Whale-protection cutbacks sought by Bush administration

Washington

The Bush administration Monday proposed scaling back protected zones for endangered whales in the Atlantic Ocean, yielding to cargo companies' concerns about new speed limits for ships in these areas.

The proposal, unveiled Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, could end more than a year of wrangling between federal fisheries scientists and the White House over new measures to protect the North Atlantic right whale.

About 300 of the whales remain, and researchers say their tiny population has been reduced further by fatal collisions with large ships.

In July 2006, NOAA announced plans to create 30-nautical-mile buffer zones off of several East Coast ports, in which ships would be required to slow to 10 nautical miles per hour during certain times of the year.

But cargo companies said that this would cause their ships to lose time and burn more fuel.

Monday, NOAA announced a new plan that would reduce the buffer zone to 20 nautical miles, or about 23 standard miles.

Hazleton, Pa.

Rare PV cancer cluster confirmed

Nearly a year after federal epidemiologists first sounded the alarm over a cluster of rare blood cancers in northeastern Pennsylvania, their research has zeroed in on a hardscrabble region 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia that is home to several Superfund sites and a power plant fired by waste coal.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said Monday that it confirmed an elevated number of cases of polycythemia vera, or PV, in a 20-mile stretch between Hazleton and Tamaqua.

Residents in the affected area were four times as likely to suffer from PV as residents living in outlying areas, according to the government.

El Paso, Texas

Border tightened after hit-men alert

Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday.

"We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.

Law-enforcement officials this year in New Mexico and Texas said they had received a purported cartel hit list identifying 15 to 20 potential targets in those states.

Clovis, N.M.

8 inmates escape from county jail

Eight inmates, including a convicted murderer and another man charged with murder, escaped from a county jail by cutting a hole in the roof, authorities said Monday.

Two inmates had been captured by Monday evening. Six remained at large and were considered dangerous, Curry County Sheriff Matt Murray said.

The escape was discovered Sunday night when police saw two people in orange jumpsuits running near the jail, Murray said.

"We have a feeling that they have split up and went different ways from finding some of the jumpsuits throughout the city," Murray said. He would not answer questions.

New York

$8.7M settlement in deadly ferry crash

The widow of a victim of the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash has settled a wrongful-death claim against New York City for $8.7 million, her lawyers said Monday.

Lawyers John Hession and James Ryan made the announcement on behalf of Kathy Healy and her four children. Healy's husband, John Healy, died in the crash Oct. 15, 2003. A trial had been scheduled to start Monday in federal court.

The boat crashed at full speed with about 1,500 people aboard. Its pilot was on painkillers and suffering from extreme fatigue.

Healy's is not the largest settlement; $9 million went to a victim who lost both legs.

Tallahassee, Fla.

Remnants of Fay soak parched South

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay spread over a wide swath of the South on Monday, bringing heavy rain and wind from Georgia to Louisiana that many hoped would help land parched for months by drought conditions.

The National Weather Service said the vestiges of Fay would deluge northern Georgia on Monday and today, with 3 to 5 inches of rain expected in the Atlanta area and up to 8 inches in northeast Georgia. In Alabama, flash-flood and tornado warnings were posted.

Seattle Times news services