LINCOLN, Neb. — A 30-day age limit in the Nebraska safe-haven law appears headed for final approval. The state Legislature voted 41-6 Wednesday to give second-round approval to the limit. A final vote is expected Friday and then the bill will go to the governor. He has said he would support a 30-day age limit. Every state has a safe-haven law meant to protect newborns from being dumped in trash bins, and worse, but Nebraska’s is the only one that lacks an age limit. Most of the children dropped off at Nebraska hospitals since the law took effect in July have been preteens or teenagers as old as 17.
D.C.: Nuclear traces found at site
The Syrian facility bombed by Israeli planes last year bore multiple hallmarks of a nuclear reactor, and the ruined site was contaminated with uranium, U.N. nuclear inspectors confirmed Wednesday in a report that largely backed Bush administration accounts of a secret atomic program in the Syrian desert. The report stopped short of declaring the Syrian facility to be a nuclear reactor, noting that Damascus had taken extensive steps to sanitize the site before officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency were allowed to visit.
Poland to wait and see on missiles
Poland’s foreign minister said Wednesday in Washington that his country will wait for the Obama administration to make up its mind on basing missile defense interceptors in his country and will not lobby to have the project proceed. Saying that the Warsaw government had agreed “out of friendship” to the Bush administration proposal to establish a U.S. base for 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski added: “We will tread carefully and wait until the new administration makes its decision.”
California: Ban on gay marriage
California’s highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state’s new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules. The California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify Proposition 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that overruled the court’s decision in May that legalized gay marriage. All three cases claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group.
Law would put limits on paparazzi
Celebrities in Los Angeles could drop their children off at school and visit their doctors without fear of being accosted by paparazzi under a proposal introduced in City Council this week. The proposed ordinance, the latest effort by Councilman Dennis Zine to combat aggressive tabloid photographers in the city, would restrict commercial photography and video recordings within 20 feet of the city’s schools, hospitals and medical facilities.
Minnesota: Senate recount begins
City and county workers across Minnesota began a laborious recount Wednesday of more than 2.9 million ballots in the tight U.S. Senate contest between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. They have until Dec. 5 to complete the recount. The Minnesota recount is required under state law because the votes cast for Coleman and Franken differed by less than one-half of 1 percent.
Missouri: John McCain wins
Republican Sen. John McCain has defeated President-elect Barack Obama in Missouri — the last state to be decided in the 2008 presidential election. McCain’s narrow victory over Obama breaks a bellwether streak in which Missourians had picked the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1956. With all jurisdictions reporting complete but unofficial results, McCain led Obama by 3,632 votes Wednesday out of more than 2.9 million cast — a margin of 0.12 percentage points.
Rhode Island: Evidence of mob hit
Rhode Island police have unearthed apparent human remains in their search for the victim of a 1970s mob hit. Police dogs on Wednesday sniffed out what appeared to be human bones, a boot and a jacket in a dirt lot behind an East Providence apartment complex. A police spokesman said he has “strong reason to believe” the body is that of Joseph “Joe Onions” Scanlon, who was killed in 1978. The man convicted of killing him, Nicholas Pari, was among nearly two dozen people arrested Monday in an organized-crime sting.
Austria: Billionaire’s body missing
The coffin containing the remains of a billionaire and industrialist has been stolen from a cemetery, according to police. Friedrich Karl Flick’s remains were missing from a cemetery in Velden, a town in the southern province of Carinthia, said police spokesman Gottlieb Tuerk. The coffin was stowed under heavy slabs of granite and the thieves must have used professional equipment, he said. An investigation is under way. Flick, who owned Austria’s largest private forest holding and had been at the helm of a German industrial empire, died in October 2006 at the age of 79. Earlier that year, Forbes magazine put him among the 100 richest people in the world.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
