Timothy Mcveigh

In a development that could cloud the credibility of the government's key witness, new evidence in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing case appears to challenge Michael Fortier's account of suspect Timothy J. McVeigh's alleged involvement in a robbery that the government believes helped finance the blast.

Just days ago, when it was still an ordinary spring, the farmers, loggers and factory hands in these parts had plenty on their minds: the cold weather that kept corn stubble littering the untilled fields, the high cost of fertilizer, the faraway O.J. Simpson trial and, of course, the Oklahoma City bombing that killed more people than any terrorist action on this nation's soil. Most sighed over the scores of lost lives and opined that the roots of the deadly explosion likely lay overseas.

Excerpts from the transcript of U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch's ruling Wednesday rejecting Timothy J. McVeigh's request for a stay of execution in the Oklahoma City bombing case: The prescribed punishment for Timothy McVeigh's crimes includes death if 12 jurors believe it is justified under all the circumstances and exercise their moral judgment as the conscience of the community.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles this week urged the federal government not to execute convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Mahony, who is chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that although "nothing can diminish the horror" of McVeigh's crime, or his responsibility for it, his execution "can only compound the violence." "It will not bring genuine healing or closure. It will not bring back to life those who died.

Howard Rosenberg wants to see Timothy McVeigh, and presumably scores of other convicted killers, executed on public television, because "the public should confront the reality" of the capital punishment it endorses ("Timothy McVeigh: The Closed Circuit," May 21). Rosenberg should be careful that his wish is not someday granted. Consider how many wackos would feverishly watch those televised executions and envy a Timothy McVeigh superstar role in probably the highest-rated TV spectacle in history; strapped to a table, a needle in his arm, delivering an eloquent last statement that'd make headlines and be pondered by public and pundits for decades to come.

The sister of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh has been teaching with a new name at a middle school in North Carolina since August, school officials said Friday. Jennifer Hill, who legally changed her last name from McVeigh, teaches seventh-grade language arts at Weddington Middle School.

People with links to Germany and the Middle East also wanted to blow up the Oklahoma City building, a crime for which Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death last week, his attorney, Stephen Jones, said on the CBS-TV program "60 Minutes." Jones said the information reached the U.S. government through a paid and trusted informant who passed lie-detector tests.

Bombing suspect Timothy J. McVeigh's younger sister Jennifer has told the FBI that her brother confided to her that he robbed a bank in the months before the Oklahoma City attack and drove around the West in a vehicle packed with explosives, sources familiar with the investigation said.