Washington, D.C.

Federal officials ease teacher quality rules

The nation’s schools, under deadline to get a top teacher in every core class, have won some wiggle room in areas where the task hasn’t survived a collision with local reality.

Rural teachers, science teachers and those who teach multiple subjects will get leeway in showing they are highly qualified under federal law, the Education Department said Monday.

The easing of rules is the latest effort by the Bush administration to show it is trying to answer the biggest concerns about the No Child Left Behind Act without weakening the law.

New York

Ministers charged for wedding gay couples

Two ministers were charged with criminal offenses Monday for marrying 13 gay couples — apparently the first time in U.S. history that clergy members have been prosecuted for performing same-sex ceremonies.

Dist. Atty. Donald Williams said gay marriage laws made no distinction between public officials and members of the clergy who preside over wedding ceremonies.

Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with solemnizing a marriage without a license, the same charges leveled against New Paltz Mayor Jason West.

Each charge carries a fine of $25 to $500 or up to a year in jail.

The ministers will plead not guilty at their arraignment March 22, said their lawyer, Robert Gottlieb.

Washington, D.C.

Government expands mad cow testing

The Agriculture Department will expand its testing for mad cow disease after the single U.S. case in December to more than 221,000 animals, 10 times the number tested last year, officials said Monday.

The tests will include 201,000 animals considered to be at high risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy because they show symptoms of nervous system disorders such as twitching.

Random tests also will be conducted on about 20,000 older animals sent to slaughter even though they appear healthy. Those tests are aimed at sampling cattle old enough to have eaten feed produced before 1997, when the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of cattle tissue in feed for other cattle.

Indianapolis

Laid-off worker wins Powerball jackpot

A man who was laid off last week from his job at a tractor factory claimed a $89 million Powerball prize Monday with the sole winning ticket.

Tim Rivers said he and his wife, Pam, planned to buy a new house and move out of their mobile home in the town of Salem in southern Indiana.

The couple, who are both 24 and have two young children, opted for the cash option and will receive $49.9 million before taxes, a Hoosier Lottery spokeswoman said.

“Winning that much money terrified me,” Tim Rivers said, adding that when he realized Saturday he had a winning ticket he immediately called a financial planner.

Ohio

Arrest warrant issued in highway shootings

Investigators filed an arrest warrant Monday for a suspect in two dozen highway sniper shootings that have left one woman dead and unnerved motorists for months.

The warrant charges Charles A. McCoy Jr., 28, of Columbus, with felonious assault in a Dec. 15 shooting that damaged a house.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said investigators did not know McCoy’s whereabouts, but Chief Deputy Steve Martin said he was considered armed and dangerous.

The shootings at vehicles and buildings around Interstate 270, which circles the city, and other highways started in May, although most have occurred since October. The most recent was on Valentine’s Day.

One woman was killed in a November shooting.