DETROIT — More progress was reported Saturday as negotiators for General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers worked on a historic new contract that would shift retiree health care costs from the company to the union. Two people who have been briefed on the talks said Saturday that bargainers were getting closer to reaching a deal on the company funding a union-run trust that would take over much of GM’s $51 billion unfunded obligation to pay health care costs for retirees and current workers after they retire. They said negotiators are optimistic a tentative deal on the entire contract could be reached as early as today or Monday.
Louisiana: Supremacist Web site
The FBI is reviewing a white supremacist Web site that purports to list the addresses of five of the six black teenagers accused of beating a white student in Jena and “essentially called for their lynching,” an agency spokeswoman said Saturday. An agent in the FBI’s New Orleans office said authorities were reviewing whether the site breaks any federal laws. She said the FBI had “gathered intelligence on the matter.”
California: Ship killed blue whale
The blue whale found dead last week in the Santa Barbara Channel was likely the third victim in two weeks of a ship collision, scientists said Saturday as they conducted a post-mortem on the 60-ton creature. Biologists found fractured bones, including a smashed cranium. “It’s definitely a ship strike,” said a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, which was directing the necropsy of the not-quite fully grown male. “The animal died instantly.”
Hawaii: Ferry service on hold
Officials with the first passenger-vehicle ferry between major Hawaiian Islands canceled plans to resume service to Kauai, despite a partial court victory and an announcement by Gov. Linda Lingle that the ferry would start up again Wednesday. Hawaii Superferry officials said late Friday the decision was made “for the safety of the community, our passengers and our dedicated employees.” Many opponents said they would risk arrest or put their own safety on the line to block the ferry.
Texas: Chief fired in sex assaults
The police chief in Alton has been fired after he was accused of sexually assaulting two male employees. Jose Luis Vela was suspended after his Aug 29. arrest on two charges of sexual assault. Investigators have accused Vela of performing oral sex on a male employee after the man passed out drunk at a party at Vela’s home in Mission, according to court documents. Vela is also accused of violating a different male employee with an object while that man was passed out at a party in July, an official said.
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