Washington, D.C.

GOP logs 1 million new donors

The donations aren’t all that big — most under $30 — but the number of people contributing to the Republican Party is a milestone: more than 1 million new donors since President Bush took office.

That beats the Republican National Committee’s previous record of 853,595 first-time donors during President Reagan’s two terms in the 1980s. The new contributors in Bush’s tenure yielded $55 million for the RNC, spokeswoman Christine Iverson said Wednesday.

In total numbers, California provided the most new donors to the party — 161,463.

Jerusalem

Israel approves barrier cutting deep into West Bank

Israel decided Wednesday to extend a partly built security barrier around much of the West Bank — including several sections aimed at shielding Jewish settlements, condemned by Palestinians as a major land grab.

To appease the United States — which opposes extending the barrier deep into the West Bank — the new sections for now will be disconnected from each other and from existing barrier sections built closer to Israel’s pre-1967 border with the West Bank.

The barrier was conceived, under public pressure, as a means of keeping Palestinian attackers out of Israel, where hundreds have been killed in the recent years’ suicide bombings.

California

Student, administrator injured in school shooting

A young man with a shotgun took an administrator hostage Wednesday at a Sacramento high school and was shot by police who found the two struggling over the weapon.

Mario Rodriguez, 19, was in serious condition after being shot in the shoulder, authorities said.

The Rio Cazadero High administrator, whose name was not released, was in good condition with a leg injury. Though police initially said he was shot, either by police or the gunman, sheriff’s Sgt. Lou Fatur said the administrator may have injured his leg in a struggle with Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was armed with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and a replica handgun, Fatur said.