[HEADLINES]

[TALENT=Melanie]

(----------------)
[VO-NAT]

Truckers roll into Washington with a message for lawmakers today.
(----------------)
[ANCHOR=Melanie]

And it's a copycat death for a Pakistani serial killer.
(/////////////)
[TALENT=Patrick]
[SS=None]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[SS=None]

News 7 at noon is next.

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[Truck-CONVOY]

[ANCHOR=MEL]
[NEWSCAST=NOON]
[WRITER=mel]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=Record Rates]

The nation's capitol is teeming with truckers this afternoon.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Aberdeen, MD;]
[8:34:20]
They're asking lawmakers for a rollback of the federal fuel tax.
Legislation is pending in the Senate that would roll back the 24-cent-per-gallon federal tax on diesel fuel, retroactive to January first.
Truckers would be able to apply for rebates based upon fuel receipts.
Diesel fuel prices have risen to more than two-dollars-a-gallon.
(------------)

[WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE]

---

[Truckers]

[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=WIPE]

[WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE]

(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Rockbridge Co.]

Yesterday, some 200 big rigs on their way to Washington stopped at White's Truck Stop in Rockbridge County.
The independent drivers say a number of economic issues are threatening their livlihood.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=Fuel prices]
((FUEL PRICES JUST HIT THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. IT'S BEEN COMING ON FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS. SINCE DEREGULATION WE'VE HAD A FREEZE ON THE RATES OUT HERE.))
[SUPER=01-Kevin Miller/Truck Driver; :01]
[RUNS=:09]
[OUT Q=rates out here.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Independent truckers say their future is bleak without some help.
(------------)

---

[tiger-attack]

[ANCHOR=mel]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=mel]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=None]

After eleven hours of surgery doctors in Texas have reattached the right arm of three year old boy attacked by a tiger.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Channelview, TX;]

The 400-pound tiger was being kept in a cage at the home of the boy's uncle.
Authorities say the tiger ripped off the boy's arm when he reached into the cage.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=]
((THE OWNER OF THE TIGER AND MY HUSBAND COAXED IT TO ONE SIDE OF THE CAGE AND THE SON WENT IN AND PUT HIMSELF IN THERE AND GRABBED THE ARM. THEN MY HUSBAND RETRIEVED THE ARM.))
[SUPER=01-Tracey Olivas/Neighbor;]
[RUNS=:09]
[OUT Q=RETRIEVED THE ARM.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Doctor's aren't sure how much use the boy will have of the reattached arm.
(------------)

---

[Weeks-Execution]

[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=tar]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=Weeks]

Another execution is set for tonight in the state.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Dale City/1993]

Unless the governor intervenes, Lonnie Weeks, Junior will be put to death tonight.
In 1993, Weeks shot a state trooper at a traffic stop along Interstate 95.
The victim's grown children have asked Governor Jim Gilmore to spare Weeks, but the trooper's widow supports the sentence.
(------------)

---

[serial-killer]

[ANCHOR=melanie]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=mel]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=None]

He is Pakistan's worst serial killer, and he will be executed in front of some of the parents whose children he murdered.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Lahore, Pakistan;]
[8:10;33]
A judge has ordered the man to be publicly strangled.
Following the execution, his body is to be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid.
That's because he is believed to have killed as many as 100 children in a similar manner.
(------------)

[tease1] [HARD MUSIC UNDER]
[ANCHOR=Melanie]

Still ahead on News 7 at noon, Patrick will be here with the wet forecast.
We'll be right back. [music up full] [comm1] [REPRS&CL]
One final note from Wall Street, at noon the DOW was UP 349 points. [SUPER=X4031; Fax/Copyright Noon/Weekends]