't, she reported him to a school resource officer, who questioned him and arrested him. About 760 seventh- and eighth-graders attend the school. The Missouri Sex Offender Registry lists Tate as "noncompliant" with registration requirements. He allegedly told police he was homeless, and his last known address was in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The registry said Tate was found guilty in 2005 of statutory sodomy involving a 15-year-old girl in 2004.

ST. LOUIS > Man fatally shot • A man in his 30s was shot and killed Friday night at the corner of Labadie and Vandeventer avenues, police said. The man died on the sidewalk at the scene shortly after the 7:30 p.m. shooting. Officers blocked off several blocks of Vandeventer between St. Louis and Natural Bridge avenues for the investigation. Additional details about the circumstances of the shooting were not immediately available.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. > Child pornography crackdown • Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office is launching an effort to track down the state's most prolific traders of Internet child pornography. Madigan's investigators will search for known images of child porn and track down people who are trading them through their Internet protocol addresses, her office said Friday.

From staff and wire reports