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ANWR

The proposal to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration is essentially dead. On Thursday, the Senate voted down the ANWR amendment by a 54-46 margin.

The mostly Republican supporters of the amendment, which was attached to the national energy policy bill, failed to draw enough support for the measure to defeat a promised Democratic filibuster. The Senate continues to debate the overall energy plan and could complete work on the rest of the bill next week.

The plan had been introduced and championed by Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski, who has pushed for the exploration in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil imports. "This is a national security issue," he said shortly before the vote, while displaying a large picture of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with "Oil is a Weapon," superimposed on it.

But Democrats opposed the plan because they claimed it would have a severe negative effect on the northern Alaska ecology and because some studies indicate that the field lacks enough oil to justify the environmental damage.

"At best, ANWR has two percent of the nation's annual demand for oil," Sen. John Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., said. "This is the last five percent of Alaska's North Slope that remains protected from exploration."

The Interior Department was not pleased by the vote. "The Senate had the opportunity to strengthen our national security and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "ANWR production passed the House of Representatives on a bipartisan vote. ANWR production continues to be strongly supported by labor unions and Alaska's citizens. We will continue to work with this coalition as the House and Senate move the energy legislation to conference."

-- Do we need the oil enough to go drilling for it in one of the last pristine areas of the world? Why or why not?

(Thanks to UPI's P. Mitchell Prothero in Washington)

GRANDPARENTS' RIGHTS

The Illinois Supreme Court Thursday overturned part of a law guaranteeing grandparents visitation rights, saying the courts should not interfere with parents' best efforts to bring up their children.

The ruling came in two cases involving parents whose spouses had died.

"Parents have the constitutionally protected latitude to raise their children as they decide, even if these decisions are perceived by some to be for arbitrary or wrong reasons," the court said. "The presumption that parents act in their children's best interest prevents the court from second-guessing parents' visitation decisions."

In both cases, the parents did not deny grandparents visitation but insisted that the children not spend the night at the grandparents' homes. In one case, the surviving father would drive his daughter to visit her grandmother, who lived 50 minutes away, and in the other the grandparents babysat their two grandchildren one night at week at the children's home.

The court said it recognized the benefits of the "intergenerational relationship" between children and their grandparents but in cases where a parent is deemed constitutionally fit, it is in the children's best interests that "parents -- not judges -- should be the ones to decide with whom their children will and will not associate."

-- Do you agree with the ruling? Why or why not?

VERY BIG GOLDEN ARCHES

McDonald's is planning to open an 11,500-square-foot, 160-seat restaurant to test the concept of separate entertainment zones for children, teens and adults.

The restaurant -- planned for Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio -- will be the second biggest in the McDonald's U.S. chain.

"This is nothing like the McDonald's I worked for," Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, said Wednesday as he toured the place, which is scheduled to open in two weeks.

Doug Goare, vice president and general manager for the Ohio region for McDonald's, said the restaurant has a little something for everyone. For young children, there's a play area; for teens, a four-screen videogame podium, game tables and karaoke recording studio; for adults, a quiet area with sofa seating. At the opposite end of the store is a "McTreat" area with specialty coffees, smoothies and desserts.

McDonald's has more than 29,000 restaurants in 121 countries. Currently, the largest U.S. store is in Oklahoma, along the Will Rogers Turnpike, but a 34,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open next month at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

In recent years, McDonald's has tested various concepts in a bid to shore up its sagging market share, including a diner in Kokomo, Ind., and McCafe in downtown Chicago, which closed when the building it was in kicked out all tenants for renovation.

-- What's your reaction to this latest attempt by McDonald's to reinvent itself?