WASHINGTON — Republican Senator Susan Collins said Friday that she would vote to confirm Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice, breaking with her party to back President Barack Obama’s nominee. Collins announcement made her the third GOP senator to support Obama’s choice to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens. It doesn’t alter the positive outlook for Kagan in the Senate, where she was already well on track to be confirmed in early August by majority Democrats and a handful of Republican moderates. The Maine lawmaker said in a statement that Kagan has “the intellect, experience, temperament and integrity” to serve honorably on the high court.
Massachusetts: Yacht taxes
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is docking his family’s new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to his cash-strapped home state. If the Isabel were kept at the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee’s summer vacation home on Nantucket or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales taxes. He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes. Rhode Island repealed those taxes in 1993.
Colorado: Activist arsons
A man who has been arrested on suspicion of starting a fire that destroyed a sheepskin store near Denver has been linked to two other fires in Utah which destroyed business he allegedly deemed were cruel to animals, police said. Walter Bond was arrested Thursday night. Federal prosecutors have charged the 34-year-old with one count of arson in connection with the fire at the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale in April. Bond hasn’t been charged in the other fires.
Illinois: Elvis embalming
A Chicago auction house has canceled the sale of tools allegedly used to embalm Elvis Presley, following a dispute between a retired embalmer and a Memphis funeral home. The items, including the “John Doe” toe tag allegedly attached to Presley at the hospital, rubber gloves, forceps and other tools used to embalm and prepare the body, will be returned to Memphis Funeral Home, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers announced Friday.
Ohio: Tribal claim rejected
A man who claimed that his American Indian ancestry makes him exempt from city nuisance laws has been ordered to clean up two homes that have fallen into disrepair. A judge told William Bowersock on Thursday that he has 30 days to take care of the properties in Lima. The judge rejected Bowersock’s argument that he had seceded from the local government and formed his own Indian reservation, thereby making him exempt from the city’s property code.
Britain: Minister won’t talk
The Scottish minister who authorized the release of the Lockerbie bomber said Friday he won’t appear at a U.S. Senate hearing on the case because he has no new information to offer. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has been invited to address the Senate committee on foreign relations, which is investigating whether oil giant BP lobbied Scotland to release Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to smoothe an oil exploration deal with Libya. Al-Megrahi was freed from jail last year on compassionate grounds.
Switzerland: Train derails
The Glacier Express tourist train derailed Friday in the Alps, killing one person and injuring 42 others on its spectacular journey between Zermatt and St. Moritz. Police said 12 of the injured were in serious condition and most of the passengers were Japanese. Rescue workers were seen loading injured passengers onto medical helicopters to be flown out for treatment. Rail interruptions, let alone accidents, are rare in Switzerland. The 80-year-old Glacier Express runs several times a day, carrying some 250,000 passengers a year.
Italy: Appeal to gay priests
The Catholic Church, still reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal, lashed out Friday at gay priests who are leading a double life, urging them to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood. The Diocese of Rome issued the strongly worded statement after the conservative Panorama newsweekly said in a cover story and accompanying video that it had interviewed three gay priests in Rome and accompanied them to gay clubs and bars and to sexual encounters with strangers, including one in a church building.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
