Specter: Give Alito a fair hearing
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says Judge Samuel Alito should be given a fair hearing on his nomination to the Supreme Court.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he is unsure which way he will vote on Alito's nomination, the New York Times reported. But he said he expects "a very learned, very experienced jurist" to appear before the committee in January.
Specter is one of the few pro-choice Republicans in the Senate. He and Alito spent a few hours together Friday in a private meeting suggested by the White House.
Describing his job as providing a level playing field for the nominee, Specter said he does not expect to make a final decision on his own vote until after he hears Alito's answers to questions.
Specter said Alito told him he considers the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade to be embedded in the culture, and therefore difficult to set aside, the Times reported.
Bodies in Ohio believed to be missing kids
HUDSON, Ohio, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Investigators say two bodies found by a dog walker in Ohio are likely those of two New Hampshire children whose father admitted killing them.
Manuel Gehring, who hanged himself last year in a New Hampshire jail, told police he buried his son and daughter in shallow graves about 3 miles from the Ohio Turnpike. He said he made crude crosses of duct tape on each child's chest.
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Strelzin said investigators were en route to Summit County in Ohio with the dental records of Sarah Gehring, 14, and her 11-year-old brother, Philip, CNN reported. He said it might take weeks to identify the bodies definitively.
The children vanished in 2003 after their father took them to see July 4 fireworks.
Manuel Gehring, who later retracted his confession, told police he shot the children in New Hampshire and stopped at a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart to buy a shovel and other supplies.
Over the years, police and the children's mother searched areas near Interstate 80 in Ohio and neighboring states.
Murder Inc. trial ends with acquittals
NEW YORK, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A New York federal jury Friday acquitted rap moguls Irving and Christopher Gotti of laundering drug money through their music label.
The brothers were accused of accepting drug money to start their hip-hop recording label Murder Inc. -- now Inc. Records -- and continuing to launder more than $1 million through the business for jailed drug kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff.
The jury began deliberations Thursday and came back Friday with not guilty verdicts on all counts, MTV.com reported.
The brothers could have faced 20 years in prison each if convicted.
Some of hip-hop's biggest stars -- including Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Russell Simmons, Damon Dash and Fat Joe -- were in the courtroom for closing arguments Thursday in support of the Gottis.
AT&T union votes to authorize strike
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Communications Workers of America members who work at AT&T voted Friday to authorize their leaders to call a strike if negotiations stall.
Talks covering about 12,000 CWA-represented workers at AT&T, whose collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 10, have already begun.
The key sticking points appear to be healthcare benefits.
The labor talks are the company's first since the Nov. 18 merger of AT&T with SBC Communications.
