In the Nation

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's point man on civil rights said yesterday that he would seek to fight discrimination against gays, an area in which the Justice Department has had only a small role in the past.

Tom Perez, assistant attorney general in charge of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said pending legislation in Congress would let the department attack discrimination against lesbian, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people. The division has historically gone after discrimination based on race, gender, or religion. The development would also be a major shift from the division's work during the Bush administration, which opposed expanding the federal hate-crimes law to prosecute people who attack gays.

Perez told employees yesterday that the division must be transformed "so that we are capable of tackling the civil rights challenges of the 21st century." - AP

COLUMBUS, Ga. - A federal judge in Georgia fined Orly Taitz, a leader of the movement challenging President Obama's citizenship, and warned her against using the legal system to pursue "political rhetoric and insults."

U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land's scathing 43-page order Tuesday said Taitz, a California lawyer and dentist, filed "frivolous" litigation and tried to misuse the federal courts to push a political agenda.

Taitz had sued on behalf of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, who sought to avoid deployment to Iraq by claiming that Obama wasn't born in the United States and was "an illegal usurper" and "unqualified impostor." Documents show Obama was born in Hawaii.

Land, appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush, had already dismissed the lawsuit, but Taitz kept filing motions. He said he fined her $20,000 "as a deterrent to prevent future misconduct and to protect the integrity of the court." Taitz called Land's order "an absolute outrage." - AP

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. - A powerful fall storm packing strong winds and rain eased yesterday without causing the widespread mudslides and debris flows that state residents had feared.

The storm delivered its biggest punch to northern and central California areas, knocking out power to nearly 700,000 utility customers from Bakersfield in the southern San Joaquin Valley to Eureka on the north coast.

A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for residents of about 40 homes in central coast mountains near Watsonville, east of Monterey Bay, because of mudslides, said Chris Hirsch, a spokeswoman for Santa Cruz County emergency services.

Mountainsides made bare from summer fires have raised fears of mudslides and debris flows. Many parts of the state remained under flash-flood watches. - AP

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History plans to open a hall March 17 dedicated to the story of human evolution over six million years, officials said. The nearly $21 million Hall of Human Origins will follow milestones in history as well as the impact of climate change and extinction of ancient species.