WASHINGTON, D.C.

Rumsfeld calls investigation into reports of sex assaults

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has ordered an investigation into reports of sexual assaults among troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait, the Pentagon said Friday.

Rumsfeld directed David Chu, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, to review military procedures for medical care for sexual assault victims and availability of ways for victims to report assaults, particularly in a combat area.

Some 37 women have told the Miles Foundation, a Connecticut-based organization that assists victims of sexual or family violence who are connected to the military, that they were assaulted by fellow military personnel while in Iraq or Kuwait during the last year, said Christine Hansen, executive director of the organization.

Arkansas

Legislators approve tax plan to reform troubled schools

The Arkansas Senate on Friday approved a giant tax increase that is designed to bring the state’s public schools up to standard.

Senators voted 23-12 to pass the tax increase, which is expected to generate $377 million each year. The House passed the same package Thursday.

“While there is a cost, more importantly, there is an investment,” Democratic Sen. Tim Wooldridge said.

The increased revenue will be used to improve a school system that state Supreme Court justices declared unconstitutional in 2002.

The money will be generated by raising sales taxes nearly a penny and charging businesses higher franchise taxes.

California

NASA declares Mars rover ‘healed’ after memory repairs

NASA on Friday pronounced its Spirit rover cured of the computer ills that crippled the vehicle for two weeks and had threatened its mission to search for geologic evidence that Mars was once a wetter planet.

“I think I can say this morning with as much certainty as we can say anything here that our patient is healed,” mission manager Jennifer Trosper said.

The rover, which abruptly stopped sending scientific data to Earth last month, underwent delicate repairs as programmers deleted files and cleaned out its flash memory. It was able to resume work Thursday.

Ohio

Governor signs bill banning gay marriage in state

Gov. Bob Taft approved one of the country’s most far-reaching gay-marriage bans on Friday, saying its adoption was urgent because the nation’s first legally sanctioned same-sex weddings could take place as early as this spring in Massachusetts.

The bill, which Taft signed in private, also prohibits state employees from getting marital benefits for their unmarried partners, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

Approving the bill to make gay marriages “against the strong public policy of the state” became more pressing after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 this week that denial of marriage to same-sex couples as unconstitutional, Taft said.