SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A state appeals court on Friday upheld California’s high school exit exam, rejecting claims by students who argued the exam discriminates against poor students and those who are learning English. The judges overturned an injunction issued in May in Alameda County that blocked the exam for this year’s senior class. The panel ruled the trial court “abused its discretion” in weighing the legal arguments about whether the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their lawsuit. About 41,000 seniors in California’s class of 2006, the first required to pass the test, did not do so by the end of the school year, the state has said.
Texas: Leak sickens airport workers
Three airport workers were sickened Friday by the odor of a liquid that spilled in the cargo hold of a Continental Airlines plane, officials said. A hazardous materials unit from the Houston Fire Department found liquid on a U.S. postal service box on the plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The liquid, which was acidic, was tested but no match was found, an official said. Preliminary tests showed the liquid was not radioactive or flammable, officials said. No passengers were affected by the odor, officials said.
Big spenders meet the president
Republican Party big spenders were rewarded with a barbecue lunch with President Bush Friday at a $750,000 fundraiser. The fundraiser was closed to the public and the press, but the Republican National Committee reported that the attendees included 350 people who have each raised at least $15,000 for the party. The lunch was at the Broken Spoke Ranch, a 478-acre spread next to the president’s home where Bush is spending 10 days on vacation from the White House.
Montana: Family-killer executed
A man who was convicted of killing three people, then fought for two years to end his appeals and be put to death, was executed early Friday. David Dawson, 48, died by lethal injection at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, becoming the first person executed in the state since 1998. Dawson was sentenced to death in 1987 after taking a family captive for days in a motel room in Billings a year earlier. David and Monica Rodstein and their 11-year-old son, Andrew, were killed, while their daughter, Amy, was rescued by police.
D.C.: Five charged in tourist attacks
U.S. Park Police have charged five people in a string of violent attacks on tourists near national landmarks, authorities said Friday, crimes that prompted police in the nation’s capital to declare a citywide crime emergency. The suspects, who were arrested over the past two weeks, are accused of taking part in five different attacks on three nights in May and July. Authorities said they stole cell phones, cash, credit cards and other items from victims, and a 17-year-old girl said she was raped during a robbery in a dark corner of the National Mall.
Arizona: Soldier dies on border
A Pennsylvania National Guard member died after collapsing during a training mission in the 100-plus degree heat of the Arizona-Mexico border, a guard spokesman said Friday. Spc. Kirsten Fike, 36, was two hours into the first day of a border surveillance mission near Yuma when she collapsed on Wednesday. She died the next day at Yuma Regional Medical Center, a Guard spokesman said.
Michigan: Three terrorism arrests
Three men accused of helping terrorism were arrested Friday after they purchased 80 prepaid mobile phones from a Wal-Mart store, police said. The men, all from the Dallas area, were being held on charges of soliciting or providing material support for terrorism and obtaining information of a vulnerable target for the purposes of terrorism, police said. They were being held in Tuscola County Jail and were scheduled to be arraigned today. Officials declined to elaborate on how the case relates to terrorism.
Missouri: Discrimination alleged
A couple with three children has sued a suburban town that refused to give them a housing permit because the parents are not married. The suit, filed on their behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday, claimed that the town of Black Jack’s housing law violates the state and U.S. constitutions, as well as the Federal Fair Housing Act. It seeks unspecified damages. The ordinance prohibits more than three people from living together unless they are related by “blood, marriage or adoption.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
