Washington, D.C.: Weight-loss expenses qualify for tax break

Overweight Americans now have a new reason to shed some pounds. Recognizing obesity as a disease, the IRS says it will begin allowing taxpayers to claim weight loss expenses as a medical deduction.

“It really opens the gate for everybody to be at a healthier weight. America really needs to wake up,” said Linda Webb Carilli, a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers International Inc.

Apart from the tax break, the Internal Revenue Service ruling could pave the way for insurance companies and such government programs as Medicare to offer coverage for obesity treatment, experts say.

Connecticut: Murder trial begins for Kennedy relative

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel went on trial for murder Tuesday, accused of bludgeoning a neighbor girl to death 27 years ago when they were both 15.

Two jurors were chosen, but lawyers said it could take over a month to seat all 12 and the four alternates. The rest of the trial, in Norwalk, may take up to two months.

Skakel, 41, is accused of beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975. The nephew of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was arrested in January 2000 after a one-judge grand jury investigated the murder following articles and books about the old case.

Illinois: Campaign workers face racketeering charges

Gov. George Ryan’s campaign committee and two former aides were charged Tuesday with racketeering in the biggest indictment to come out of a federal investigation into a licenses-for-bribes scheme when he was secretary of state.

The indictment says the committee, Citizens for Ryan, secretly and illegally used state workers and public money for political work, from campaigns for the Illinois House to a 1996 presidential bid.

Scott Fawell, 44, Ryan’s campaign manager and longtime former chief of staff, was charged with racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was Ryan’s top aide when Ryan was secretary of state.

Also charged was Richard Juliano, 34, the No. 2 man in the governor’s 1998 campaign who became the U.S. Transportation Department’s liaison to the White House. He quit that job last week.

Washington, D.C.: Former mayor, wife announce separation

Former Mayor Marion Barry and his fourth wife are separating after eight years of marriage.

“A little more than a week ago, I made the decision to leave the home that I shared with my husband,” Cora Masters Barry said in a statement.

She said she has yet to decide whether the separation will lead to divorce proceedings.