Fla., Mich. delegates will get half votes
WASHINGTON, May 31 (UPI) -- Democratic Party officials Saturday agreed to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations at the national convention but the delegates will only have half a vote.
In a televised meeting in Washington, the party Rules and Bylaws Committee voted in favor of motions to seat delegations from Florida and Michigan, resolving a controversy growing out of decisions by party officials in the two states to violate national party rules on scheduling primary elections.
Alice Huffman, a supporter of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, said the Florida resolution would leave the party more united than it had been coming into the meeting, The Washington Post reported.
However, another Clinton supporter, Harold Ickes, said the candidate "has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee" at the convention in Denver -- leaving open the possibility that the contentious battle over seating of delegates from Florida may flare up again.
Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., supported a proposal to seat half their state's 185 pledged delegates at the Denver convention, The Washington Post said.
Still to be decided is how to handle the Michigan delegation, due in part of the absence of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on the state's ballots.
The state's final ballot resulted in an estimated 40 percent of voters identifying themselves as "uncommitted," while Clinton easily won the state.
Before Saturday, none of Florida's or Michigan's delegates were supposed to be seated, punishment for state parties who moved up their primaries in defiance of the national party.
Obama resigns from Trinity church
CHICAGO, May 31 (UPI) -- U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama says his decision to resign his membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago came with "some sadness."
Obama and his wife, Michelle, left the congregation days after the latest controversial sermon from the church pulpit hit the Internet in a YouTube video, Fox News said Saturday. The video showed a Catholic priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, mocking Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, and indicating that he thought Clinton felt she was "entitled" to the presidency because of her race.
Obama -- who previously rejected remarks by the church's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- said this week he was "deeply disappointed" in Pfleger's "divisive, backward-looking rhetoric." Pfleger has apologized and promised Chicago Cardinal Francis George he will refrain from politicking for the remainder of the presidential campaign.
Obama made his resignation official in a letter sent Friday to the Rev. Otis Moss III, The Washington Post reported.
"We make this decision with sadness," Obama wrote. "Trinity was where I found Christ, where we were married and where our children were baptized."
Speaking Saturday evening in Aberdeen, S.D., Obama told reporters he and his wife had discussed leaving the church since the Wright controversy erupted last month.
"It's not a decision I came to lightly, and it's one I make with some sadness," he said.
"I have no idea how it will impact my presidential campaign, but it's the right thing to do, for my church and for my family," he said.
Trinity Church issued a statement wishing the Obama family "the best as former members of our Trinity community.
"Though we are saddened by the news, we understand that is a personal decision," the statement said.
Discovery enjoys successful launch
TITUSVILLE, Fla., May 31 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Discovery lifted off Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a mission to deliver a science laboratory to the International Space Station.
Before Saturday's launch, Japanese Astronaut Ahihiko Hoshide said delivering the Japanese science module for attachment to the orbital station would be a major accomplishment for his country, The Miami Herald reported.
"This is a big step for the Japanese community, the science community especially,'' Hoshide said, "because that means that they can start their own science.''
The seven Discovery crew members are expected to reach the station early next week and their cargo should help enhance the station's scientific research capabilities, the Herald said.
In addition to attaching the Kibo module, whose name means "hope" in Japanese, the Discovery crew will help work on a failed nitrogen tank and balky solar panel on the station.
Monsoon sets in over India
NEW DELHI, May 31 (UPI) -- An anticipated southwest monsoon has set in with widespread rains over the Indian state of Kerala, weather reports said.
The monsoon had reached nearly to Kozhikode in the north and conditions were favorable for the storm's moving over the next two to three days across the remaining parts of the state, Indian Meteorological Department Director M D Ramachandran told Press Trust India Saturday.
Heavy to very heavy rain was recorded in Kollam, North Paravur, Kayamkulam, Kochi airport, Mavelikkara, Varkala and Harippad over a 24-hour period.
Rain or thundershowers were likely to occur in most places in Lakshadweep along with squally weather expected along off the Kerala coast, the IMD forecast said.
