Rounds signs S.D. anti-abortion law
PIERRE, S.D., March 6 (UPI) - South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds Monday signed legislation outlawing most abortions, setting the stage for a new Supreme Court battle.
The legislation, effective July 1, threatens doctors with up to five years in prison for performing an abortion. The only exception is when a mother's life is in danger. The law also allows women to take contraceptive drugs -- so called morning-after pills -- before pregnancy has been established.
"Its purpose is to eliminate most abortions in South Dakota," Rounds said in a statement issued by his office. "In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them."
The bill is seen as the next salvo in the effort to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
KELO-TV, Sioux Falls, S.D., reports the state's Planned Parenthood chapter has yet to decide how it will challenge the new law. Director Kate Looby said the group may seek a statewide referendum on the issue rather than go through the courts.
High court rules for military recruiters
WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that law schools that receive federal funds must treat military recruiters as they do any others.
The high court ruled unanimously in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights Inc. to reverse an appellate court ruling that the Solomon admendment violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Justice Samuel Alito, who was not on the court when the case was argued, did not join in the opinion.
A number of law schools barred military recruiters on the grounds that the Defense Department's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on homosexuality conflicts with their own non-discrimination policies.
"The Solomon amendment, unlike the issues in those cases, does not dictate the content of the speech at all, which is only 'compelled' if, and to the extent, the school provides such speech for other recruiters," Chief Justice John Roberts said. "There is nothing in this case approaching a government-mandated pledge or motto that a school must endorse."
Bush asks for line-item veto
WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush on Monday said Congress should pass a line-item veto for the president to exercise on spending bills.
Bush, speaking at the White House swearing in of Edward Lazear as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, pointed out that 43 governors have such a veto and "it's time to bring this important tool for fiscal discipline to Washington D.C."
Congress granted the president a line-item veto in 1997, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the following year that it was unconstitutional. Bush said the legislation he proposes would pass Supreme Court muster.
"Today, I'm sending Congress legislation that will meet standards and gives me authority to strip special spending and earmarks out of a bill and then send them back to Congress for an up-or-down vote," Bush said.
"By passing this version of the line-item veto, the administration will work with Congress to reduce wasteful spending. Reduce the budget deficit and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely."
U.S. House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said rather than seek a line-item veto the president should submit a balanced budget
DEA nets meth 'superlab'
ATLANTA, March 6 (UPI) -- U.S. federal drug agents have broken up a methamphetamine "superlab" in Smyrna, Ga., and confiscated more than 12 pounds of the drug.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said agents arrested three men -- all illegal aliens from Mexico -- and Monday two of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges that include manufacturing methamphetamine. The third man is to go on trial later this month.
A release from the DEA said the raid on a house in a residential neighborhood of Smyrna, near Atlanta, resulted in finding 12.4 pounds of methamphetamine in the house and another pound in a nearby vehicle.
In addition, officials said 24 large trash bags were found filled with emptied pseudoephedrine tablet boxes that contained 35 pounds of pure d-psuedophredrine hydrochloride, key ingredients in the production of methamphetamines.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said, "The dismantling of this superlab represents a significant blow to methamphetamine traffickers in Georgia. At the same time, the discovery of such a large lab here in Atlanta reveals the growing threat that methamphetamine poses to our citizens."
Levee work in St. Bernard on schedule
NEW ORLEANS, March 6 (UPI) -- Officials in St. Bernard Parish, one of the Louisiana areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, say that levee reconstruction is on schedule.
Kevin Wagner, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that defenses should be in place when the 2006 hurricane season begins June 1.
Katrina flattened most of St. Bernard's levees, including those along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. Rebuilding is expected to cost $58 million.
Wagner said that one critical part of the project is waiting for funding. To withstand another storm surge like Katrina's the levees should have concrete armoring, but Congress has not yet approved funding.
He said that flood protection experts from the Netherlands were surprised that the levees lacked armoring before Katrina.
Wagner has a personal stake in the rebuilding effort since he lives in Chalmette and lost his own house to Katrina.
