Around the Nation

ARIZONA

Rezoning proposed to save desert center

TUCSON — Local officials have proposed changing zoning laws to protect 320 acres of state trust land from becoming a housing development.

Tumamoc Hill is part of the University of Arizona’s century-old desert plant research center. The move to protect it came days after it was named one of the most endangered historic sites in the state.

CALIFORNIA

’Partial-birth’ law rejected twice

SAN FRANCISCO — Two federal appeals courts on opposite sides of the country declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional yesterday, saying the measure is vague and lacks an exception for cases in which a woman’s health is at stake.

The first ruling came from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hours later, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a similar decision, affirming a 2004 ruling by a judge who upheld the right to perform a type of late-term abortion, even as he described the procedure as “gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized.”

The law, signed in 2003, banned a procedure known to doctors as intact dilation and extraction and called “partial-birth” abortion by pro-life activists. In the procedure, the unborn child is partially removed from the womb, and the skull is punctured or crushed.

President Bush signed the abortion ban in 2003, but it was not enforced because of legal challenges in several states.

Yesterday’s decisions were expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

FLORIDA

Doctor convicted in fatal overdoses

PENSACOLA — A federal jury convicted an Apalachicola doctor of causing the deaths of five patients through overdoses of highly potent painkillers.

The sentencing for Dr. Thomas Merrill, 70, is set for April 21. He could be sentenced to life in prison. He was convicted on 98 of 100 counts, including illegally dispensing controlled substances, defrauding health care benefit programs and wire fraud.

ILLINOIS

Three students shot near high school

CHICAGO — Three students were shot yesterday morning on a street near their high school, officials said.

The shootings occurred shortly before 8 a.m. near Carl Schurz High School, a Chicago police spokeswoman said.

No charges were filed by midday, police spokesman Pat Camden said.

Two of the three male students were freshmen and the third was a sophomore, said Michael Vaughn, a spokesman for Chicago Public Schools.

One was hospitalized with a head wound, said a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. The second victim had graze wounds to the head and neck, and the third was shot in the leg.

Mr. Camden said that the victims were in good condition and that none of their injuries was considered life-threatening.

INDIANA

Manhole covers, grates stolen

INDIANAPOLIS — The potholes here are getting out of control — and it’s a man-made problem.

Thieves have made off with dozens of the hefty covers and sewer grates in the past few days, leaving gapping holes in streets across the city.

City officials think the high price of scrap metal is spurring the thefts and have been warning area scrap yards not to buy any manhole covers.

Crews worked Monday to put up warning barriers for the holes once protected by the covers, which can weigh about 300 pounds.

“This is a severe public safety hazard we have here,” said Margie Smith-Simmons, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Public Works.

She said the profit motive for such thefts has escalated in the past two years as the price for a ton of scrap steel has gone from about $70 to $300.

KANSAS

Historical group gets GI bill author’s notes

TOPEKA — Notes and papers written by the man who authored the GI Bill of Rights have been donated to the Kansas State Historical Society.

Harry Colmery, a World War I veteran and Topeka lawyer, wrote the first draft of the GI Bill of Rights during an emergency meeting of the American Legion in Washington in 1943. The act is credited with giving millions of servicemen returning from World War II the means to get an education and buy homes.

MASSACHUSETTS

Ruling gives teachers a year of back pay

SPRINGFIELD — A Superior Court judge ruled that Springfield teachers are entitled to one year’s back pay, not the three years the educators say they were owed since the city illegally withheld their raises.

The ruling is good news for the cash-strapped city. It has projected that its deficit could balloon to $70 million by 2006.

MISSOURI

Activists seek firings over taped beating

ST. LOUIS — Black activists yesterday called for the firing of police officers who were shown on live television swinging night sticks and punching and kicking a suspect after a car chase.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was investigating whether the four officers involved had acted illegally.

The suspect, Edmon Burns, 33, of St. Louis County, was treated at a hospital, released and jailed. No charges had been filed.

Mr. Burns and one of the four officers, from St. Louis, are black. The three other officers, from suburban Maplewood, are white.

The chase began Monday in Maplewood, where officers said they noticed a man in a van acting suspiciously. It ended in St. Louis. Much of the chase was shown on live television shot from a KTVI-TV helicopter.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Snowmobiler dies in plunge through lake

MOULTONBOROUGH — Fish and Game Department officials say a weekend snowmobiling death underscores why the state outlawed the risky practice of riding snowmobiles over open water.

Daniel Harper, 51, of Bellingham, Mass., died after trying to skim over 350 feet of water on Lake Winnipesaukee. He didn’t make it across and drowned.

NEW MEXICO

110,000 trees sold in conservation effort

SANTA FE — The New Mexico State Forestry Division says it has sold about 110,000 trees of 45 species since Nov. 28 through the agency’s conservation seedling program. That’s about 20 percent more than a year ago.

The plants are sold to people who own at least 1 acre of land in New Mexico and agree to use the trees for conservation reasons.

NEW YORK

Boys Choir of Harlem sues to stop eviction

NEW YORK — The Boys Choir of Harlem, asked to leave its public-school home by yesterday, has sued the city Department of Education in a last-ditch effort to dodge the eviction.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday, contends that the department illegally broke the group’s lease, in part by changing the locks at I.S./H.S. M469, otherwise known as the Choir Academy of Harlem.

The boys choir says it’s entitled to stay in the space until June.

Citing concern about the choir’s ongoing financial and management problems, the department sent a letter in December saying the group had to leave the space it has been using for free since 1993. The choir is facing a debt of up to $5 million.

The city, which pays for teachers, equipment and the standard academic curriculum at the school, has said the Tuesday deadline is firm.

TENNESSEE

TVA developing midyear rate increase

CHATTANOOGA — For the first time in 25 years, the Tennessee Valley Authority is developing a midyear rate increase to offset higher fuel costs. No date or amount has been determined yet, a utility spokesman said.

The 7.5 percent rate increase approved in the summer by TVA’s board raised monthly bills by about $3.50 to $6.50 for typical residential customers.

From wire dispatches and staff reports