Missouri: Stick-on protest targets state quarter design

Missouri’s official state quarter is not due out for a year. But thousands of Missouri quarters are showing up now with stick-on designs of the Gateway Arch and explorers Lewis and Clark on the opposite side of George Washington’s head.

The stickers are the latest protest of Columbia artist Paul Jackson, whose design won an Internet vote among Missourians but has been rejected by the U.S. Mint.

A Mint spokesman said Friday that Jackson is wasting his time and money.

Jackson’s design is not among the four finalists for the Missouri quarter under review by the treasury secretary, and his protests will not change that, said Mint spokesman Doug Hecox.

The treasury secretary is expected to recommend one of the designs to Gov. Bob Holden by early September. Holden has the final say on which design is chosen.

Oklahoma: Seminoles to ignore casino-shutdown order

The Seminole Nation said it does not plan to close its four casinos, even though federal authorities have fined the tribe more than $8 million so far for keeping them open.

The National Indian Gaming Commission has fined the tribe $10,000 per day since September 2000 and increased the fines to $20,000 per day in May. The agency says the Seminole Nation is using Class III gaming machines, games of chance that are illegal in Oklahoma except in horse racing.

Tribal leaders disagree and are appealing. The notice of violation the tribe received two years ago is on appeal in U.S. District Court, the nation said.

“In the meantime, it is business as usual,” said Qazi Alam, executive director of the Seminole Nation Development Authority. “Our facilities will remain open for business.”

Washington, D.C.: Democrat highlights Medicare inequities

Medicare limits the services available to many elderly patients by failing to adequately reimburse hospitals and health-care professionals in dozens of states, Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said Saturday.

“It must be fixed,” Boswell said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address. “Despite the fact that everyone pays the same Medicare taxes, the outdated Medicare formulas do not equally reimburse for seniors’ health care.”

Iowa ranks last in the nation in Medicare reimbursement, getting $3,053 for each Medicare recipient, Boswell said. Louisiana is the top-ranked state, getting $7,336 for each recipient.

He added that 34 other states are paid below the national average.

Boswell called on President Bush and members of Congress to pledge to “end Medicare discrimination.”

Florida: Carrier returns to U.S. from war on terror

The USS John F. Kennedy returned home Saturday to thousands of joyous family members welcoming home sailors who spent six months fighting the war on terrorism.

More than 7,000 sailors on the carrier and other ships in its battle group returned this week to bases near Jacksonville and in Norfolk, Va. The Kennedy left Feb. 7 and began air missions over Afghanistan on March 11.

“These great men and women went out there and terrorized the terrorists,” Secretary of the Navy Gordon England said.

Los Angeles: California hit with suit for ignoring regulator

Federal regulators are suing California for defying an order to dissolve the board that oversees much of the state’s electricity grid.

The lawsuit was filed Friday, nine days after Gov. Gray Davis’ appointees to the board of California’s Independent System Operator voted to ignore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order.

FERC, the nation’s top regulator of wholesale electricity, told the ISO to disband and create a board free of political influence, a move that Davis, a Democrat, had charged was “nothing less than a hostile takeover of California’s electricity grid by the federal government.”

FERC is made up of a majority of Republicans appointed by President Bush.

New York: Buyers back out on bid for mob house

They made an offer that wasn’t refused, but the buyers of a former mob estate decided they didn’t want the property after all, an auctioneer said.

Two New York City men who made the winning bid Aug. 3 for the house in Apalachin didn’t say why they changed their minds, Bob Connelly of Connelly Realty said. The men made a down-payment but did not sign a real estate contract.

There are no plans to again auction the 42-acre estate, Connelly said. The current owner, Laura Burt, set a minimum price of $300,000 for the property.

Joseph Barbara Sr. owned the six-bedroom estate in 1957, when police rounded up 65 men at a mob conclave, including Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano. Most of the men said they were just visiting their good friend.

The raid confirmed the existence of a national crime syndicate and made “Mafia” a household word.

Washington: Some fire evacuees return to their homes

Wind calmed Saturday as crews battled wildfires that had burned two houses and more than 2,000 acres across northern Washington, and some evacuees were allowed to return home.

The biggest blaze, three miles northeast of Chelan, had burned about 1,500 acres and forced evacuation of about two dozen homes and cabins in the Cagle Gulch and Naumes areas, said Annie Larsen, a spokeswoman for the Wenatchee National Forest.

However, the wind blew at only 4 to 7 mph Saturday morning.

An evacuation order for Naumes had been lifted and the Cagle Gulch area was to be evaluated, she said.

Across the nation, 24 large fires active Saturday had burned about 1.1 million acres in 11 states, the National Interagency Fire Center reported.