New Jersey

Judge turns away gay marriage case

In a case watched nationwide, a judge in Hackensack ruled Wednesday that same-sex couples had no right to marry in New Jersey, but she urged the Legislature to consider granting them some rights of marriage.

The seven couples who brought the suit vowed to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the judiciary was the more appropriate forum for their campaign.

Opponents of gay marriage were pleased with the decision, saying it underscored the immutability of marriage as a union between a man and woman.

State courts from Hawaii to Alaska have considered the question of gay marriage in the past few years. None has supported it, though Vermont’s highest court ordered lawmakers to create an alternative path offering many of the rights of marriage. Laws in California and Hawaii extend some economic benefits to same-sex couples.

New York City

Jessica Lynch book reveals soldier raped

Jessica Lynch was brutally raped by her Iraqi captors.

That is the shocking revelation in “I Am a Soldier, Too,” the much-anticipated authorized biography of the former POW. A copy of the book was obtained by The New York Daily News on Wednesday.

Best-selling author Rick Bragg tells Lynch’s story for her, often using her own words.

She has no memory of the rape, but scars on Lynch’s battered body and the medical records indicate she was anally raped, Bragg wrote.

“The records do not tell whether her captors assaulted her almost lifeless, broken body after she was lifted from the wreckage, or if they assaulted her and then broke her bones into splinters until she was almost dead.”

The 207-page saga published by Knopf hits bookstores Tuesday.

Boston

One killed, four wounded in bus station shooting

A shooting at a city bus station Wednesday killed one person, wounded four others and sent bystanders screaming and running for cover. Police said a gunman was arrested.

Boston Police Supt. James Hussey said the shooting appeared to be random. He said it started outside a convenience store near the Dudley Square bus station in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, then ended up inside the station.

The gunman “continued into the station and our officers wrestled him to the ground,” he said.

Police said one man, believed to be in his 50s, was killed in the shooting. Three of the wounded had non-life-threatening injuries, and one was in critical condition, Hussey said. The victims’ identities were not immediately released.

Police identified the suspect as Lamar Tillery, 34.

Texas

Boycott thwarts abortion clinic project

One of the state’s largest construction companies backed out of a project to build a clinic in Austin where abortions would be provided, after concrete suppliers boycotted the job.

Browning Construction Co. of San Antonio pulled out Tuesday, about six weeks after the start of the boycott.

The company wanted out of the contract because it could not retain subcontractors and suppliers “due to events beyond our control,” Browning owner James Browning said.

Danielle Tierney, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, which is building the clinic, called the boycott a “campaign of harassment and intimidation” and said the project would be completed.

The Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Assn. announced the boycott shortly before the project began. Chairman Chris Danze, owner of Maldonado and Danze Inc., said every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin had agreed not to supply materials.

Danze called Planned Parenthood “a social movement that promotes sexual chaos, especially of our youth.”

Virginia

Sniper suspect’s DNA found on rifle sight

John Allen Muhammad’s DNA was on a rifle sight found in the car believed to have been used in last year’s sniper attacks, and DNA from the rifle used in the killings showed a high likelihood of being his, an FBI expert testified Wednesday in Virginia Beach.

The sight was detached from the rifle when it was found, said the expert, Brendan Shea.

Shea said there was a 1-in-210 chance a randomly selected African-American would have the same DNA as that found on the rifle stock, and a 1-in-21 chance for DNA found on another spot on the weapon.

The DNA of Muhammad’s co-defendant, Lee Boyd Malvo, was found on the rifle in several locations to the exclusion of anyone else, Shea testified.

Malvo’s fingerprints also were found on the rifle, but the prints were not in a position consistent with someone firing the weapon, a fingerprint expert testified earlier Wednesday.