Posted on Thu, Nov. 5, 2009
Obama promotes school grant fund
MADISON, Wis. - Pushing for a link between student test scores and teacher pay, President Obama yesterday dangled $5 billion in federal grants to states willing to undertake a top-to-bottom overhaul of their schools in support of White House priorities.
"There is nothing that will determine the quality of our future as a nation or the lives of our children more than the kind of education we provide them," Obama said while speaking at a Madison middle school.
Obama visited Wisconsin a day before state lawmakers planned to vote to lift a ban on using student test scores to judge teacher performance. The administration has said such restrictions would hurt a state's chances of getting part of the $5 billion competitive grant fund, dubbed "Race to the Top." - AP
Ill. judge delays an abortion law
CHICAGO - An Illinois judge issued a temporary restraining order yesterday delaying enforcement of a law that would require doctors to notify parents of teens who seek an abortion.
The order, sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, came hours after the state's Medical Disciplinary Board voted not to extend a 90-day grace period put into place in August, meaning the law would have taken effect.
The order is to remain in force until the judge can hear arguments on the ACLU's opposition.
Illinois' law was passed in 1995 but never enforced because of various court actions. It requires doctors to notify the parents or guardians of a girl 17 or younger 48 hours before the girl undergoes an abortion. The law requires no notice in a medical emergency or in cases of sexual abuse, and a provision allows girls to bypass parental notification by going to a judge. - AP
Maine voters OK retail pot outlets
PORTLAND, Maine - Voters approved a referendum making Maine the fifth state to allow retail pot dispensaries, but medical-marijuana advocates say it won't become like California, where hundreds of marijuana shops have popped up and come under critical scrutiny.
California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Rhode Island allow for places where medical-marijuana patients can legally buy pot. Maine voters gave their approval Tuesday, 59 percent to 41 percent.
Referendum opponents cited Los Angeles as proof that cannabis outlets are a bad idea. There, the district attorney has vowed to crack down on places selling the drug to people who don't qualify.
But Maine law, unlike California, requires that dispensaries be licensed by the state, said Ethan Nadelmann of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance. Maine law also narrowly defines medical conditions for which patients can be prescribed pot. - AP
Elsewhere:
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., said yesterday that she was running for the seat of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing. Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.
Chronic medical problems are complicating a psychiatric evaluation for James von Brunn, 89, accused of fatally shooting a guard June 10 at Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, officials at a Butner, N.C., prison hospital said. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton granted an eight-week extension for the evaluation.
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