Wisconsin

Court refuses to delay effort to recall legislator

A Wisconsin appeals court refused to delay a recall election against a state senator who angered some constituents when he sided with Republicans on a vote.

The 4th District Court of Appeals rejected Democratic Sen. Gary George’s request late Thursday to put off the election while he appeals an earlier ruling, court spokeswoman Amanda Todd said Friday.

George’s attorney, Mark Sostarich, said delaying the election would have saved the candidates the expense of campaigning if the election is eventually called off.

The state Elections Board had argued a delay would create confusion for election officials and violate the rights of voters seeking George’s removal.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Saudi Arabia bans issue of National Geographic

Getting a cover story in National Geographic would please most governments.

That’s why Saudi Arabia granted the magazine access to its people and society. But now the Saudi government doesn’t want its residents to see the result.

Editors of National Geographic said they had been informed by their Middle East distributor that the October issue was banned by the Saudi government. No reason was given for the ban.

Don Belt, the magazine’s editor for geography and world affairs, said that while the Saudi government might be having earnest discussions about change, the country “is still a place that exercises near-total control over what its subjects are exposed to.”

Tennessee

Nursing home fire claims 11th victim

An 88-year-old woman who was hospitalized for a week after a deadly nursing home fire has died, becoming the 11th victim of the blaze, police said Friday.

Katie Wright died Thursday night at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, one week after the fire at NHC HealthCare Center near downtown Nashville. Firefighters carried or used wheelchairs to take more than 100 residents to safety.

An electrical bed is believed to be the source of the fire, which started on the second floor of the 1960s-era building. The home was exempt from a 1994 state law requiring sprinklers.

Since 1998, there had been five reported deaths in fires in hospital beds nationwide, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The safety commission proposed moving the bed to Maryland for testing, but the nursing home’s owner, Murfreesboro-based National HealthCare Corp., obtained a temporary restraining order this week to block the move.