SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California Legislature on Tuesday became the first legislative body in the country to approve same-sex marriages.
The 41-35 vote sends the bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A spokeswoman for the Republican governor said Schwarzenegger believes the issue should be decided by the courts, not by his signature on legislation.
San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno’s bill had failed in the Assembly by four votes in June, but he was confident he could get it through on a second try after the Senate approved a same-sex marriage bill last week.
Cassini reveals Saturn ring changes
New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn’s trademark shimmering rings, which have dazzled astronomers since Galileo’s time, have dramatically changed over just the past 25 years. Among the most surprising findings is that parts of Saturn’s innermost ring – the D ring – have grown dimmer since the Voyager spacecraft flew by the planet in 1981, and a piece of the D ring has moved 125 miles inward toward Saturn. Cassini is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Georgia: Homes with unlocked guns
About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, according to Catherine Okoro, a study author with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that 33 percent of adults said they kept firearms in or around their home. Alabama had the highest proportion – 7.3 percent – of homes in which children lived and guns were kept loaded and unlocked. The next highest states were Alaska (6.6 percent), Arkansas (6.6 percent), Montana (6.4 percent) and Idaho (5.2 percent). At bottom was Massachusetts, with 0.3 percent.
Montana: More Rockies wolves
The number of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies has increased to more than 900 since last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana estimated Tuesday. According to the agency’s mid-year estimate, 912 wolves now roam the Montana, Wyoming and Idaho region, compared with 835 in December.
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