Detroit
The city said yesterday it would cut 75 more Fire Department jobs and deactivate some firefighting units to help address a budget crisis that also has forced reductions in the police force and other city services.
The cuts are in addition to the 113 department jobs trimmed in July and come as Detroit faces a possible state takeover of its finances. The latest cuts involve 65 firefighters and 10 battalion chiefs.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the cuts amount to only $8 million of the $15 million that the city council requested.
Kilpatrick, a first-term mayor who is up for re-election Nov. 8, said he is not looking at any more cuts in fire or police personnel.
The city budget that went into effect this summer contained cutbacks of $300 million, forcing reductions in bus, trash and other services and staff layoffs.
U.S. to require IDs from allied visitors
The departments of State and Homeland Security said yesterday they will go ahead with plans to require travelers from Canada, Mexico and other allied nations to show a passport or other secure document to enter the country.
Under the new timeline, all who travel by air or sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Bermuda and South and Central America will have to show a passport or one of four other secure documents by Dec. 31, 2006.
Travelers crossing land borders, namely from Mexico and Canada, will have to comply with the rules by Dec. 31, 2007.
FBI alters guides on bullet matches
The FBI decided yesterday to stop tests that match bullets by lead content, a practice criticized as producing a high rate of false matches between crime-scene bullets and bullets taken from suspects.
The bureau said it was informing 300 state, local and foreign law-enforcement agencies that had received positive-match reports from the FBI Laboratory since 1966. The FBI said it had not determined those results were wrong but informed them so they could take whatever action they deem appropriate.
Sacramento, Calif.
State Senate OKs gay marriages
The California Senate voted yesterday to allow homosexuals to marry, becoming the first legislative body in the United States to embrace the idea and setting off a scramble for three votes in the Assembly needed for full passage.
Almost completely along party lines, the Democrat-controlled Senate approved the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would make marriage a civil contract between two people rather than a man and a woman. The measure passed by the minimum number of necessary votes, 21-15, after a sometimes personal debate in which both sides acknowledged the bill's impact.
With only a week left before lawmakers adjourn for the year, the measure faces a tougher fight in the Assembly, which defeated the proposal in June. Signaling a likely veto even if it does pass, a spokeswoman said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger preferred to let California's judges sort out the legality of gay marriage, which is currently the topic of a case on appeal.
Washington
Anti-war groups plan major protest
Organizers are planning what they say will be the largest anti-war demonstration in the nation's capital since the Iraq war began in March 2003.
The ANSWER Coalition and United for Peace and Justice detailed their plans yesterday for the Sept. 24 protest. They plan to bus in people from across the country for a march past the White House. Other major protests are planned that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in Iraq, is on a 25-state bus tour that will end at the protest in Washington. The anti-war groups will coordinate with planned protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are holding their annual meetings the same weekend.
Charleston, W.Va.
Sen. Byrd, 87, set to seek ninth term
U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, already the oldest member of Congress at 87, is expected to announce next week that he will run for a ninth Senate term.
"He has every intention to seek re-election," Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin confirmed yesterday.
At least three Republicans have announced plans to seek the nomination for Byrd's seat.
Compiled from The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times
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