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POLITICS

Tea parties puzzle top Obama adviser

A top adviser to President Obama scoffed at last week’s “tea parties,” held on tax day to protest government spending, corporate bailouts and other issues.

“The thing that bewilders me is this president just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere because he certainly understands the burden that people face,” David Axelrod said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Mr. Axelrod was asked for his opinion on what the show’s moderator described as “this spreading and very public disaffection with not only the government, but especially the Obama administration.”

Mr. Axelrod replied: “I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that’s unhealthy.”

“Unhealthy?” the moderator repeated.

“This is a country where we value our liberties and our ability to express ourselves. And so far these are expressions,” Mr. Axelrod said.

LAW

High court to rule on strip search

TUCSON, Ariz. | Savana Redding was 13 when she was told to remove her clothes for a strip search by school officials looking for the equivalent of two Advils. And while the humiliation hasn’t diminished in the past 5 1/2 years, she hopes the U.S. Supreme Court can do something about the emotional scar.

The nation’s highest court will hear the 19-year-old’s case Tuesday against Safford Middle School officials, who searched her for prescription-strength ibuprofen pills that a fellow student accused her of having.

“I’m never going to be able to forget about this,” said Miss Redding, a college freshman living in her hometown of Safford in rural eastern Arizona. “I’ll think about it constantly, but I don’t think it’ll be as big a burden.”

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether school officials violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches. Among the questions to be resolved are whether they had reasonable grounds to think Miss Redding was hiding pills and whether the pills posed a public health threat serious enough to justify a strip search.

UTAH

Former Rep. Orton dies in ATV crash

SALT LAKE CITY | Former Utah congressman Bill Orton died in an all-terrain vehicle accident when his machine flipped over on a sand dune at Little Sahara Recreation Area. He was 60.

Juab County Sheriff Alden Orme told the Associated Press that Mr. Orton died almost immediately of his injuries about 4 p.m. Saturday.

Mr. Orton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 1997. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for Utah governor in 2000.

Sheriff Orme said Mr. Orton was riding alone when his ATV crested a sand dune and the machine crashed, flipping over on him.

An autopsy is pending.

From wire dispatches and staff reports