LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think everyone came to the
understanding we need more money in
transportation.”
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.,
after announcement of the GOP’s sixyear transportation construction plan Article, this pageDrug testing to get
welfare blocked
ORLANDO, Fla. - A federal judge temporarily blocked Florida’s new law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving the benefits on Monday.
Judge Mary Scriven’s ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father who sought the benefits while finishing his college degree but refused to take the test.
Scriven, who was named to the court by President George W. Bush, said there was a good chance plaintiff Luis Lebron would succeed in his challenge to the law on the basis of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches. Scriven wrote she found it “troubling” that the drug tests are not kept confidential like medical records. The results can also be shared with law enforcement officers and a drug-abuse hot line.
Nearly 1,600 applicants have refused to take the test since testing began in mid-July, but they aren’t required to say why. Thirty-two applicants failed the test and more than 7,000 have passed, according to the Department of Children and Families.
Plea is innocent in ambassador plot
NEW YORK - A U.S.
citizen who holds an Iranian passport pleaded innocent Monday to charges that he plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to a fivecount indictment returned last week.
Those charges were the same as those contained in an Oct. 11 criminal complaint.
According to the complaint, Arbabsiar has admitted his role in a $1.5 million plot to kill the ambassador at a restaurant by setting off explosives.
President Barack Obama’s administration has accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in the plot. The press attache at Iran’s mission to the United Nations has called the accusation “baseless.”
No trial date has been set.
U.S. District Judge John F.
Keenan set Dec. 21 for Arbabsiar’s next court appearance.
Arbabsiar’s lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment after Monday’s proceeding.
Pennsylvania takes over capital fiscally
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Tom Corbett launched a state takeover of the capital city on Monday by declaring a fiscal emergency there.
Corbett, a Republican, made the declaration four days after he signed a law that grants him the ability to take unprecedented control over much of Harrisburg’s finances, including the ability to use the city’s money to ensure that government continues to operate services, issue paychecks to employees and make pension and debt payments.
The law, approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, was a response to the Harrisburg City Council’s rejection of a state-sanctioned financial recovery plan.
Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Linda Thompson and the City Council have been unable to agree on a strategy to repay the city’s approximately $300 million debt tied to the city’s trash incinerator.
Earlier this month, the City Council narrowly voted to file a Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition in federal court, a move opposed by Thompson and Corbett.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/25/2011