NATIONAL BRIEFS

ILLINOIS: Jury selection begins

Nine jurors were selected Monday for the trial of William Balfour in the 2008 slayings of three members of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson's family. Judge Charles Burns, interviewing the prospective jurors individually, told the five men and four women chosen so far to return April 23 for opening statements. Balfour, estranged from Hudson's sister, Julia, is accused of shooting their mother, Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and nephew, Julian King, 7.

MINNESOTA: 3 adults dead at day care

A mother who had a suspicious feeling after dropping off her toddler at a home day care Monday returned a few minutes later to make a grisly discovery: three adults inside, shot dead. The woman's child was unhurt and no other children were there at the time. Brooklyn Park Police seek a suspect in his mid-20s, believed to have fled on a BMX bicycle. Two nearby community colleges were locked down for several hours while police searched the area.

NEVADA: Rescued, now charged

A 33-year-old man who was rescued by firefighters from a smoke-choked Las Vegas hotel room is facing arson and attempted murder charges in a fire March 15 that caused only $1,000 damage on an unfinished floor but forced the evacuation of dozens of guests from the Golden Nugget casino, a fire official said Monday. Jerod Pressnell was in custody under guard at a hospital. A motive wasn't disclosed. A hotel safety system had been tampered with. Automatic sprinklers snuffed out flames minutes before Pressnell was rescued from a locked room filled with boxes of soggy and smoldering linen and bedding on the unoccupied 22nd floor. No one else was hurt.

WASHINGTON: 8th GSA official on leave

The General Services Administration placed an eighth employee on administrative leave Monday in an investigation into $823,000 in spending for an October 2010 training conference in Las Vegas. Placed on leave was David Foley, deputy commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, who appeared in a video presenting an award to an employee who, in the same video, sang a rap song bragging about the lavish spending.