San Francisco

Same-sex weddings, legal fight continue

Hundreds of gay men and lesbians lined up Monday outside City Hall in heavy rain, hoping to join more than 1,700 other same-sex couples who exchanged vows with the city’s blessing before a court decides whether to halt the unprecedented wedding march.

Many couples camped out overnight so they could get marriage licenses in advance of a pair of court hearings scheduled for today, when two groups plan to ask a judge to block San Francisco from sanctioning any more same-sex unions.

Since San Francisco officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Thursday, hundreds of gays and lesbians have wed — many rushing to California from throughout the country to take advantage of special weekend and holiday hours the city offered.

Baltimore

Avian influenza tests yielding no new cases

Testing continued Monday in the Mid-Atlantic region for avian influenza, the virus that infected flocks of chickens this month in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Delaware officials said in a statement that testing continued inside and outside of the six-mile radius of the two infected farms there.

Also, cautionary measures such as quarantining, cleaning and destroying of birds will continue for the next two weeks.

No new cases were reported to federal or state agencies Monday, a government holiday. A farm in Lancaster County, Pa., tested positive over the weekend and was quarantined.

The strains of bird flu discovered on commercial farms in Delaware and Pennsylvania and in live bird markets in New Jersey are different, but none is harmful to humans who come in contact with the birds or eat the meat or eggs, health officials said.

Philadelphia

Police make arrest in teen’s ’98 death

A friend of a 14-year-old girl was charged with her slaying nearly five years after her body turned up in a sewer, police said Monday.

Andrew Giamboi, 25, had long been considered a top suspect because he was one of the last people seen with Sara Hindle, who disappeared Aug. 26, 1998, from her Philadelphia home, authorities said.

“We just kept going back to him,” West Whiteland Township police Sgt. Martin Malloy said. “Finally he gave us everything.”

Giamboi lived in the same development as Hindle.

Police initially lost track of Giamboi, found him in Yonkers, N.Y., then met with him a dozen times before he told them he killed Hindle, authorities said. He waived extradition Friday and was arraigned on criminal homicide and aggravated assault charges.

He was being held Monday without bail at Chester County Prison.