Around the Nation

ALASKA

Judge won’t halt wolf shootings

ANCHORAGE — A judge on Tuesday denied a request by an animal rights group to immediately halt a population-control program that allows shooting wolves from the air.

Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason said the Board of Game acted properly in adopting emergency regulations last week that make the program conform to state law. That allowed the program to be reinstated more than a week after Judge Gleason ruled it was illegal.

The program, intended to boost moose and caribou populations in five areas of the state, got its start in 2003 in an area of Alaska’s interior where residents had long complained predators were killing too many moose, leaving too few for food.

ARIZONA

O’Connor to teach law school course

TUCSON — Two days after officially retiring, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor starts her new job — teaching law at the University of Arizona.

She will teach a two-week course about the U.S. Supreme Court starting today.

The self-described Arizona cowgirl announced her retirement in July, but it wasn’t official until Tuesday, when Samuel A. Alito Jr. was confirmed as her replacement.

Justice O’Connor, who grew up on a ranch in the southeastern part of the state, joined the nation’s highest court in 1981, when President Reagan picked her as its first female justice.

CALIFORNIA

City asks to distribute medical marijuana

SAN JOSE — The city of Santa Cruz has asked a federal judge to approve its plan to distribute medical marijuana directly to sick and dying patients through a new Office of Compassionate Use.

The city, with the American Civil Liberties Union and the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance, filed a federal complaint Tuesday urging the government to allow the new department to provide the drug to patients.

City officials said they will not distribute marijuana unless Santa Cruz wins the legal battle. Several California cities and counties have programs to dispense medical marijuana to thousands of registered users.

California law has allowed medical marijuana use since voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the summer that the federal government can continue to prosecute users.

COLORADO

Group starts push against gay ’marriage’

DENVER — A coalition of religious and family groups kicked off a drive yesterday to amend the state constitution to ban “marriage” between homosexuals.

Coloradans for Marriage submitted a proposed amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman to the state Legislative Council office, the first step in getting the measure on the ballot this fall. The group will need the secretary of state to approve the wording and 68,000 valid signatures of registered voters to get the measure on the ballot.

The group said the proposed amendment is about preserving marriage and protecting children, not about hating homosexual people.

GEORGIA

Baby Noor faring well after spinal surgery

ATLANTA — An Iraqi baby is healing well since spinal surgery last month, and her doctors have removed a drainage tube from her back, hospital officials said yesterday.

Noor al-Zahra, whose treatment was arranged by U.S. troops in her homeland, was released from the hospital after the tube procedure Tuesday, according to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

The 4-month-old baby is expected to return to the hospital in a few weeks for an evaluation of whether she needs bladder surgery.

Noor has spina bifida, a condition in which the backbone and spinal cord do not close before birth.

NEW YORK

Boys choir’s founder barred from building

NEW YORK — The founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem was turned away from the world-renowned group’s longtime home yesterday, a day after a city-imposed deadline for evicting the financially troubled choir from the rent-free space.

About 100 supporters, including parents of choir members, protested the city’s actions outside a Harlem public school where the choir had practiced and had its offices for more than a decade. Choir founder Walter Turnbull told supporters that the group will look for a new location.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that the city would be happy to see an afternoon choir program put into place, but that the choir administration would not be using the building.

VERMONT

Mild weather aids maple-syrup makers

FAIRFAX — The mild January was sweet to Vermont’s maple-syrup producers.

Maple sap is running early, and the lack of snow lets syrup makers tap trees more easily. Several producers have done so already, particularly in southern Vermont.

“I’ve been sugaring all my life, and I’ve never boiled this early, never,” said Orman Ovitt, 90, whose family business started making syrup on Monday. “This is somethin’ else.”

The Ovitts started boiling sap into syrup six weeks earlier than last year, when they produced 1,600 gallons.

Last month was the fifth-warmest January on record in Burlington, which had an average temperature of 28.2 degrees and a high of 55 degrees on Jan. 14.

WASHINGTON

$45.7 million deal offered in abuse suits

SPOKANE — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which filed for bankruptcy after being barraged with sex-abuse lawsuits, has offered a $45.7 million settlement to 75 persons who say they were molested by priests.

Bishop William Skylstad publicly apologized yesterday to the victims “for the terrible wrongs inflicted on you in the past.” He urged Catholics to accept the proposed settlement, which will require money from individual parishes.

Plaintiffs’ attorney James Stang said a committee representing the reported victims voted Tuesday night to recommend that the offer be accepted.

From wire dispatches and staff reports