Nation, World Briefs: President Obama OKs jobs stimulus package

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a package of tax breaks and spending designed to give the nation a jobs boost by encouraging the private sector to start hiring again. It’s the first of several such measures Democrats have promised this election year to address the public’s top worry: jobs. The measure includes about $18 billion in tax breaks and pumps $20 billion into highway and transit programs. Optimistic estimates are that the tax break could generate perhaps 250,000 jobs through the end of the year; some 8.4 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday with 11 Republicans among the 68 senators who voted to send it to the president.

Sen. Boxer weak in polls

Sen. Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign is shaping up as the fight of her political career, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. The survey shows a statistical tie in hypothetical matchups between the three-term California Democratic incumbent and two of her potential Republican challengers, former congressman Tom Campbell and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina. Boxer has won by progressively larger margins in each of her previous re-election campaigns, but this year faces strong headwinds from the recession, which has left California with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

Alaska: No rabies in wolves

Two wolves suspected of killing a teacher outside a rural village did not have rabies, lab tests concluded Thursday. The animals were shot Monday from the air by state wildlife employees, who said they matched descriptions of the wolves seen where Candice Berner, 32, was killed while jogging last week. Berner died March 8 along a road about a mile outside Chignik Lake on the Alaska Peninsula in southwest Alaska. Microbiologists studied the brains of the wolves and found no indication of rabies, a virus that often makes animals aggressive and more likely to bite.

Texas: Butterflies dwindle

Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades as they begin to return to Texas on their springtime flight back to the United States and Canada. The monarch loss is estimated at 50 to 60 percent and means the breeding population flying northward is expected to be the smallest since the Mexican overwintering colonies were discovered in 1975, a professor of entomology and director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas said.

S. Carolina: Norovirus woes

A cruise liner hit by an outbreak of intestinal illness for a third straight trip from South Carolina returned a day early Thursday as operator Celebrity Cruises brought in extra crew to scrub the ship down for three days. The Celebrity Mercury arrived about 2 a.m. and passengers began disembarking. The cruise company reported 406 of the more than 1,800 passengers got sick with the norovirus after the ship’s March 8 departure. Thirteen of 857 crew members also got sick.

California: Gay ‘disorder’

A Fresno City College science instructor violated a campus anti-discrimination policy when he told students that homosexuality is a mental disorder that should be treated with psychotherapy, campus administrators have concluded. A vice president of student services reported the findings last week in a letter to three students who had lodged complaints against health sciences instructor Bradley Lopez. The campus’ student newspaper published the letter Wednesday.

Condoms for porn actors

California’s worker safety board voted Thursday to further study a proposal that would require porn actors to wear condoms during sex scenes. The six-member California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted unanimously to assign an advisory committee to study the proposal from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The advocacy group filed a petition in December seeking to require the use of condoms in the porn industry.

Estonia: Emergency landing

A cargo plane made an emergency landing Thursday on a frozen lake outside Estonia’s capital, spilling 1.5 tons of fuel that risked polluting the city’s main source of drinking water, authorities said. The DHL-chartered Antonov AN26 turboprop was forced to belly-land on the ice of Lake Ulemiste next to Tallinn due to landing gear and engine problems, an government spokesman said. One of the six Polish crew members suffered minor injuries.

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