CHICAGO — A group of black ministers who supported U.S. Sen. Roland Burris as he fought to get his job now plan to ask for his resignation following revelations that he tried to raise money for the disgraced governor who appointed him, one of the ministers said Thursday. Many of the city’s influential black pastors supported Burris because of his scandal-free reputation — even though he was appointed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich three weeks after the governor was arrested for allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat. Now some of those pastors will ask Burris to resign.
Octuplet mom ‘irresponsible’
The father of the California woman who gave birth to octuplets tells Oprah Winfrey that the actions of his daughter and her doctor were “absolutely irresponsible.” Ed Doud said Thursday for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago that he questions the “mental situation” of his daughter. Thirty-three-year-old Nadya Suleman, who already had six children, gave birth to octuplets in late January after undergoing in vitro fertilization. Doud said Suleman and her children need help, and people shouldn’t punish them for what she did by holding back on donations.
D.C.: Marion Barry transplant
Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, now 72 and beset by health problems as prosecutors are seeking to jail him on accusations of failing to file his 2007 tax returns, was admitted to a hospital Thursday to prepare for a kidney transplant. A Washington political icon who served four terms as mayor, Barry entered Howard University Hospital ahead of a transplant scheduled for this afternoon, a university spokesman said.
Connecticut: Facebook cuts
Facebook has removed more than 5,500 convicted sex offenders from its social networking Web site since May, Connecticut’s attorney general said Thursday. He said the world’s largest social networking site, which claims to have more than 175 million active members, reported to his office that 5,585 convicted sex offenders were found on the Web site and removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009.
Colorado: Dragging death
A man accused of killing his girlfriend by dragging her behind a car with a tow strap around her neck pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder, accepting a deal that spared him a possible death sentence. A district judge immediately sentenced Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 38, to life in prison without parole for the September 2006 death of Luz Maria Franco Fierros, 49. Franco Fierros’ battered and disfigured body was found near Castle Rock, about 20 miles south of Denver.
Florida: Shark attacks down
Shark attacks dipped to the lowest level in five years in 2008, a change that might have happened because the ailing economy kept cash-strapped vacationers away from beaches, a leading shark expert said Thursday. There were 59 shark attacks around the world last year, compared to 71 in 2007, said George Burgess, an ichthyologist and director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History.
Iran: Enough fuel for bomb
Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb if it decides to take the drastic steps of violating its international treaty obligations, kicking out inspectors and further refining its supply, U.N. officials and arms-control experts said Thursday. Iran has made no such gestures and has slowed its expansion of machines producing nuclear fuel, increasing its production capacity by less than 5 percent over the last three months, according to a report issued Thursday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. The report revealed that Iran had amassed 1,010 kilograms of low-enriched or reactor-grade nuclear fuel by late January.
Guadeloupe: Tourists escape
Tourists trapped in hotels as violent protests over low wages and rising prices swept the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe began flying out Thursday after police pulled down barricades following a third night of rioting. More than 500 police were deployed across Guadeloupe, some using helicopters to reach towns where youths had set businesses on fire as protests over economic conditions deteriorated into widespread violence. Police pulled apart barricades protesters had set up on roads to the main airport, enabling dozens of tourists to depart.
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