RALEIGH, N.C. Evangelist Billy Graham was released from a hospital Thursday, nearly two weeks after he was admitted for intestinal bleeding, officials said. Doctors identified the source of Graham’s bleeding during a colonoscopy last week, a spokeswoman for Mission Health &Hospitals in Asheville said. Physicians were able to treat the condition. The 88-year-old evangelist was in good spirits as he left the hospital and was eager to resume hosting family and close friends at his mountainside home in Asheville, his spokesman said.
Michigan: Presidential primaries
The Legislature on Thursday approved moving the state’s presidential nomination contests to Jan. 15, just days after national Democrats vowed to punish states that vote too early. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign the bill, but approval of the switch is far from certain. A disagreement among state Democratic leaders over whether to hold a primary or a caucus is complicating final action. If it moves up, Michigan Democrats risk losing all their national convention delegates, while Republicans risk losing half.
Massachusetts: Firefighters die
Fire broke out inside a Boston restaurant Wednesday evening, killing two firefighters and injuring 10 others who became disoriented in the dense smoke, officials said Thursday. A Fire Department spokesman said a ball of fire may have been created after a three-ton air conditioning unit partially fell through the roof. The last death of a Boston firefighter in the line of duty was on March 16, 1999, he said.
Texas: Death penalty commuted
Gov. Rick Perry accepted a parole board recommendation Thursday to spare condemned inmate Kenneth Foster, the getaway driver in a 1996 murder who had been scheduled for execution within hours. The sentence had drawn protests from death penalty opponents because Foster wasn’t the actual shooter. Foster had acknowledged that he and his “knucklehead” friends were up to no good as he drove them around San Antonio in a rental car and robbed at least four people.
Iowa: Gays register to marry
A county judge struck down Iowa’s decade-old gay marriage ban as unconstitutional Thursday and ordered local officials to process marriage licenses for six gay couples. Gay couples from anywhere in Iowa could apply for a marriage license from Polk County under the judge’s ruling. Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied for a license, the first time the county had accepted a same-sex application. The approval process takes three days.
California: Mexican truck drivers
The Bush administration urged a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday to let Mexican cargo trucks cross the border and freely travel anywhere in the United States, arguing that to do otherwise could strain diplomatic relations between the two nations. The Teamsters Union on Wednesday had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the program, which the administration said would go into effect on Sept. 6. The plan would let as many as 100 registered Mexican truck carriers drive their cargo anywhere in the country for the next year as part of a “demonstration project.”
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no bold lede-in:Senate limits implanted IDs
Tackling a theme right out of a science fiction novel, the California Senate passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted below their skin. A Palo Alto lawmaker proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices for humans. The devices, as small as a grain of rice, can be used by employers to identify workers. A scanner passing over a body part implanted with one can instantly identify the person.
Pakistan: Soldiers kidnapped
Islamic militants ambushed a large convoy of military vehicles in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, kidnapping more than 100 soldiers after seizing their weapons, officials said. The soldiers were traveling in 16 trucks and providing security for trucks carrying food between Wana, the main town in South Waziristan and Ladha, another town in the region, two intelligence officials said.
Afghanistan: Hostages released
Taliban militants released the last seven South Korean hostages on Thursday under a deal with the government in Seoul, ending a six-week drama that the insurgents claimed as a “great victory for our holy warriors.” A Taliban spokesman vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea’s decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them. “We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful,” he said.
From Herald news services
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