DENVER — The Colorado Legislature passed a resolution Wednesday comparing the deaths of millions of American Indians to the Holocaust and other acts of genocide around the world. The nonbinding measure passed 22-12 in the Senate and 59-4 in the House after some lawmakers protested that it unfairly condemned all Europeans for injustices against Indians. The resolution says Europeans intentionally caused many American Indian deaths and that early American settlers often treated Indians with “cruelty and inhumanity.”
Florida: Audit sees NASA conflicts
The NASA inspector general says the space agency is breaking the law by allowing conflicts of interest on a board overseeing the building of a new spaceship to return astronauts to the moon. The board is set up to review NASA’s new Orion capsule. The panel is loaded with employees of the contractors it is supposed to scrutinize, the inspector general report says. Four of the six are also stockholders in firms making money off the NASA project, the report says.
Iowa: Judge OKs abuse settlement
A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a $37 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport and more than 150 people who say they were sexually abused by its priests. The judge’s approval of the reorganization plan allows the diocese to start paying the settlement money, which includes proceeds from the sale of some diocese property. The reorganization plan outlines terms of the settlement and the diocese’s efforts to prevent future abuse.
New York: Electrocution for fur
New York has become the first state in the nation to ban the electrocution of animals in a particularly gruesome way to harvest their fur. The law bans the practice of anal and genital electrocution of fur-bearing animals, including mink, foxes, chinchillas and rabbits. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail. National animal rights advocates on Wednesday said they hope it will force similar measures in other states. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to use the law to push other states to ban similar practices on farms, which are often hidden in rural areas where animals are born and bred unsheltered in cages.
California: Mural artist settles
Los Angeles artist Kent Twitchell has settled his lawsuit against the U.S. government and 11 other defendants for painting over his six-story mural, “Ed Ruscha Monument,” on the side of a federal-government-owned downtown building, for $1.1 million. The settlement is believed to be the largest awarded under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act or the California Art Preservation Act, both of which prohibit desecration, alteration or destruction of certain works of public art without notifying the artist to allow the artist the option of removing the artwork.
Japan: Nation’s oldest panda dies
Japan’s oldest giant panda, Ling Ling, a longtime star at Tokyo’s largest zoo and a symbol of friendship with China, died Wednesday of heart failure, zookeepers said. Ling Ling was 22 years and 7 months old, the Ueno Zoo said. It said he was the fifth-oldest known male panda in the world. Ling Ling began losing his appetite and strength last August because of his old age, and recently suffered from heart and kidney problems, a zoo official said.
South Korea: Astronaut injured
South Korea’s first astronaut has been hospitalized with back and neck pain apparently caused by the unexpectedly steep descent of her Russian space capsule when it returned to Earth, officials said Wednesday. Yi So-yeon was taken to a hospital Tuesday after she canceled a meeting with President Lee Myung-bak, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said. The Science Ministry said tests showed Yi suffered a minor injury to her neck muscles and bruised her spinal column.
Spain: Hijacked fishermen return
Spanish fishermen whose ship was hijacked off the coast of Somalia returned home Wednesday with harrowing tales of being fired on by rocket-propelled grenades and held at gunpoint during a week of captivity on the high seas. The fishermen said they feared for their lives for much of the time, pirates pointing assault rifles at the 26-member crew and making throat cutting gestures when they were slow to follow orders. One newspaper reported the pirates received $1.2 million.
Greece: Lesbians sued by Lesbos
A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between gay women and the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos. Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name. One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians. “My sister can’t say she is a Lesbian,” he said.
From Herald news services
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