The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“What we didn’t want to do is be in the middle of an operation and potentially put the relief well at some risk.”

BP Vice President Kent Wells,

on precautionary measures taken in anticipation of bad weather Article, 1ALake’s rubber dam splits near Phoenix

PHOENIX - A tear in a seam of an inflated rubber dam sent millions of gallons of water gushing from a man-made lake near Phoenix, authorities said Wednesday.

Tempe City Manager Charlie Meyer said police determined no criminal activity was involved in the failure of a 16-foot-high section of the inflated rubber dam at Tempe Town Lake, near Arizona State University’s campus.

“What we believe we have is a straight-line tear,” which would indicate it happened along a seam line, Meyer said.

Mayor Hugh Hallman said the desert environment, with its blazing sun and 110-degree temperatures in the summers, combined with the cooler winters, likely led to the rubber dam’s deterioration. It gave way at about 10 p.m.

Tuesday, sending water flowing into the normally dry Salt River.

Witnesses said the river filled as far as the eye could see within seconds, and small animals scrambled away from the floodwaters.

There were no reports of injuries, and authorities said no structures were in danger.

House votes to outlaw ‘crush videos’

WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday voted 416-3 to again make so-called crush videos illegal.

The vote came three months after the Supreme Court struck down a federal law on the grounds that it was too broadly written and violated free speech protections.

The new legislation is more narrowly crafted to meet constitutional standards. It makes it a crime to sell or distribute videos that violate bans on animal cruelty by showing animals being burned, drowned, suffocated or impaled.

Exceptions are made for normal animal husbandry films or films depicting hunting, trapping and fishing.

Crush videos appeal to a sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or wearing high heels.

All 50 states have laws against animal cruelty, but states have found it difficult to prosecute crush videos because they usually don’t show faces, dates or locations. The new legislation makes the interstate sale of such videos a crime subject to fines and imprisonment of up to five years.

The measure must still be considered by the Senate.

Said to aid terrorists, Virginian charged

McLEAN, Va. - A man known for posting an online warning that the creators of South Park risked death by mocking the Prophet Muhammad was arrested Wednesday and charged with providing material support to a Somali terror group linked to al-Qaida.

Zachary A. Chesser, 20, of Oakton, Va., told FBI agents that he twice tried to travel to Somalia to join the Islamic militant group al-Shabab as a fighter. On the most recent attempt, earlier this month, Chesser took his infant son with him as he tried to board a flight from New York to Uganda so he would look less suspicious, according to an FBI affidavit.

Chesser was barred from the July 10 flight and told by the Transportation Security Administration that he was on the no-fly list, according to the affidavit.

While Chesser told the FBI that he had intended on July 10 to join al-Shabab, he told them in a July 14 interview that he had changed his mind because of the July 11 bombing in Uganda that killed more than 75 people watching the World Cup, for which al-Shabab claimed responsibility.

House panel OKs mine-safety changes

WASHINGTON - A House panel on Wednesday approved sweeping mine and workplace safety changes prompted by the deadly explosion in April that killed 29 coal miners in West Virginia.

The 30-17 vote came over the objections of the mine industry despite last-minute changes to exempt all mines except underground coal mines and about 10 other underground mines that produce flammable gases.

“Families should not live in fear that their loved one will not come home from their shift,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor committee.

The bill would increase penalties for serious mine safety violations, make it easier for the government to shut down problem mines and offer more protection for whistle-blowers. Mines shut down for a pattern of violations would have to keep paying workers during the closure.

A vote in the full House is expected before year’s end.

Mine owners and Republicans called the legislation premature because state and federal investigations have not yet revealed the cause of the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 07/22/2010

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