LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
We’re not going back.”
President Barack Obama,
on the possibility of Republicans trying to repeal his health-care overhaul.
Article, this page Till trial, militia 5 jailed, court says
DETROIT - Five members of a Midwest militia charged with conspiring to rebel against the government and use weapons of mass destruction will remain in jail while awaiting trial, an appeals court said Tuesday, reversing a decision by a federal judge.
Each man is dangerous and “no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of the community,” Judges Boyce Martin Jr. and Raymond Kethledge said.
Judge Helene White was the third member of the three-judge panel.
During a series of raids in late March, authorities arrested nine members of a southern Michigan group called Hutaree. The government contends they were scheming to kill a police officer, then attack law enforcement personnel who attended the funeral, in the first steps toward a broader rebellion.
Over prosecutors’ objections, U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts had said they could await trial at home under strict conditions, including electronic monitors. The government later dropped its opposition to releasing four but took her decision on the other five to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Town voters OK anti-alien law
FREMONT, Neb. - Voters in the eastern Nebraska city of Fremont on Monday approved a ban on hiring or renting property to illegal aliens.
The proposal passed with a vote of 3,906 in favor and 2,908 opposed, according to unofficial results that still must be certified by the election commissioner.
The measure is likely to face a long and costly court battle, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying it will try to block it before it even goes into effect.
The measure will require potential renters to apply for a license to rent. The application process will force Fremont officials to check if the renters are in the country legally. If they are found to be illegal, they will not be issued a license allowing them to rent.
The town of about 25,000 people has watched as its Hispanic population surged in the past two decades. From about 165 Hispanics - both legal and illegal - living in Fremont in 1990, the total climbed to 1,085 in 2000, according to census expert David Drozd at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He said an estimated 2,060 Hispanics lived there last year.
Crews gaining on Arizona fires
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - An estimated 1,000 Flagstaff residents evacuated from their homes by a raging wildfire may be allowed to return home today as firefighters made progress in containing the 14,000-acre blaze, officials said.
Clouds of smoke continued to choke Flagstaff on Tuesday as 800 firefighters battled to keep a nearly 22-square-mile wildfire from heading toward the mountain town of about 60,000 people.
By late Tuesday afternoon, authorities announced that the so-called Schultz fire was 20 percent contained and Coconino County sheriff’s officials said a decision would be made sometime this morning whether evacuees would be able to return home.
Crews continued to work on containment lines on the south and north sides where the fire is most active, said fire spokesman Erin Phelps.
No major injuries have been reported and no structures have burned.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 06/23/2010