California: Condit kicks off re-election campaign
"I'm Gary Condit. I'm from Ceres. I've represented the Valley for over 30 years."
With that, the embattled congressman faced a crowd Friday in Merced for the first time since his name became a tabloid staple and his career spun into political infamy.
The name Chandra Levy was never spoken.
When Bill Conrad, a Modesto councilman and Republican candidate for Condit's seat, talked about Condit being an embarrassment because of the scandal involving him and Levy, a missing Washington intern, Conrad was booed.
Condit, a 13-year veteran of Congress, was a shoo-in for reelection until Levy disappeared last spring. Now, abandoned by Democratic Party leaders and scrapping for campaign contributions, Condit is struggling as the March 5 primary approaches.
SAN FRANCISCO: Exxon Valdez ruling allowed to stand
A federal appeals court refused Friday to reconsider its ruling that threw out as excessive the $5 billion punitive-damages verdict against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
In November, the court ordered a federal judge in Anchorage to determine a lesser amount. The verdict's beneficiaries had asked the court to reconsider but the court declined, without comment.
Five years after the spill, an Anchorage jury ordered the oil giant to pay $5 billion to thousands of commercial fishermen, Alaska natives, property owners and others harmed by the nation's worst oil spill.
Exxon, which has since merged with Mobil to form Dallas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., had argued the verdict was unwarranted and excessive.
In its ruling, the court said some damages were justified to punish the company but that $5 billion at the time the biggest punitive damage award ever was too much.
Mississippi: Suspended student returns, holds hostages
A 17-year-old student who had just been suspended returned to school Friday and held the principal and assistant principal at gunpoint for about three hours, police said.
The student released the hostages unharmed after talking with police negotiators, Hinds County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Pickett said.
"Everybody's fine," Pickett said. "The student is in custody."
Authorities did not identify the student, but said he would be charged as an adult.
Students and teachers were evacuated from the school in Raymond, about 25 miles southwest of Jackson, after the standoff began.
Principal Delesicia Martin had been on the job only since Monday, and assistant principal Robert Keenum had started work in July, Eiland said.
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