EAST HADDAM, Conn. — Christopher Dodd, saying he was in “the toughest political shape” of his career, announced Wednesday he will retire from the U.S. Senate, ending a four-decade career in Congress. Dodd said he would not run for a sixth term. His political stock fell after a controversy involving low-rate mortgages he received under a VIP program, the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid. The 65-year-old chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who also served three terms in the House, was trailing former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons in the polls.
Hawaii: New sub for Pearl
The Navy is basing the USS North Carolina at Pearl Harbor. The Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet said Wednesday that the 377-foot-long, $2.3 billion fast-attack submarine is scheduled to arrive in Hawaii in the summer. Pearl Harbor is already home to two other Virginia-class submarines, the nation’s most advanced. They are the USS Hawaii and the USS Texas. The Navy is gradually replacing its older Los Angeles-class subs with Virginia-class ships.
Pennsylvania: Dogs fail test
Three bomb-sniffing dogs assigned to inspect cargo at Philadelphia International Airport failed recent recertification tests and federal officials should immediately replace them, a Pennsylvania congressman said. U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., said he was briefed on the failures by airport and Transportation Security Administration officials. “This is totally ridiculous,” Brady said.
Missouri: Burger rampage
Police in Kansas City are looking for a woman who went on a rampage at a McDonald’s because she didn’t like her hamburger. Police said the woman caused thousands of dollars in damage on Dec. 27 when she became upset that the restaurant wouldn’t refund her money. Employees offered to replace her hamburger, but the woman refused and demanded her money back. The woman threw a sign and a bucket of water over the counter, then pushed off a glass display case and three cash registers. She then cursed and fled.
New Mexico: Brain mix-up
Members of a family are suing a funeral home, claiming their grandmother’s brain was sent home in a bag of personal effects. The lawsuit filed on behalf of family members in state District Court in Albuquerque said the discovery was made the day after interment, when relatives smelled a foul odor coming from a bag they received from DeVargas Funeral Home and Crematory of the Espanola Valley. The funeral home owner said the fault does not lie with his him, another entity in Utah — where the woman died in a car crash — was responsible.
Egypt: Christians are killed
Three men in a car sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egypt as they left a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas, killing at least seven people in a drive-by shooting, officials said. Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the attack Wednesday just before midnight was suspected as retaliation for the November rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town. The statement said witnesses have identified the lead attacker. The attack took place in the town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, about 40 miles from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor.
Britain: Protestants disarm
Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant paramilitary group announced Wednesday that it had finally surrendered all of its weapons, more than a decade after the historic Good Friday Agreement formally ended violent sectarian struggle in the province. Independent monitors confirmed that the Ulster Defense Association’s arsenal of guns and bombs had been put out of commission, meaning that the main armed organizations on both sides of the loyalist-republican divide have been disarmed.
Mexico: Four priests resign
Four Roman Catholic priests have resigned after they were caught breaking their celibacy vows, church officials said Wednesday. The priests will no longer be allowed to celebrate Mass or perform sacraments, the spokesman for the archdiocese in the state of Puebla, announced. The clerics were either caught in a romantic relationship or discovered to have fathered children, he said. He did not identify the priests or provide details of their alleged indiscretions.
From Herald news services
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