California

Voters approve plan to rescue state budget

Californians overwhelmingly approved a plan to borrow a record $15 billion to bail out the state budget, handing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a crucial victory Tuesday in his bid to turn around the world’s sixth-largest economy.

A companion measure that would require a balanced budget also easily passed. Both measures had to be approved for either to take effect.

With 28 percent of precincts reporting, Schwarzenegger’s borrowing plan — Proposition 57 — was favored by 61 percent of voters. The companion measure — Proposition 58 — had 71 percent.

Schwarzenegger used his celebrity and political capital to build support for the bond measure, the centerpiece of his plan to solve the state’s financial woes without what he warned would be “Armageddon” budget cuts or higher taxes.

Oklahoma

More jurors dismissed from Terry Nichols case

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols watched Tuesday as one after another prospective juror for his state murder trial said they thought he was guilty.

More than 20 potential jurors were disqualified Tuesday in McAlester, many after saying they could not be impartial. Nichols, already serving a life sentence, could face the death penalty if convicted on state murder charges.

Attorneys must pick 12 jurors and six alternates to hear Nichols’ trial on 161 counts of first-degree murder in the April 19, 1995, bombing — a trial that could last six months. Jury selection is expected to take two weeks.

Nichols was convicted of federal charges for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers in the bombing. The state charges are for the remaining victims and an unborn child whose mother died in the blast.

Washington, D.C.

U.S. Mint rolls out redesigned nickels

Millions of shiny nickels sporting their first new look in 66 years are being shipped to the Federal Reserve, the supplier of the nation’s cash, officials of the U.S Mint said Tuesday

The new nickels — which honor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase on the back but retain Thomas Jefferson on the front — should start showing up in cash registers in several weeks, Mint officials said.

A total of 180 million new nickels have been sent to the Federal Reserve as of March 1, said Mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey.

That marks the first of the new nickels due out this year. Another nickel honoring the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition will be released in the fall.

The new commemorative themed nickels, part of the Mint’s new Westward Journey Nickel Series, replace the image of Jefferson’s home, Monticello, now on the back of the coins. The current design was introduced in 1938.