NEW YORK (AP) | 12/28/2006 05:43 PM

The bitter battle of words between Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell isn’t over. ”Rosie’s a loser. She’s been a loser always,” the real estate mogul and host of NBC’s ”The Apprentice,” said Thursday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. ”Her show failed, her magazine failed. Barbara Walters gave her new life, but she’ll fail at that also because she’s inherently a stone-cold loser.”

It all started after Trump announced last week that Miss USA Tara Conner, whose title had been in jeopardy because of underage drinking, would keep her crown. (Trump is the owner of the Miss Universe Organization, which includes Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.)

O’Donnell, an outspoken co-host on ABC’s ”The View,” created by Walters, said Trump’s news conference annoyed her ”on a multitude of levels” and that the twice-divorced Trump had no right to be ”the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America,” amid roars of audience laughter.

Trump fired back, calling O’Donnell a ”bully,” among other insults, in interviews with various media outlets, including CNN’s ”Larry King Live.”

The feud continued this week when O’Donnell posted this entry on her Web site: ‘’so what happens/ when u say the emperor has no clothes/ the comb over goes ballistic/ via phone to mr king.”

Will the mudslinging ever stop?

”It will never end on my behalf because I’ve exposed Rosie for what she is: a very dumb human being,” Trump told the AP. ”She’s got no intelligence, but I’ve known that for a long time. Unfortunately, Rosie’s pulled the wool over the public.”

A representative for O’Donnell said she was unavailable for comment.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LAWRENCE, KS (AP) | 12/28/06 10:05 AM

City officials are considering creating a city-maintained registry that would legally recognize gay partnerships.

Supporters said the registry would not automatically give gay and lesbian couples the legal rights afforded to married couples, but the registry would serve as a legal recognition of the couple’s relationship.

“It would indicate that the city is welcoming and supportive of its gay community members,” said Maggie Childs, who heads the Lawrence chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition, which asked Lawrence Commissioner Mike Rundle to set up the registry.

“In my mind, the primary benefit is symbolic.”

Kansas voters approved a state constitutional amendment almost two years ago that banned gay marriage in the state.

About 75 other local governments across the country have adopted similar registries, according to the City and County of San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Lawrence would be the first to do so in Kansas, joining such Midwestern cities as Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis and Iowa City, Iowa.

City commissioners haven’t yet scheduled a hearing on the registry.

The last time the Lawrence commission dealt with protecting homosexuals from discrimination was in 1995, when commissioners passed an ordinance prohibiting housing or employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Rev. Leo Barbee of Lawrence’s Victory Bible Church noted that Douglas County was the only county where the Kansas constitutional amendment banning gay marriage failed, so he wasn’t surprised a registry was being considered. But Barbee, who campaigned against the 1995 anti-discrimination ordinance, said the registry was wrong.

“I think God set up a standard that marriage is one man and one woman,” he said. “Anytime we go against that, I think we are going against what God said in his word. I know that will cause some confusion or cause some people to say I’m homophobic.

“I’m not against gays or lesbians as people, but I just feel it is not the right thing to do.”

Childs said people like Barbee are welcome to their opinions on the religious issues of homosexuality, “but as long as we’re in this country, that shouldn’t be the role of government.”

Rundle, who is gay, said he is pushing the issue because although private employers are increasingly offering health benefits to domestic partners, proving a domestic partnership can be difficult and time-consuming, especially for people who frequently change jobs.

By registering their partnership, the couple would receive a certificate similar to a marriage license.

The city would not require businesses and private organizations to offer benefits to domestic partners of employees, but supporters said they hope a registry eventually persuades the city and other government agencies to start offering benefits to domestic partners.

Childs also said she hopes a registry would provide a toehold in eventually overturning the state ban on gay marriage, saying gay couples should have the same rights as married people when it comes to child custody, insurance or making medical decisions for a partner.

City Manager David Corliss said the city’s attorneys were still researching whether a domestic partnership registry would stand up in court.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ROME (AP) | 12/28/2006 03:07 PM

Prime Minister Romano Prodi vowed Thursday to deliver ‘’shock therapy” to spur growth in Italy after years of a sluggish economy, outlining an ambitious 2007 agenda he hopes will reverse his decline in popularity.

Prodi said his center-left government plans to remove bureaucratic hurdles to allow companies to be set up in one day, attract more foreign investment, and unveil a new environmental policy and energy savings scheme.

Liberalizing sectors of Italy’s rigid industry is also high on his agenda, Prodi told a news conference.

”No area can be protected from competition,” he said.

”We are applying, and we’ll do so in the future, shock therapy to the country’s productive system,” he said, adding ”2007 will be the year of the turnaround.”

Prodi, who took power after winning April elections, said a pension reform that has raised the prospect of massive confrontation with Italy’s powerful unions and possibly a strike will not be harsh. The reform is seen as a major test for his ruling majority.

Prodi offered few details about how his government will implement his agenda because officials are expected to work them out during a gathering in the southern city of Caserta next month.

But with an unwieldy coalition and slim majority in parliament, Prodi faces a tough challenge. Opposition politicians were quick to label the government’s agenda as unrealistic Thursday.

”Lying, lying, lying!” said Roberto Calderoli, a senator with the right-wing populist Northern League party. ”The 2007 that Prodi foresees represents a sort of ‘Alice in Wonderland.”’

Prodi has seen his popularity decline in recent weeks, due largely to a budget passed by parliament that critics say relies too heavily on tax hikes and not enough on curbing public spending. The budget is aimed at bringing the Italian deficit to within 3 percent of gross domestic product by next year to meet European Union commitments.

Prodi has defended the measures as necessary to restart the economy, which grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter of this year. But even his allies have acknowledged mistakes and miscommunication in how the measures were presented to the public.

Prodi’s repeated appeals for profound reforms have yielded little in a country where most people are wary of change. Measures presented by his government this year to liberalize various sectors _ including law firms, taxi companies, pharmacies and bakeries _ were met with fierce protests. Some were eventually watered down.

Adding to Prodi’s difficulties, the ruling coalition is a varied group of parties _ ranging from hard-line Communists to Christian Democrats and anti-Vatican secularists _ that do not agree on many issues. An upcomi ng debate on what legal status to give to unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, is expected to highlight the divisions.

”Tensions within the majority remain a negative factor for Prodi,” said Gianfranco Pasquino, a leftist political analyst.

Prodi insisted Thursday that his coalition is united when it comes to voting in parliament.

”We won the elections with this majority, and this majority is capable of taking decisions, and will be so in the future,” he said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BOSTON (AP) | 12/28/2006 05:18 AM

The Massachusetts judges who legalized gay marriage say they cannot force state lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit the same-sex unions.

The Supreme Judicial Court said lawmakers are defying their constitutional duties by not voting, but said it has no authority to force them to act.

”Beyond resorting to aspirational language that relies on the presumptive good faith of elected representatives, there is no presently articulated judicial remedy for the Legislature’s indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties,” Justice John Greaney wrote for the unanimous court on Wednesday.

The high court ruled in 2003 that the state constitution guaranteed gays the right to marry.

Since the marriages began in 2004, about 8,000 same-sex couples have wed in Massachusetts, the only state to allow gay marriage.

Gov. Mitt Romney and other supporters of the proposed amendment, angered that lawmakers failed during a joint session in November to take a vote necessary to move it toward the statewide ballot, sued and asked the justices to clarify lawmakers’ duties under the state’s constitution.

The court said the legislature’s obligation to vote was ”beyond serious debate,” but said the most it could do was remind lawmakers of that duty. Lawmakers who avoid their duty ”ultimately will have to answer to the people who elected them,” the court said.

The proposed amendment, which would define marriage as only between a man and a woman, would keep existing same-sex marriages intact but ban all future gay marriages.

Lawmakers have a final chance to vote on the proposed amendment when they meet Jan. 2, the last day of the current legislative session.

In November, gay marriage a dvocates led by House Speaker Sal DiMasi voted 109-87 to recess without a vote. DiMasi declined to comment Wednesday on whether he agreed with the court or what action the House might take in response.

Senate President Robert Travaglini, who chairs the constitutional convention, could also bring the question to a vote by refusing to recognize any lawmaker he knows will move for a recess. A spokeswoman for Travaglini said he was not available for comment Wednesday.

Lee Swislow of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders said she hoped lawmakers who have supported gay marriage rights would continue to do so on Jan. 2.

If a vote on the amendment is taken, it needs the support of a quarter of the legislature, or 50 lawmakers, in two consecutive legislative sessions to move to the ballot.

Supporters of the amendment to ban gay marriage collected signatures from 170,000 people in an effort to get the question on the 2008 ballot.

”As the court has made very clear, a procedural maneuver to avoid this responsibility would violate a legislator’s oath of office,” Romney said in a statement. ”The issue is now whether the Legislature will follow the law.”

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines 
MA Court Says Lawmakers Shirking Duty
Italy’s New Premier Vows Reforms for ‘07
Gay Partnership Registry for Lawrence
Trump-O’Donnell Verbal Mud Fight Goes On

 

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Today’s Headlines
Court Can’t Force Gay Marriage Vote
Ford’s State Funeral to Begin Friday
CA School Rethinks Blood Donation Policy
Cartoon Penis Encourages Syphilis Testing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (AP) | 12/26/2006 4:26 PM

An advertising campaign featuring cartoon characters shaped like male genitalia encouraged more men to get tested for syphilis in San Francisco, according to a new study.

In the neighborhoods where the Health Penis ads ran on billboards and bus shelters, men who saw the comic strips were most likely to have been tested for the sexually transmitted disease, according to researchers from the city’s Department of Public Health.

The health department sponsored the humorously risque ads between 2002 and 2005 to combat rising syphilis rates among gay and bisexual men.

Between 40 and 60 percent of survey respondents who were aware of the ads said they had been tested in the previous six months, department researchers reported Tuesday in the online journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

Although the campaign was not without controversy – an outdoor advertising company initially refused to post spots – infection rates have since declined, officials said.

“We took a risk, and that risk paid off,” said Jacqueline McCright, a sexually transmitted diseases services manager with the health department.

The campaign’s success has inspired Santa Clara County, Palm Springs, Seattle, Philadelphia and Los Angeles to use similar ads.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BOSTON (AP) | 12/27/2006 10:08 PM

Massachusetts’ highest court said Wednesday it has no authority to force lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. But it rebuked the Legislature for its ”indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties.”

The unanimous 7-0 ruling _ and the stinging reproach _ leave the fate of the amendment up in the air in the only state that allows gay marriage.

Opponents of gay marriage have collected 170,000 signatures in favor of an amendment to end the practice. But the measure needs the Legislature’s approval to appear on the 2008 ballot, and lawmakers refused to vote on the proposal last month. Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican expected to run for president in 2008, and other opponents of gay marriage responded by suing to try to force the lawmakers to act.

In its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court _ the same court that ruled in 2003 that the Massachusetts Constitution gives gays the right to marry _ said it cannot force a vote. It said that the Legislature’s obligation to vote was ”beyond serious debate,” but that the most the court could do was remind lawmakers of that duty.

”There is no presently articulated judicial remedy for the Legislature’s indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties,” the court said.

The proposed amendment needs the approval of lawmakers in two consecutive two-year sessions to appear on the 2008 ballot. The last day of the current session is Tuesday. If lawmakers adjourn without taking up the amendment, the measure will die.

In a statement, the governor said: ”The issue is now whether the Legislature will follow the law.”

The proposed amendment defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It would leave all existing same-sex ma rriages intact but would ban any more such weddings. More than 8,000 gay couples have been married in Massachusetts.

Opponents of gay marriage argue that it should be up to the people, not the courts, to define something as important as marriage. Supporters of gay marriage say the civil rights of a minority should not be put to a popular vote.

Marc Solomon of MassEquality, a gay rights group, said after Wednesday’s ruling: ”We urge the Legislature to end this debate once and for all and let committed couples and their families get on with their lives.”

One of the gay-marriage opponents who sued to try to force the Legislature to vote, C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League, said he doubts lawmakers will act, despite the court’s rebuke.

”Our legislators have demonstrated time and time again a contempt for the constitution and for their oath of office,” Doyle said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) | 12/27/2006 10:17 PM

Gerald R. Ford will be mourned in the rare and solemn spectacle of a state funeral crafted to honor his reverence for Congress, the institution that launched him to the presidency.

Ceremonies begin Friday in a California church, and end five days later with Ford’s entombment on a hillside near his Grand Rapids, Mich., presidential museum.

In between, according to funeral details announced Wednesday, Ford’s body will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, offering both dignitaries and the public a chance to pay final resp ects to the former Michigan congressman who rose to the White House in the collapse of Richard Nixon’s presidency.

And in a departure from tradition meant to highlight his long congressional service, Ford’s remains will also lie in repose outside the doors of both the House and the Senate for short periods.

”I know personally how much those two tributes themselves meant to President Ford,” said family representative Gregory D. Willard, who detailed arrangements in a news conference in Palm Desert, Calif.

The 38th president died Tuesday at age 93. He had been involved in his own funeral planning, as former presidents typically are.

The Capitol will intensify its preparations by closing for tours at noon Thursday. The public will be admitted to pay respects Saturday evening _ sometime after a 6:30 p.m. arrival ceremony _ and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST Sunday and Monday.

Events begin at St. Margaret’s Church in Palm Desert, which Ford and his wife , Betty, frequently attended. A family prayer service will be followed by visitation by friends and a period of public repose.

On Saturday, Ford’s body will be flown to Washington in late afternoon, his hearse pausing at the World War II memorial in joint tribute to the wartime Navy reserve veteran and his comrades in uniform.

The state funeral will be conducted in the Capitol Rotunda that evening and after that, the public will be able to file in to pay last respects. Ford was expected to lie in state until Tuesday morning, in a closed casket.

The last major event in Washington will be Tuesday morning, with a funeral service at the National Cathedral before Ford’s interment the next day in Michigan.

The nation has witnessed just two presidential state funerals in over three decades _ those of Ronald Reagan in 2004 and Lyndon Johnson in 1973. Nixon’s family, acting on his wishes, opted out of the Washington traditions when he died in 1994, his preside ncy shortened and forever tainted by the Watergate scandal.

”The nation’s appreciation for the contributions that President Ford made throughout his long and well-lived life are more than we could ever have anticipated,” Betty Ford said in a statement thanking the multitudes who offered condolences.

”These kindnesses have made this difficult time more bearable.”

Ford is to become the 11th president to lie in state in the Rotunda.

He served his Michigan district in the House for 25 years, rising to the vice presidency when scandal drove Spiro Agnew from office and then to the presidency when Watergate consumed Nixon.

One open question was how involved the funeral procession to the Capitol, often the most stirring of Washington’s rituals of mourning, would be for a man whose modest ways and brief presidency set him apart from those honored with elaborate parades.

Planners are guided by the wishes of the family and any instructions from t he president himself on how elaborate the events will be, how much of it takes place in Washington and more.

The Military District of Washington turned to the task quietly but with increasing urgency as Ford went through several bouts of ill health in recent years.

What happens in Washington, particularly, unfolds according to guidelines that go back to the mid-1800s and have been shaped over time.

No longer are government buildings draped in black, as they were in the time of Abraham Lincoln and before.

But if a chosen ceremony requires mourners to be seated, for example, seating arrangements are detailed with a precision dictated by tradition. The presidential party is followed by chiefs of state, arranged alphabetically by the English spelling of their countries.

Royalty representing chiefs of state come next, and then heads of governments followed by other officials.

Two presidents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, John F. Ken nedy and William H. Taft. Reagan was buried on the hilltop grounds of his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., in a dramatic sunset ceremony capping a week of official public mourning.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SANTA CRUZ, CA (AP) | 12/24/2006 6:38 PM

A gay student prevented from donating blood because of his sexual history has stirred debate among Santa Cruz school officials over whether to continue hosting campus blood drives.

Ronnie Childers, 17, student body president at Harbor High School, said he volunteered at a blood drive at his school earlier this month for five hours and waited in line for three more before being turned away.

“I was turned away because of my sexual contacts,” Childers said. “The reasoning behind me not being able to give blood is ridiculous. … It made me feel like an outcast.”

According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations, a man who has had a sexual encounter with another man since 1977 is ineligible to donate.

Santa Cruz city schools officials said they were reconsidering whether to have blood drives on campus if students were required to divulge information about their sexual activities.

“As the blood supply has become so politicized over time we need to check our policies,” Santa Cruz City Schools Trustee Cynthia Hawthorne said.

In March, the major blood-supply organizations in the U.S., including the American Red Cross, petitioned the FDA to relax the rules on gay men, saying “the current lifetime deferral for men who have had sex with other men is medically and scientifically unwarranted.” The issue has not yet been resolved, the Red Cross said.

“Studies have shown that men with a history of male to male sex since 1977 may be infected with HIV and/or may have evidence of a lifestyle that potentially exposes them to HIV,” according to the FDA’s Web site.

An FDA spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) | 12/23/2006 04:32 PM

The man suspected of being a serial killer had been accused of rape on two occasions before the killing of his alleged first victim, but he never stood trial, newspapers reported Saturday.

Ronald Dominique was indicted on nine counts of first-degree murder earlier this month. Held in lieu of a $9 million bond, he has yet to enter a plea.

In 1993, a Houma man told Thibodaux police that Dominique tied him up and raped him at gunpoint, but an officer chose not to make an arrest, the Daily Comet and the Courier newspapers reported. In 1996, a Thibodaux man went to the same police officer with an almost identical account, but while Dominique was arrested and jailed, he was released three months later without prosecution.

Over the decade since then, the bodies of 23 me n have been found in the vicinity of New Orleans and Thibodaux. Authorities alleged earlier this month that Dominique, 42, admitted raping them, then killing them and dumping their bodies.

After the second rape complaint, police questioned Dominique about the similarities between the two men’s stories.

According to a transcript of the interview, Dominique acknowledged picking up both men and bringing them home for sex, but said he had tied them up because they had asked him to. He said that afterward the men demanded money, so he brandished a gun and told them to leave.

”I would never hurt nobody,” Dominique told police at the time.

Police charged him with aggravated rape and he was jailed in August 1996, with the charge later downgraded to forcible rape. The charges eventually were dropped and he was released that November.

Eight months later, on July 14, 1997, the body of the first of Dominique’s alleged murder victims was found in a canal. Over the next decade, the bodies of 22 other men, all asphyxiated, some partially clothed, were found scattered throughout six south Louisiana parishes.

Thibodaux police say they did their job. Prosecutors say they could not pursue the second case after Dominique’s arrest because the alleged victim disappeared, although the newspapers reported that the man maintains authorities never made an attempt to contact him.

The investigating officer who handled both cases died in 2003.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) | 12/23/2006 10:03 PM

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he was ”deeply concerned” about a Libyan court’s decision to reimpose death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting children with HIV.

Annan offered U.N. support for the children and for efforts to ”find a humane solution for the fate of the medics.”

”I am deeply concerned by confirmation of a guilty verdict and a death sentence,” Annan said.

President Bush and European leaders have expressed outrage over the death sentences, imposed despite scientific evidence the children were infected with the virus before the medical workers came to Libya.

The defendants were convicted and sentenced to death a year ago on charges that they intentionally spread HIV to more tha n 400 children at a hospital in Benghazi. Libya’s Supreme Court ordered a retrial after an international outcry.

A French doctor testified at the first trial that strains of HIV were circulating at the hospital well before the nurses and doctor arrived in March 1998.

On Dec. 6, the journal Nature published an analysis of viral strains from some of the children, showing changes in the virus proved it was contracted at least three years before the defendants arrived at the hospital.

The case has hurt Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s recent efforts to improve his country’s relationship with the West, but has not stopped the rapprochement entirely. This summer, the United States reopened its embassy in Tripoli, 16 years after it severed ties with the country.

Annan, whose tenure ends on Dec. 31, praised the international community for providing treatment and medicine to the infected children. Fifty children have died, and the rest have been treated in Euro pe.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) | 12/26/2006 03:05 PM

A rapist who has struck at least five times since April in and around Baytown has not only spread fear in this working-class community but also piqued the interest of those who study the criminal mind. The reason: He preys on other men.

That makes him something of a rarity in the world of crime.

”It’s the least prevalent kind of serial rape, and largely underreported,” said Jack Levin, a leading criminologist and director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.

Levin and other experts say male-on-male rape sometimes stems from sexual encounters gone bad. But that does not appear to be the case with the rapist in this oil-refining town of 70,000 people about 30 miles east of Houston.

Instead, he methodically identifies and stalks young men and attacks them at gunpoint or knifepoint in or near their homes, according to police Capt. Roger Clifford. Sometimes he robs his victims, too, but rape appears to be the primary motivation, police said.

”This is certainly of interest, an interesting case,” Levin said.

The U.S. Justice Department says one in 33 men in the United States has been a victim of a rape or attempted rape, compared with one in six women. Experts say men are far less likely to report a rape to authorities, because they fear being perceived as weak or see the attack as an assault on their masculinity.

In fact, investigators in Baytown fear there may be other victims of the rapist who are too ashamed to come forward.

”There’s a lot of emotional damage that goes with being raped, especially when the victims are men,” said Lynn Parrish, a spokeswoman for the National Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. But she added: ”The best way to get this rap ist off the street is for more people to come forward.”

Three of the attacks have occurred in the city, the other two on the outskirts of town. The most recent attack was Nov. 30. Clifford would not give details of the rapes but said at least one victim managed to thwart the attack.

No one has been seriously hurt.

”But it’s only going to take one victim who resists enough or in the wrong way until the gun is going to go off, the knife is going to be used, and we’re going to have a victim with serious injuries or who’s dead,” Clifford said.

Criminologists have seen cases of serial killers who raped or otherwise had sex with their male victims _ among them, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer. But psychologically, this is a different phenomenon.

Levin said it is rare for a serial rapist to become a serial killer.

”I think the reason has to do with the absence or presence of a conscience,” he said. ”A serial rapist is more likely to have a conscience. Otherwise they’d take the life and silence the victim.”

Victims have described the Baytown attacker as a clean-shaven black man, 18 to 21 years old, 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds, with a shaved head. Police have released a sketch and are working with the FBI’s behavioral sciences unit to develop a psychological profile. DNA testing also is under way.

Fliers with the sketch have been circulated around schools and Baytown’s Lee College, with an enrollment of about 6,000.

Jay Ali, an 18-year-old who works at the local mall, said he has been spreading the word among friends. ”There’s a loose psycho running around raping men,” he said.

The local paper, The Baytown Sun, has run the sketch and details of the crimes at the top of its front page nearly every day since the most recent attack, and an electronic bulletin board on its Web site is filled with discussion about the rapes.

”I have selfish reasons for wanting th is guy caught,” Marie W. wrote in a posting Dec. 12. ”I have a son who fits this guy’s target group. … I want him off the streets and locked up like yesterday.”

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BOSTON (AP) | 12/27/2006 10:20 AM
Supporters of a measure to ban gay marriage sued in federal court Wednesday, seeking as much as $5 million in damages from lawmakers who blocked a final vote last month on the proposed constitutional amendment.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by VoteOnMarriage.org, argues the 109 lawmakers violated the supporters’ rights to free speech, to petition the government and to due process under the law.

The group is asking the court to interpret the vote to recess a joint meeting of the House and Senate as a vote in favor of the amendment, even though many lawmakers said the vote was designed to kill the amendment. Opponents feared they didn’t have the 151 votes needed to kill the measure and called for the vote to recess.

The Legislature is scheduled to take up the question again Jan. 2, the last day of the session. Supporters fear lawmakers will again avoid taking a vote, killing the proposal.

Glen Lavy, a lawyer representing VoteOnMarriage.org, says the lawsuit is needed to force lawmakers to follow the constitution. It seeks $500,000 from the lawmakers for the cost of the group’s legal battles and another $5 million in punitive damages. The damages would be split 109 ways, and lawmakers would be held personally liable, he said.

”We would like to put an end to the Massachusetts Legislature thumbing its nose at citizen initiatives,” Lavy said. ”This lawsuit is about holding those legislators responsible for their illegal conduct.”

Lavy said he didn’t expect a ruling before Jan. 2. He called the request that the court interpret votes to recess as votes in favor of the amendment ”a unique request for relief” and acknowledged it was a long shot.

Kyle Sullivan, spokesman for House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi , declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Another lawmaker named in the suit, Newton Democrat Ruth B. Balser, said she was unfazed by the threat of punitive damages.

”I am very confident that every action that we have taken here in the Massachusetts Legislature is consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution,” she said.

It is the second lawsuit designed to force lawmakers to take a vote on the question.

Gov. Mitt Romney and other opponents of gay marriage filed a suit with the state Supreme Judicial Court asking the court to force lawmakers to vote on the proposed amendment or, if they fail to act, to put the question on the 2008 ballot anyway. The case is pending.

Massachusetts in 2003 became the only state to allow gay marriage. Vermont and Connecticut permit civil unions, California grants similar status through a domestic-partner registration law, and more than a dozen states give gay couples some legal rights.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Today’s Headlines
MA Gay Marriage Critics Sue Lawmakers
Rapist Preys on Men in Suburban Houston
Annan ‘Concerned’ on Libya AIDS Sentence
Rape Allegations Preceded Slayings