In brief: White House may tap oil reserves

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s chief of staff said the administration is looking at the nation’s oil reserves as it considers options for dealing with the spike in gas prices.

The price of a barrel of oil has passed $100. In the U.S., gasoline is averaging $3.50 a gallon.

Those increases come amid unrest in the oil-producing Middle East, particularly as rebellion rages in Libya.

White House chief of staff William Daley told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that all options are being considered for a short-term response to rising oil prices.

At times the government has tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve emergency supply to stabilize prices. The reserve contains 727 million barrels of oil.

Body likely that of missing girl, 16

WEST WENDOVER, Nev. – A body found in a shallow grave in the desert near the Utah border is likely that of a teenager who went missing while walking home from high school last week, a Nevada police chief said Sunday

West Wendover police chief Ron Supp told KSL-TV of Salt Lake City that authorities believe the body belongs to 16-year-old Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo. She disappeared from the eastern Nevada gambling town on Thursday.

More than 100 volunteers helped search for Costanzo on Saturday. A searcher discovered the freshly dug grave about five miles west of the town, and authorities set up tents and worked at the site on Sunday.

Rape suspect due in court today

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The man suspected of terrorizing women with sexual assaults from Virginia to Rhode Island over 12 years is scheduled to appear in court today in Connecticut.

Police say DNA confirmed that Aaron Thomas, an unemployed truck driver, is the East Coast Rapist, suspected in attacks on at least 17 women.

Thomas tried to hang himself Saturday in his cell and was returned to jail after a brief hospital stay.