california
Girl turns band baton into thug-whacker
QUARTZ HILL — Don't mess with the marching band.
That's what California authorities are saying after a 17-year-old girl used her marching- band baton to beat back two would-be muggers.
Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Michael Rust said the Quartz Hill girl was walking to school April 24 when two men approached her from behind, tried to grab her coat and demanded money.
Instead, one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust said the girl then beat both of them with her band baton before she ran away.
The men had not been caught. But Rust said there's a clear message to take from the encounter:
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"The moral to this story is don't mess with the marching- band girls, or you just might get what you deserve. Final score: marching band 2, thugs 0."
florida
Hubble repair mission set for May 11 liftoff
CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA has chosen May 11 as the launch date for its last repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, not seen up close for seven years.
Space shuttle Atlantis is set to blast off then on the highly anticipated, 11-day flight, considered one of the most challenging yet.
Senior managers met Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center and concluded that the shuttle and Hubble teams could meet a launch date that was one day earlier than planned.
Atlantis' crew will conduct five spacewalks to replace and repair science instruments at Hubble, and install new equipment that should keep the orbiting telescope running for another five to 10 years.
The mission had been scheduled for last fall, but a breakdown at the telescope delayed everything for seven months.
maine
Senate OKs measure allowing gay marriage
Maine could be the next New England state to embrace same-sex marriage after the state Senate voted Thursday to legalize the practice.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 21-14 for a bill that would allow gay couples to marry starting later this year. The measure appears to have even broader support in the House of Representatives, which will take it up on Tuesday.
Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, used to oppose same-sex marriage. But since the bill was introduced in January, he has said he is keeping an open mind.
Massachusetts and Connecticut already allow same-sex marriage, and the Vermont Legislature approved it last month.
The New Hampshire legislature is likely to send a same-sex marriage bill to Gov. John Lynch in the coming weeks, though Lynch, a Democrat and an opponent, might veto it. A bill has been introduced in the Rhode Island Legislature but is unlikely to be acted on this year.
new york
News of affair made her sick, Edwards says
NEW YORK — Elizabeth Edwards writes in a new memoir that news of her husband's affair made her vomit in a bathroom.
In the book scheduled to be published May 12, Edwards says her husband, John, admitted to the betrayal just days after declaring his run for president in 2006. She says she wanted him to drop out of the race to protect the family from media scrutiny, but stood by his side anyway.
John Edwards went public with the affair in August after the National Enquirer reported he was the father of videographer Rielle Hunter's daughter.
Elizabeth Edwards never identifies Hunter by name. But she says that while her life may be tragic, Hunter's is "pathetic."
An advance copy of the book, "Resilience," was obtained by the New York Daily News.
Screen's Penn, Wright file for divorce again
NEW YORK — Sean Penn and Robin Wright apparently tried to make it work, but now it seems their marriage might be over for good. Penn and his actress wife are separating after 13 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
The double Oscar winner filed the petition on April 23 in Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, Calif., according to court papers.
The couple married in April 1996. Penn has requested joint legal and physical custody of their 18-year-old daughter, Dylan Francis, and 15-year-old son, Hopper Jack.
This isn't the first indication of marital strife. The Penns filed for divorce in December 2007 but dismissed their petition several months later.
north carolina
Apology is offered for Shepard remarks
RALEIGH — A North Carolina congresswoman said Thursday that she chose her words poorly when she called claims that a Wyoming college student was murdered because he was gay a "hoax."
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx said during debate in the House that Matthew Shepard's 1998 death wasn't a hate crime and shouldn't be invoked by supporters of a bill to expand the definition of such crimes to include violence motivated by sexual orientation.
"We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said during debate.
"The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills," she said.
The House approved the bill Wednesday despite Foxx's comments. On Thursday, after Foxx drew heated reaction from several gay-rights groups and others upset by her comments, she said her words didn't convey what she meant to say.
"The term 'hoax' was a poor choice of words used in the discussion of the hate crimes bill," Foxx said in a statement.
district of columbia
Botox, similar drugs get strictest warning
Botox and other similar anti-wrinkle drugs must now carry the most stringent kind of warning label, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The FDA issued that order the day after the agency approved a new drug, Dysport, that is expected to be the first real challenger to Botox in the United States. Like Botox, Dysport is an injectable drug derived from the paralytic agent botulinum toxin.
The FDA said such drugs must carry warning labels explaining that the material has the potential to spread from the injection site to distant parts of the body — with the risk of serious difficulties, like problems with swallowing or breathing.
Requiring a drug to carry a box with bold-faced risk information — a so-called black-box warning — is one of the strongest safety actions the FDA can take. Black boxes are typically reserved for medications known to have serious or life-threatening risks. Antidepressants, for example, carry black boxes warning of the increased danger of suicidal thoughts and actions.
Besides the label warning, the FDA said it would require makers of injectable toxins to send doctors letters warning of their risks and to produce a medication guide to be given to patients at the time of injection.
texas
Man convicted in rape and killing is executed
HUNTSVILLE — A Texas man was executed Thursday for the rape and slaying of a woman abducted while she was trying to make a call at a pay phone 10 years ago.
Derrick Lamone Johnson, 28, was the 14th Texas prisoner executed this year in the nation's most active death penalty state.
His victim, LaTausha Curry, 25, of Dallas, was robbed of less than $10, driven away in her car, raped, beaten with a two-by-four and suffocated with her own blouse. Authorities determined the slaying was part of a two-week crime spree involving Johnson and a companion that left numerous women robbed or raped from Dallas to south of Waco. His companion, then 15, is serving 40 years in prison.
Wire reports
