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Brown pelican off endangered list
WASHINGTON - Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.Interior Department officials said yesterday that they were taking the bird off the endangered-species list, after a nearly four-decade struggle to keep the brown pelican population afloat.
The bird now prevalent across Florida, the Gulf and Pacific Coasts, and the Caribbean was declared endangered in 1970, after its population was decimated by the use of DDT. The pesticide, consumed when the pelican ate tainted fish, led it to lay eggs with shells so thin that they broke during incubation.
The pelican's recovery is largely due to a 1972 ban on DDT, coupled with efforts by states and conservation groups to protect its nesting sites and monitor its population, Interior officials said. - AP
In noted Ill. case, the death penalty
WHEATON, Ill. - A Chicago-area jury said yesterday that a convicted murderer should be executed for the rape and killing of a 10-year-old girl kidnapped from her home in 1983 - a case that helped lead to landmark death-penalty reforms in Illinois, including a moratorium on executions.The jury found that Brian Dugan, 53, should die rather than receive another life sentence for murdering Jeanine Nicarico. Dugan, already serving a life sentence, had been convicted in two other murders, including that of a 7-year-old girl in 1985.
The verdict follows years of court battles in which two other suspects were convicted, sentenced to death, and imprisoned more than 10 years before being exonerated. They ultimately sued and were awarded millions of dollars.
Former Gov. George Ryan cited the case as one of several that led to his decision to stop all Illinois executions in 2000 and to clear the state's death row in 2003. - AP
Ex-radical denied travel permission
AMHERST, Mass - A convicted domestic terrorist whose plans to speak at the University of Massachusetts sparked controversy has been denied parole permission to travel to Massachusetts.The U.S. Parole Commission declined to let Ray Luc Levasseur travel from his Maine home to speak tonight. A former leader of the United Freedom Front, a group linked to 20 domestic bombings in the 1970s and 1980s, he served nearly two decades in prison.
UMass president Jack Wilson said university officials were pleased because they never believed Levasseur was an "appropriate" speaker. The university had canceled his appearance at a forum but said it would not intervene when faculty members invited him to a different venue. - AP
Elsewhere:
Republican leaders in South Carolina's Charleston County have censured their own Sen. Lindsey Graham for working with Democrats on a climate bill and other legislation. The party resolution passed Monday says Graham has weakened the Republican brand. Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said the senator was looking for a way forward on energy legislation.
