Ny Safidinao

WASHINGTON — To jeers and boos that showcased deep party divisions, Democratic party officials approved a deal Saturday to seat delegates from the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries with half a vote each, dealing a blow to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The deal, reached behind closed doors and voted on publicly in a raucous meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s rules panel, would give Mrs. Clinton a net gain of 24 delegates over Senator Barack Obama — but fell far short of her hopes of winning the full votes of both delegations. The decision left Mrs. Clinton lagging behind Mr. Obama in delegates in the final weekend of campaigning before the last of the nominating contests — Puerto Rico on Sunday and Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday — are held. Under the compromise, Mrs. Clinton, who won the Michigan and Florida contests that were held in defiance of party rules, picked up 19 delegates in Florida and 5 delegates in Michigan. The deep wounds among Democratic partisan...

6:50 p.m. | Florida Divided By Two: A proposal to seat all of Florida’s delegates but give each one only half a vote passed the committee by a vote of 27-to-0 with one abstention. Clinton stalwart Harold Ickes, said he was “disappointed” that the delegates from the Sunshine States did not receive full voting rights, but supported the motion. This will change the delegate allocation, because of the way delegates are apportioned from one congressional district to the next. “We will leave here more united than we came,” committee member Alice Huffman said of the decision. Mr. Ickes is now expressing his disappointment. He said that a motion to restore all of the state’s pledged delegates, but only give each half a vote would “hijack” the democratic process. The proposal would remove four delegates from Mrs. Clinton. “This body of 30 individuals has decided that they’re going to substitute their judgment for 600,00 voters,” Mr. Ickes said. “Now that’s what I call democracy,” he added sarca...

Mildred Loving, a black woman whose anger over being banished from Virginia for marrying a white man led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning state miscegenation laws, died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, Va. She was 68. Peggy Fortune, her daughter, said the cause was pneumonia. The Supreme Court ruling, in 1967, struck down the last group of segregation laws to remain on the books — those requiring separation of the races in marriage. The ruling was unanimous, its opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, who in 1954 wrote the court’s opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional. In Loving v. Virginia, Warren wrote that miscegenation laws violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. “We have consistently denied the constitutionality of measures which restrict the rights of citizens on account of race,” he said. By their own widely reported accounts, Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, were in bed in their m...

Dallas-Fort Worth had the largest numeric gain of any metro area between 2006 and 2007, increasing by 162,250, according to July 1, 2007, estimates of metro area population size and growth released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Atlanta (151,063), Phoenix (132,513) and Houston (120,544) rounded out the metro areas with a gain of at least 100,000. The Midwest metro area with the greatest numeric change between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, was Chicago (seventh overall nationally), while the Northeast metro area with the greatest numeric change over the same period was New York (21st overall nationally). (See Table 1 [Excel].) Eight of the 10 fastest-growing metro areas between 2006 and 2007 were located in the South. (See Table 2 [Excel].) Four of these fast-growing Southern metro areas were not only among the top 10 in percent growth from 2006 to 2007 but also among the 20 largest numeric gainers during the same period. Raleigh, N.C., was the third fastest-growing metr...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More people moved to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, than to any other metropolitan area in the United States last year. The population there increased by 162,250 between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston also saw their ranks swell by more than 100,000 people each. The census measures metro areas with the biggest population increases, as well as the fastest-growing metro areas. But the survey actually shows slower growth compared to previous years, according to William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "The big story in these numbers is that they are putting the breaks on the fast growth," said Frey. The effects of the slowing economy and the housing crunch began to set in during the first half of 2007, and will be more pronounced in the next census. "When these numbers come out next year, we will see the continuation of this meltdown," Frey...

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she's relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Among the 313 of 796 superdelegates who are members of Congress or governors, Clinton has commitments from 103 and Obama is backed by 96, according to lists supplied by the campaigns. Fifty-three of Obama's endorsements have come since he won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, compared with 12 who have aligned with Clinton since then. ``That's not glacial, that is a remarkable momentum,'' Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a superdelegate and Obama supporter, said in an interview. ``I don't think there is anything that will slow that down.'' Democratic elected officials have the most at stake in the nomination because the candidate at the top of the ticket in November will have an impact on state and local races. In the...

Hybrid rankings have often been simplistic: Most are little more than lists of the highest-mileage models on the market. Here, we ranked hybrids based on how much fuel savings they get when compared to their non-hybrid version, as well as how much all that saved gas is going to cost you. Examinations that compare hybrids to "comparably equipped" versions miss an important point. Hybrids are almost always among the most expensive trim levels, if not the most costly, but our premise is that you're looking for efficiency first, followed closely by price. This isn't about acceleration, so the hybrids are compared to the lowest-priced, most-efficient gas-only trim level in their model line. Our rankings take into account the hybrid's mileage and price premium, in percent, as well as its suggested retail price. This gives less-expensive models a boost while penalizing more-expensive ones. No. 1: Toyota Prius MSRP: $21,100 EPA-estimated mileage (city/highway, mpg): 48/45...

(CNN) -- Democrats agree that new voting is needed to determine convention delegates for Florida and Michigan, but they can't figure out how to pay for it. Both states held their Democratic presidential preference primaries early, in January. For that, the Democratic National Committee followed through on its warning and stripped both of their delegates for violating party rules by scheduling their primaries too early. The Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in either state, and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won both states, was the only top-tier candidate on the ballot in Michigan. Florida and Michigan moved up their primaries because the states wanted to be sure their political clout was not lost to the four states that had Democratic Party permission to vote before the official kick-off of the primary season on February 5. Those four were Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Now, neither Illinois Sen. Barack Obama nor Clinton will be able to attain the 2...

Iowa and New Hampshire These two states have led the nation's nominating contests over the past several decades. This year is little exception, with most candidates focusing many of their campaign efforts in these battlegrounds. - Iowa results - New Hampshire results Other Early Battlegrounds The Democratic National Committee has allowed South Carolina and Nevada to hold their contests before Feb. 5. Several other states have decided to grab a share of the spotlight and have moved up their dates as well — some in the face of threats by the national parties to revoke all of their delegates if they do so. - South Carolina results - Florida profile - Michigan results - Nevada results Super Tuesday With more than 20 states lined up on Feb. 5, over 40 percent of each party's delegates will be chosen on this date — the earliest allowed without special exception. California and New York have the most delegates at stake. - California profile - New York profile

Republicans Winner-take-all primary (Closed) 57 delegates at stake National party officials have decided to count only half of the delegates from Florida as a penalty for holding its primary earlier than allowed. All of the remaining 57 delegates will be awarded to the candidate with the most votes statewide. Without the penalty, Florida would allocate 114 delegates to the national convention based on the primary results: 75 of those would be divided among candidates with the most votes in each of the state’s 25 Congressional districts. The district-level delegates would be selected at caucuses held sometime between March and May. The rest of the 39 delegates — 36 at-large delegates and three party officials selected at a party meeting — would be allocated to the candidate with the most votes statewide. Democrats Proportional primary (Closed) 0 delegates at stake National party officials have decided to strip Florida of its delegates as a penalty for holding its primary earlier than al...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city. Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the commission, wants to repeal the rule in the next two months — a plan that, if successful, would be a big victory for some executives of media conglomerates. Among them are Samuel Zell, the Chicago investor who is seeking to complete a buyout of the Tribune Company, and Rupert Murdoch, who has lobbied against the rule for years so that he can continue controlling both The New York Post and a Fox television station in New York. The proposal appears to have the support of a majority of the five commission members, agency officials said, although it is not clear that Mr. Martin would proceed with a sweeping deregulatory approach on a vote of 3 to 2 — something his predecessor tried w...

LONDON (AFP) - Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday. Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday. Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers. More typically, a lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment. "This is an uncomfortable read for all of us, and poses serious questions to politicians from patients," said Sharon Grant of the Commission for Patient and Public Involveme...

Automakers would just love it if we went out and bought a new car every few years. But not all of us are hitting the showrooms with that frequency. Mike in Maine, for example, wants to know how long his car will keep going. I’m driving a 1993 Toyota Camry with over 235,000 miles. I have spent about $2,000 in maintenance on the car since 1996, when I bought it with 64k on the odometer. The car runs fine and drives fine. What’s the useful life of a car these days? No one can tell me the average life I should expect from this engine or transmission. Mike T., Portland, Maine You should be driving down the road with a big smile on your face, because you certainly got your money’s worth from that Camry. Consumer Reports says the average life expectancy of a new vehicle these days is around 8 years or 150,000 miles. Of course, some well-built vehicles can go 15 years and 300,000, if properly maintained. There’s no way to tell how much longer your car will stay trouble-free, but somewhere dow...

Abstract (Summary) Americans have always been extremely religious and overwhelmingly Christian. The 17th-century settlers founded their communities in America in large part for religious reasons. Eighteenth-century Americans saw their Revolution in religious and largely biblical terms. The Revolution reflected their "covenant with God" and was a war between "God's elect" and the British "Antichrist." Jefferson, Paine and other deists and nonbelievers felt it necessary to invoke religion to justify the Revolution. The Declaration of Independence appealed to "Nature's God," the "Creator," "the Supreme Judge of the World," and "divine Providence" for approval, legitimacy and protection. The words "separation of church and state" do not appear in the Constitution, and some people cite the absence of religious language in the Constitution and the provisions of the First Amendment as evidence that America...

KAI RYSSDAL: Wall Street's credit crunch has come to the world of student loans. Back in April, a group of investors agreed to pay $25 billion for the federally chartered student loan company Sallie Mae. Since then, of course, much of the financing for those big leveraged buyouts has dried up. Today, we learned the potential buyers want to renegotiate their purchase price. Another thing that's weighing on their minds is a bill the president signed today -- it'll pump another $20 billion into federally-backed student aid programs, in part by cutting subsidies to lenders like Sallie Mae. Commentator Kim Clark says more money for college students is all well and good. But we ought to check the math on how we factor those costs in the first place. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KIM CLARK: You know how kids crack open algebra textbooks and whine "Why do I have to learn formulas? Nobody uses this in the real world!" Wel...

WASHINGTON - Elementary and middle schoolers posted solid gains in math and more modest improvements in reading in national test results released Tuesday. The test scores landed in the midst of a raging debate in Congress over renewal of President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law, and provided ammunition for those who want to see it extended with minimal changes. "If we hadn't seen progress today, I think it might have been the death knell for renewing the law," said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. "It's definitely going to give the proponents some evidence that five years into the experiment, we're seeing some uptick in some parts of the country." Bush welcomed the news, calling it proof that his policies are "producing positive results for students across the country." The 2002 law requires schools to test students annually in math and reading. School...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Los Angeles metropolitan area led the nation in traffic jams in 2005, with rush-hour drivers spending an extra 72 hours a year on average stuck in traffic, according to a study released on Tuesday. The metropolitan areas of San Francisco-0akland, Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland, and Atlanta were tied for the second most gridlocked areas, according to the study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Drivers in those three areas spent an extra 60 hours on average during peak periods, defined as 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the study found. But drivers in other regions around the country were not much luckier. The report (http://mobility.tamu.edu) found traffic gridlock worsened in all 437 large, medium and small urban centers in 2005. "What causes congestion? In a word, 'you.' Most of the Mojave Desert is not congested," wrote report authors David Schrank, associate research scientist, and Tim Lomax, research engineer. The Texas Tra...

By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles. In its annual national auto survey, the magazine found 6,769 readers who had logged more than 200,000 miles on their cars. Their cars included a 1990 Lexus LS400 with 332,000 miles and a 1994 Ford Ranger pick-up that had gone 488,000 miles. Calculating the costs involved in buying a new Honda Civic EX every five years for 15 years - including depreciation, taxes, fees and insurance - the magazine estimated it would cost $20,500 more than it would have cost to simply maintain one car for the same period. Added to that, the magazine factored in $10,300 in interest that could have been earned on that money, assuming a five percent interest rate and a three percent inflation rate, over that time. The magaz...