NEWS
IN A FEW
State:
•
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- With Friday's deadline
looming, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began
Thursday mulling over a new budget plan
from Democratic leaders, although key lawmakers
remain pessimistic about the prospects for
a quick agreement.
•
CARSON (AP) -- A cameraman inside a Goodyear
blimp was injured when the airship came
loose from its moorings, drifted into a
parked truck and nose-dived into a fertilizer
pile beside a plant nursery.
•
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An environmental activist
whose 72-day stay in an ancient oak near
Stevenson Ranch helped save the tree will
not face a trespassing suit.
•
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal officials are
investigating a series of threatening letters
sent to candidates seeking to replace District
Attorney Steve Cooley, some of which contained
powder.
•
CARSON, Calif. (AP) -- A cameraman inside
a Goodyear blimp was injured when the airship
came loose from its moorings, drifted into
a parked truck and nose-dived into a fertilizer
pile beside a plant nursery.
•
SANTA MONICA (AP) -- A preliminary California
Highway Patrol report on the farmers market
accident that killed 10 people says error
by the elderly driver was the only possible
cause, according to the Los Angeles Times.
•
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan divided his time in Los Angeles
between gala events for international humanitarian
groups and speeches outlining the importance
of the U.N.'s goals.
•
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
delivered on his second key campaign pledge
by repealing a bill that would have allowed
an estimated 2 million illegal immigrant
drivers in California to begin applying
for driver's licenses after Jan. 1.
•
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- As the first test of
his administration approaches, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger is scrambling to rewrite
a key component of his budget package in
an effort to gain support among Democrats,
according to legislators and lobbyists.
•
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In a potential blow
to the Bush administration's legal strategy
in the war on terror, a federal appeals
court has overturned part of a sweeping
law the government has increasingly used
to arrest or prosecute suspected terrorists.
•
NAPA (AP) -- An approximately 100-foot section
of a partially finished bridge collapsed
Wednesday afternoon, killing one 20-year-old
worker and injuring seven others, three
of them seriously, authorities said.
National:
•
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Less than a year
after the Mormon church promised, again,
to stop baptizing dead Jews into its faith,
the Mormons have raised concerns by buying
-- at 10 cents a sheet -- thousands of names
of dead Russian Orthodox Church members.
•
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Prosecutors wrapped
up their bribery case Thursday against this
city's two Olympic bid leaders, who are
accused of plying International Olympic
Committee delegates with $1 million in cash,
gifts and favors for the 2002 Winter Games.
•
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- More than 100 Bitterroot
Valley residents are suing the federal government
over a 2000 forest fire that damaged or
destroyed their property, contending the
fire was negligently set by fire crews trying
to slow an advancing wildfire.
•
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Consol Energy has donated
140 acres of company-owned land located
near the site of where a hijacked plane
crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, to The Conservation
Fund, the company announced Thursday.
•
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Forty-two Hells Angels
members have been indicted on federal racketeering
and firearms charges stemming from a deadly
2002 brawl between the motorcycle gang and
rival bikers at a Laughlin casino, authorities
said Thursday.
•
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Prosecutors
have dropped sexual assault charges against
an Air Force Academy cadet who had been
accused of raping a drunken woman in the
back of a pickup truck over the summer.
•
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- A group of 104
economists, including two Nobel Prize winners,
sent a letter Wednesday to President Bush
and Western governors saying that policies
that harm the environment also harm the
economy in the long run.
•
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Congress is directing
experts to take a fresh look at whether
radioactive nuclear waste stored at commercial
power plants could be vulnerable to terrorist
attacks.
•
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Philippine government
is welcoming a U.S. federal judge's ruling
clearing the way for an extradition hearing
for a former Philippine presidential adviser
accused of looting his country's treasury.
•
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A California man
was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison
for his role in a nationwide scheme to defraud
people who were told they could get great
deals on cars that didn't exist.
International:
•
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Palestinian factions
opened talks Thursday aimed at producing
a cease-fire, and Israel hinted it could
reduce military activity in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip if a truce were declared.
•
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Roman Catholic bishops,
releasing a damning report on their handling
of child sex-abuse scandals, apologized
Thursday and promised to improve systems
for protecting children.
•
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Suspected Islamic
militants fired a rocket into a field next
to the U.S. Embassy here Thursday, Afghan
authorities said. The blast occurred less
than two hours after Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld left the Afghan capital.
•
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- OPEC members announced
Thursday they would hold steady current
oil production targets but meet again in
February to consider cutting output to match
an expected springtime decline in demand.
•
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Information
that a Western housing compound here was
being surveyed by terrorists appeared to
be based on a videotape of the residential
complex found during a raid of a militant
hide-out, the manager of the housing facility
said Thursday.
•
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- It was just four
weeks ago that President Bush called for
a democratic revolution in the Muslim world,
and Secretary of State Colin Powell is taking
some steps to get that message across.
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