WASHINGTON: Amtrak monopoly may come to end
A federal oversight panel for financially troubled Amtrak voted Friday to recommend opening the nation's intercity rail system to competition.
Amtrak, for three decades the nation's monopoly provider of long-distance trains, would be competing with private companies to operate trains. But Amtrak's tracks and stations, as well as its authority to make rail policy, would be distributed among state, federal and private entities.
The plan, approved 8-1 by the Amtrak Reform Council, is only a recommendation. Congress will decide Amtrak's future after it receives a final version of the council plan Feb. 7.
California: Strict land-use rules sought for seaside
A state panel endorsed a land-use plan for Malibu that declares more than half of the seaside enclave environmentally sensitive habitat, despite city complaints of property-right infringement.
The plan backed by the California Coastal Commission is aimed at ending years of bickering with Malibu over its inability to approve land-use rules that comply with the state Coastal Act.
The commission staff's proposal allows more buildings if they fall within the area approved for development, and it expands the amount of coastline beachgoers can reach a sensitive subject for many oceanside Malibu residents who seek privacy.
South Carolina: Puppy killing brings prison sentence
A North Charleston man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for killing his puppy by bashing its head against the ground.
Jody J. Rymer, 21, was also fined $2,000 on Thursday by Circuit Judge Deadra Jefferson.
Rymer had said the animal deserved to die because it chewed through his stereo speaker wires. But before sentencing, Rymer said he had no explanation for why he killed the German shepherd-mix puppy in 2000.
"I loved that dog, and I am taking steps to get my life back on track," he said.
Washington: Microsoft proposal flunked by judge
A federal judge Friday rejected a proposal that would settle more than 100 private antitrust cases against Microsoft Corp. in exchange for a donation of computers and software to students in impoverished public schools.
U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz said concerns that the settlement could shove aside Microsoft rivals in the education market as well as conflicting estimates about how much the private antitrust cases were worth led him to shelve the unusual plan.
"To put it bluntly, in the words of the opponents of the proposed settlement, the donation of free software could be viewed as constituting 'court approved predatory pricing,' " Motz wrote.
Among the companies who opposed the Microsoft settlement plan was Apple Computer.
SEATTLE: Groups sue to stop tribe's whale hunts
A coalition of animal-welfare groups is suing to stop the Makah Indians from hunting gray whales off the Washington coast.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court, the groups charge that federal agencies did not adequately study whether such hunting would affect the gray whale population or the environment.
The 2,000-member Makah Tribe resumed whale hunts after the gray whale was taken off the Endangered Species List in 1994, but has killed only one whale so far.
The Makah say whaling is a traditional tribal activity protected under a 147-year-old treaty.
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