HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd said Friday that he has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and will have surgery in early August, but the prognosis is good and the illness will not affect his plans to seek a sixth term next year. Dodd said evidence of possible cancer was detected in June during his annual physical and later confirmed by a biopsy. He said he plans to have surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York shortly after Congress adjourns next week and is “very confident we’re going to come out of this well.” Dodd, with wife by his side, said he feels fine and expects to return to a full schedule at the end of August.
Maryland: NSA plans to grow
The National Security Agency is planning to enlarge its complex and add as many as 11,000 jobs as part of a major expansion of its Anne Arundel County headquarters, according to a notice filed with the federal government. The secretive agency wants to build 5.8 million square feet over 20 years on Fort Meade land next to its headquarters. NSA detailed the plans in a notice published in the Federal Register in July and reported Friday by The Baltimore Business Journal. The NSA said in the notice that it needs to develop “a modern operational complex” to “meet mission growth requirements.”
Massachusetts: Gates flowers
Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sent flowers and a note to the woman who unwittingly sparked a national debate on race by calling police to report what she thought might be a break-in at Gates’ home. Wendy Murphy, the lawyer for Lucia Whalen, called the flowers a “gesture of gratitude.” She declined to say what was in the accompanying note. Whalen’s 911 call drew police to Gates’ Cambridge home on July 16. The subsequent confrontation between Gates, who is black, and Sgt. James Crowley, who is white, ended in Gates’ arrest for disorderly conduct, a charge that was later dropped.
Hawaii: Palace takeover
The leader of a Hawaiian sovereignty group who led a brief takeover of the storied Iolani Palace last year has been convicted of simple trespass. James Akahi had faced the more serious charge of burglary for occupying the palace Aug. 15. Akahi is the leader of a Native Hawaiian sovereignty group. He claims to be the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Burglary charges against six other people arrested in the case were dismissed.
Texas: Animal sacrifice OK
A federal appeals court reversed a lower court’s ruling on Friday that barred a Santeria priest from sacrificing goats in his Texas home, saying a city’s decision to prohibit the ritual violated the man’s religious rights. Jose Merced, 46, accuses the city of Euless, of trampling on his constitutional right to religious exercise. The city claims the sacrifices jeopardize public health and violate its slaughterhouse and animal cruelty ordinances.
Belgium: Airbus sensors
European regulators told world airlines on Friday they will have to replace hundreds of air speed sensors of the type that may have contributed to the Air France Airbus A330 crash in the Atlantic in June. The announcement came after Airbus recommended that airlines flying its planes exchange some of the speed sensors manufactured by Thales Corp. for another model. Investigators have focused on the possibility that the monitors on the A330, known as pitot tubes, iced over and gave false speed readings to the Air France plane’s computers as it ran into a thunderstorm.
Italy: RU-486 pill approved
Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican, which warned of immediate excommunication for doctors prescribing the pill and for women who use it. The pill is already available in a number of other European countries. Its approval by Italy’s drug regulation authorities was praised by women’s groups and pro-choice organizations, which say the pill will provide women with an additional, noninvasive procedure.
Turkey: Pirates captured
Turkey’s military said navy commandos aboard a frigate have captured seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia’s coast. The military said the commandos aboard the frigate, part of a NATO force patrolling the seas, raided the skiff Friday upon a request to block it before it could attack a ship. The military did not provide details on what ship the pirates allegedly planned to attack. It said a navy helicopter aboard the frigate also took part in the operation.
From Herald news services
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