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EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) - A one-time appellate court judge is being appointed to fill a vacant St. Clair County court position after the judge who once held the job resigned over drug charges.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports Republican Steven P. McGlynn was named to the post Wednesday, replacing Mike Cook.

Cook resigned in May after being charged with heroin and gun possession as part of a widening courthouse drug scandal.

He was charged in the case after the March death of colleague who died from a cocaine overdose at Cook's western Illinois hunting cabin.

McGlynn was appointed to the appellate court in 2005, but lost an election bid the next year. He was later appointed to the county circuit court following a retirement. He lost another judgeship election last year.

Charges are filed against 17-year-old Charles Guice in the hit-and-run that killed a 2-year-old boy.

He faces one count of Leaving the Scene of an Accident. On Sunday night, officers found a 17-year-old woman and the 2-year-old boy in road--witnesses said they were hit by a driver in a white SUV. The teen survived the accident, but the toddler died.

Police found the vehicle on Monday and Guice turned himself in when he found out police were looking for him. He told officers he was scared, and that is why he drove away from the accident.

Leaving the Scene of an Accident is a Class D felony, meaning a conviction could carry a sentence of no more than four years in prison. No other charges were announced.

Police are questioning a person of interest connected to the hit-and-run that killed a two-year-old boy in North County last night.

St. Louis County Police say they found the SUV that hit the boy and his aunt Sunday night. The accident happened on Redmond Road in Spanish Lake. 2-year-old Darion Griffin died, his 17-year-old aunt Sheria Evans was hospitalized. No word on any charges in the case.

An O'Fallon, Missouri woman is facing murder and child abuse connected to the death of her four-month-old daughter.

Court documents say Jessica Howell was allegedly willing to let her boyfriend have sex with her infant daughter. The day after prosecutors say Howell to the girl, identified as Ashlynn Peters, to her boyfriend's house, she was found strangled to death and had been sexually assaulted. Prosecutors say Howell knew her boyfriend had previously been convicted of having sex with a minor.

The boyfriend, identified as Jordan Prince, has been charged with murder and sodomy. 

Crews are exhuming the body of a young girl was was found decapitated 30 years ago.

The girl was never identified and goes by Jane Doe, as well as Hope. She was found in a vacant building in 1983, with her hands tied behind her back. Hope was buried in the Washington Park Cemetery in Berkeley, but is has become run down.

They are moving her body to the “Garden of Innocents” in Calvary Cemetery on West Florissant Rd. in north St. Louis.

Washington University researchers used old photographs to find the girl's burial place.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police say two people have died in a collision involving a tractor-trailer and an SUV just outside the St. Louis city limits.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that after the collision early Saturday, the tractor-trailer continued southbound driving through two power poles, hitting a fence and a pontoon boat. The trailer wound up on its side, spilling its contents of beer bottles and cans across the road.

The drivers of both vehicles were killed. The names of the victims haven't been released.

Police also said a section of the roadway would be closed while authorities investigated the cause of the accident and debris was removed from the scene.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine's medical examiner says a 15-year-old girl police believe was lured to her death by a man using a phony Facebook profile died from asphyxiation.

   The official cause of Nichole Cable's death was given Thursday as "asphyxia due to compression of the neck." Authorities haven't elaborated.

   Chief medical examiner Dr. Margaret Greenwald released the autopsy results after consulting with the state police crime lab, which has been reviewing evidence.

   Twenty-year-old Orono resident Kyle Dube (DOO'-bee) is being held on murder and kidnapping charges in Nichole's death.

   Police say he used a fake Facebook profile to lure her from her Glenburn home before killing her May 12. Her remains were found in woods in nearby Old Town days later.

   Dube's lawyer is out of town and unavailable for comment.

A Granite City man faces charges for allegedly stabbing his estranged wife to death.

The Police report says that Marissa Stainback was walking with a male friend yesterday afternoon when Tyrone Stainback approached her and stabbed her. Marissa was rushed to the hospital, but the Madison County Coroner confirmed she died from several stab wounds.

Tyrone is being held on no bond and faces 1st degree murder charges.

A contractor working on the Blanchette Bridge died after an accident Monday morning.

Just before 11 AM, the worker was hit by a large barrel. He died from his injuries. The man has not been identified, but was an employee of Walsh Construction--they were hired to perform the bridge repairs.

Crews were set to close the exit ramp from westbound 70 to southbound Fifth Street for work Monday night, but that project has been postponed.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - Two people were found dead in a burned home near Santa Monica College, where someone sprayed a street corner with gunfire just before noon, wounding at least four people.

The Los Angeles-area campus is about 3 miles from where President Barack Obama was attending a fundraising luncheon, just before noon.

Police said a shooter was in custody and the campus was being searched after unconfirmed reports that there was a second shooter.

A man dressed in black, with the words "Life is a Gamble" on the back of his sweatshirt, was seen being taken into custody by law enforcement officers.

Four shooting victims were admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. A hospital spokesman says two were in critical condition, one was in serious condition, and one was in good condition.