Washington, D.C.

Report: ‘Don’t Ask’ military policy has price

Hundreds of highly skilled troops, including many translators, have left the armed forces because of the Pentagon’s rules on gays, at a cost of nearly $200 million, the first congressional study on the effect of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy says.

The estimated cost was for recruiting and training replacements from 1994 through 2003 for the 9,488 troops discharged because of the policy, the General Accountability Office said.

The study released Thursday said the investigative arm of Congress estimated the costs based on how much was spent on recruitment and training.

Congress approved the policy in 1993. It allows gays and lesbians to serve as long as they abstain from homosexual activity and do not disclose their sexual orientation.

New York City

Judge: Newspaper can protect phone records

The New York Times has a First Amendment right to protect the confidentiality of its sources by denying the government phone records in certain instances, a judge ruled Thursday.

Saying that secrecy in government appears to be on the rise, Judge Robert W. Sweet refused to toss out a First Amendment lawsuit the newspaper filed last year to stop the Department of Justice from getting records of phone calls between two veteran journalists and sources.

The calls between journalists Judith Miller and Philip Shenon and their sources were made after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Justice Department had advised the Times it planned to obtain records of all telephone calls by Shenon and Miller for 20 days after the attacks.

Washington, D.C.

FAA proposes new rules for black box on planes

The black boxes key to determining the causes of aircraft crashes would hold more data and have a more reliable power supply under a plan outlined Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates crashes, has long urged the FAA to adopt stricter requirements for the boxes. Safety investigators have cited the boxes’ failure to yield useful information about several fatal airliner accidents.

The new rules would require cockpit voice recorders, which record pilots’ conversations, to retain at least two hours of audio and have a 10-minute backup power source.

They are now only required to record 15 to 30 minutes of sound and don’t have to have backup power.

Boston

Doctors discuss deadly aspects of HIV strand

Research on a recently discovered HIV strain shows it holds an array of disturbing traits that help it quickly progress to full-blown AIDS while resisting drug treatments, doctors said Thursday at the leading meeting on AIDS science.

The variant, discovered in a New York City patient, may have raced from infection to full-blown AIDS in as little as four months, doctors said at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference. Typical strains can take 10 years to progress to full-blown AIDS.

Many new infections are resistant to treatment with common HIV drugs, and a small number of HIV variants have quickly progressed to the disease. But the New York patient’s doctors said the case combined both characteristics in a worrisome way.

Aspects of the HIV variant suggest it is especially deadly. It igrows well in the lab, unlike most drug-resistant strains. It also causes cells that it infects to clump together, allowing them to kill other uninfected cells.

Georgia

Ex-soldier kills two of wife’s children

A former soldier fatally stabbed two of his wife’s young sons with a hunting knife and wounded her three other children before committing suicide, police said.

Clarence L. Moore, 24, had a history of domestic violence, and police had responded to several domestic violence reports at the home he shared with his wife, Beverly. They were called back Wednesday to find Moore had attacked the children.

Clarence S. Moore, a 1-year-old who was Moore’s only biological child with his wife, died from a cut to the throat, said Muscogee County Coroner James Dunnavant. Stephan Moore, 2, died in a hospital emergency room about two hours later from stab wounds to his head, neck and back.

Clarence L. Moore, who had slashed his own throat, died in surgery.

Two other boys — 3-year-old Shawn Smith and 5-year-old Shelton Smith — remained in critical condition Thursday at a hospital. Their older sister, Shelby Smith, 7, was upgraded to satisfactory condition. Beverly Moore was not hurt.

Rhode Island

Sen. Kennedy’s children now mother’s guardians

The children of Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy have taken legal guardianship of their mother, Joan Kennedy, to ensure she receives treatment for her alcoholism, her son U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Thursday.

A spokes-man for Patrick Kennedy said the siblings were awarded guardianship last spring. The spokesman said media inquiries about the decision led the family to release the statement.

Joan Kennedy, 68, has worked as an advocate for the mentally disabled and for cancer research, living in Boston and Hyannis Port after her divorce from Edward Kennedy in 1982. His office declined comment Thursday.

South Dakota

State court upholds lawmaker’s conviction

The state’s highest court Thursday upheld Bill Janklow’s conviction for a 2003 crash that killed a motorcyclist, rejecting the former congressman’s argument that there wasn’t enough evidence for a guilty verdict.

Ruling unanimously, the South Dakota Supreme Court also found that Janklow had received a fair trial.

Janklow, 65, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving for killing 55-year-old motorcyclist Randy Scott in August 2003 on a rural highway near Trent.

Authorities said Janklow sped through a stop sign. Janklow has said he was in a diabetic stupor and remembers nothing about the crash.

Janklow, a political power in South Dakota who also served four terms as governor, resigned from the House in January 2004, a month after his conviction.

He completed a 100-day jail sentence but had hoped to use the appeal to clear the felony from his record.

Washington, D.C.

Death rate drops for 16-year-old drivers

Total car crashes among the nation’s youngest, most accident-prone drivers decreased sharply in the decade after most states enacted laws limiting their access to a driver’s license, a new study shows.

Auto deaths involving 16-year-old drivers fell 26 percent between 1993 and 2003, a period when 46 states and the District of Columbia enacted graduated licensing laws that allow fewer 16-year-olds to drive, according to the study released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Kansas has no graduated system for 16-year-olds.

Among 16-year-olds who have full driving privileges, the rate of fatal crashes hasn’t fallen, and it remains higher than that of any age group. Researchers said the difference between the two groups pointed to the effect of the new laws, which keep most 16-year-olds from receiving unrestricted licenses and intend to curb risky practices, such as carrying teenage passengers and driving at night.

Texas

Ex-husband shoots wife, bystander in rampage

A man with an AK-47 assault rifle opened fire in a historic town square Thursday, killing his ex-wife and a bystander in a rampage prompted by a child support dispute. The gunman was later killed.

Four people were wounded, including the gunman’s son and three law officers.

The gunman, David Hernandez Arroyo Sr., was shot in the melee outside the county courthouse before fleeing. He fired at officers through the rear window of his pickup truck in a chase that lasted several miles, Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle said.

Authorities believe he may have been shot through the window during the pursuit. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.

Police said the firefight began after Arroyo, wearing a flak jacket and bulletproof vest, confronted his ex-wife and adult son on the courthouse steps about a proceeding involving unpaid child support.

The victims were identified as ex-wife Maribel Estrada, 41, and Mark Wilson, 52, a bystander who tried to help.

Washington, D.C.

Army OKs $9.4 million bonus to Halliburton

The Army announced Thursday that it had approved $9.4 million in bonus payments to a Halliburton Co. subsidiary on more than $1 billion in work supporting the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the government hasn’t approved final costs and terms of the contracts.

The Army Field Support Command said in a statement that boards evaluating Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Inc.’s performance rated the company “excellent” or “very good” on 14 task orders and thus authorized interim “award fees.” The awards totaled $5 million on $392 million of logistics work in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and $4.4 million on $758 million of logistics work in Kuwait in support of the war in Iraq.

KBR’s contracts have been criticized by Democrats in Congress because other contracts it received to support the war effort were awarded without bidding. Dick Cheney was Halliburton’s chief executive before he ran for vice president in 2000.

Boston

Study: Drug combo prevents AIDS in babies

Scientists fighting the ravages of AIDS in the Third World have shown convincingly that a short and relatively inexpensive combination of HIV drugs could reduce mother-to-baby transmission rates in Africa far more effectively than the single pill now used.

But the cost of the drug combinations still could be prohibitive in some of the most impoverished parts of the world.

Scientists have long been searching for an alternative to nevirapine, the AIDS drug now widely used in the Third World. Nevirapine is cheap and highly effective at preventing babies from contracting the AIDS virus from their mothers. But up to two-thirds of women become resistant to the drug.

The new drug combinations appear to have an extremely low rate of resistance, and offer a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-take alternative for many women.

However, the drug combination would likely cost more than double the usual $8 for a single dose of nevirapine for mother and newborn. As it is now, some countries cannot even afford nevirapine.

Chicago

Court allows lawsuit for surprise pregnancy

A man who says his former lover deceived him by getting pregnant using semen obtained through oral sex can sue for emotional distress but not theft, an appeals court has ruled.

Dr. Richard O. Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a “calculated, profound personal betrayal” six years ago, but she says they had the baby through sexual intercourse.

The Illinois Appeals Court said Wednesday that Phillips could press a claim for emotional distress after alleging Irons had used his sperm to have a baby, but agreed that however the baby was conceived, Irons didn’t steal the sperm.

“She asserts that when plaintiff ‘delivered’ his sperm, it was a gift,” the decision said. “There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request.”

The ruling sends the case back to Cook County Circuit Court.

Phillips, a Chicago family doctor, alleges that he and Irons never had intercourse during their four-month tryst, although they had oral sex three times. His suit contends that Irons without his knowledge kept some of his semen.