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MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

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Nation Briefs

By Wire Reports
Published: 11/5/2009 2:32 AM
Last Modified: 11/5/2009 5:04 AM

California reaches long-awaited water accord

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — After years of gridlock and failure, California lawmakers reached an historic agreement Wednesday hours to address one of California's most vexing problems: its vulnerable water supply.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it "one of the greatest accomplishments" of the Legislature.

It beefs up environmental protection in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the estuary that funnels fresh water from Northern to Southern California, and puts an $11.1 billion bond measure before voters next year to pay for new dams, regional water projects, groundwater cleanup and land preservation.

The package would require state residents to cut water use by an average of 20 percent over the next decade and end California's status as the lone Western state that does not regulate groundwater.

Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the five bills.

Inmate gets settlement over prison photos

HAMPTON, N.H. — A federal judge has approved a settlement ending a prison lawsuit filed by Pamela Smart, who is serving a life sentence in one of New Hampshire's most notorious murders.

Smart claimed unfair treatment by New York prison officials after racy photographs of her in her prison cell appeared in the National Enquirer. She claimed the pictures were taken by a guard who sexually assaulted her.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Sweet approved a $23,875 payment on Monday to Smart from the state of New

York, where she is in custody at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. The state did not admit liability.

Smart is 42 and was convicted in 1991 for enlisting her teenage boyfriend William Flynn to kill her husband, Gregory.

Gotti's mother unhappy over dismissal of 2 jurors

NEW YORK — John "Junior" Gotti's mother unleashed a profanity-laced tirade Wednesday after a judge dismissed two anonymous jurors at her son's racketeering trial, saying he was being cheated of a fair trial as his father had been.

"They're railroading you!" Victoria Gotti shouted as she stood in the spectator section several feet behind her son. "They're doing to you what they did to your father."

John Gotti Sr. was convicted of racketeering in 1991 after several previous trials had ended in deadlocked juries. He died in prison in 2002.

Mrs. Gotti's outburst came as the two-month trial nears its end and after several notes from jurors over a period of weeks indicated there were personality issues bothering some of them.

The trial is the fourth for Gotti in the past four years. The others ended in hung juries.

Ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO targets Senate seat

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal Democrat Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat.

The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO's entry into the race could present California's three-term junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.

Hewlett-Packard's board fired Fiorina in 2005 after she pushed through the company's acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that cost jobs and reduced HP's value.

Boxer easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004.

Muslims hold 3 of 6 city council seats in Michigan

DETROIT — When Kazi Miah came to the United States 20 years ago from Bangladesh, he didn't speak a word of English.

Now, he's a successful politician who is to be one of three Bangladeshi-American Muslims on the six-member City Council in Hamtramck, Mich., a percentage that Muslim advocates said they believe is the highest Muslim representation in a U.S. municipality.

Miah, 30, received the most votes in Tuesday's council election. Mohammed Hassan also won a council seat. They join Councilman Shahab Ahmed, whose seat was not up for re-election.

"This is what the American dream is all about," Miah said Wednesday. "I'm living it."

His victory represents a shift in the ethnic and religious composition of Hamtramck, previously known as a Polish Catholic enclave. It's now increasingly populated by Muslim residents with roots in Bosnia, Yemen and Bangladesh.

Ohio casinos may hurt Michigan, Indiana taxes

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio voters have approved the opening of casinos in Toledo and three other cities, leaving officials and gambling interests in neighboring Indiana and Michigan worried that millions of dollars in gambling revenues — and taxes — are at risk.

Indiana's casinos pay more than $900 million in state and local taxes annually. A report released last month by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency predicted the competition from Ohio would lead to the state losing more than $100 million of that slice of the gambling pie.

Any loss of casino tax revenue would also hurt Detroit and Michigan, which already face towering budget deficits. The state took a $121 million share of the Detroit casinos' $1.36 billion in revenues last year. By Wire Reports

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Few Clothes, America (11/5/2009 9:32:46 AM)

Victoria should realize that Jr. isn't as teflon as Sr. was. She's also a real dog face.

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