Nation Digest
Louisiana judge rejects gay-marriage ban

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District Judge William Morvant said the amendment violated state law because it had more than one purpose: banning not only gay marriage but also civil unions. Anti-gay marriage groups expressed outrage, and attorneys vowed to appeal.

Proposals to restrict marriage to a man and a woman are on the November ballot in 11 states: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved such an amendment earlier this year.

Orlando, Fla.

Ex-NASA inspector accused of lying

ORLANDO, Fla. — A former NASA inspector has been accused of lying about inspecting crucial parts on the space shuttle Discovery before and after the Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts and grounded the entire orbiter fleet.

Billy T. Thornton falsified records about 83 Discovery inspections from Oct. 24, 2002, to May 14, 2003, according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday. NASA fired him in September 2003.

Thornton was responsible for checking that contractors completed work on electronics and other components considered necessary for safe flight. Among the inspections were "criticality one" inspections, meaning that the part being inspected could destroy the shuttle and its crew if it fails.

Thornton was charged with 83 counts of fraud involving space-vehicle parts. Another 83 counts charge him with filing a false statement. His lawyer denied any wrongdoing by Thornton.

Washington
 
Telemarket probe yields 135 arrests

More than 135 people have been arrested in an investigation of global telemarketing scams that have victimized 5 million people, many of them elderly, Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday.

Schemes targeted in the yearlong investigation, dubbed "Operation Roaming Charge," have cost victims an estimated $1 billion. Among them: a $500 million phone billing scam that involved members of the Gambino crime family in New York and included a fake call center where bogus operators tried to talk customers into paying the charges.

The probe also uncovered bogus lottery and sweepstakes scams, fake preapproved credit cards and tax-evasion scams.

San Antonio, Texas

Death-row inmate's conviction tossed out

Prosecutors dropped murder charges yesterday against a Texas man who spent 17 years on death row for a crime he may not have committed.

Ernest Willis, 59, was convicted in 1987 of setting a fire that killed two women in Iraan, Texas, about 230 miles west of San Antonio.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson threw out the conviction on the grounds Willis did not receive a fair trial and ordered that Willis be tried again or freed.

Pecos County District Attorney Ori White filed a motion to dismiss the charges, saying yesterday there were strong indications the fire was an accident.

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Fraud case against ex-governor dropped

Prosecutors dropped a Medicaid fraud case against former Gov. Don Siegelman and a top aide yesterday after the judge ruled that the government could not back up the charge that was the linchpin of the indictment.

U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon ruled there was insufficient evidence to support a conspiracy charge against Siegelman and former chief of staff Paul Hamrick. That left only a health-care-fraud charge against the two. At that point, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Hart said, "There is no point in going forward."

"The people of Alabama can see that what we've said all along was correct — that this indictment was baseless and false," Siegelman said.

Siegelman, 58, Hamrick, 40, and a supporter, physician Phillip Bobo, were accused of trying to rig bids on lucrative contracts sought by Bobo's company to provide medical care to poor pregnant women in rural Alabama. Bobo had requested a separate trial.