Girl allowed to use sign language on bus
Girl allowed to usesign language on bus
BRANCHBURG, N.J. -- A hearing-impaired girl who was barred from using sign language on her school bus will now be allowed to sign as long as she obeys safety rules.
"Everyone needs to know that signing is allowed on the bus," Superintendent Lois Capabianco said Wednesday.
Danica Lesko, 12, was told by her school principal last month that she would be suspended for three days if she continued using sign language, which he said was "disruptive."
Branchburg school district officials were soon bombarded with calls and e-mails from people who questioned the ban. The issue was also discussed on talk radio shows.
Capabianco said the school district's attorney had sent the girl's parents a letter that clarifies the policy.
The Leskos said they were seeking an apology from school officials.
"My daughter was obeying the rules of the bus," Mary Ann Lesko said.
The Leskos have already sued the school district over an incident they said caused the girl's hearing damage, when a student set off a bottle rocket in a hallway in November.
Bush makes debutas fund-raiser-in-chief
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- President Bush wants policy-making to take precedence over politics in Washington, yet with his party's slim hold on the House and an evenly divided Senate, he knows he's got to help raise campaign cash.
Bush debuted as fund-raiser-in-chief of his party Wednesday night at a dinner for a Republican senator for Arkansas who could face a tight race for re-election.
Still shy of the 100-day mark of his administration, Bush hit the fund-raising circuit with a bit of reluctance. Policy should be a higher priority than politics, he said at the $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser for Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark.
"I hope people realize that good public policy means good politics and we don't need to be spending all our time on politics in Washington," Bush told the crowd of more than 700. "It's time to focus on the people's business."
Still, the president knows he needs Republicans in Congress to pass his agenda.
"I've committed to help when asked on a limited basis," Bush said about fund-raising in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. He is expected to headline events in May and June that will bring in about $25 million for the Republican Party.
Reformer electedprime minister of Japan
TOKYO -- Populist maverick Junichiro Koizumi was elected prime minister today, storming to power on promises to reform the stumbling economy and overhaul Japan's hidebound ruling party.
The vote in Parliament's powerful lower house capped Koizumi's remarkable -- and resounding -- defeat of the conservative old-guard to win control of the Liberal Democratic Party. The upper house then confirmed his election in a largely ceremonial vote.
The Parliament vote came after his predecessor, Yoshiro Mori, and the Cabinet resigned en masse, bringing an end to a year-old scandal-riddled government widely blamed for failing to repair the troubled economy and driving the appeal of the ruling party to record lows.
Koizumi bolted up from his seat in triumph as his victory was announced, bowing his trademark shaggy, salt-and-pepper mane to his colleagues in thanks.
The new premier immediately made good on promises of a break-the-mold government, naming a record five women to the 17-member Cabinet, including the outspoken and popular Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister -- the first woman to hold the post. Women also held portfolios for justice, education, land and transportation, and environment.
A more modest David
LAKE ALFRED, Fla. -- Michelangelo's David, the anatomically correct Italian Renaissance sculpture, has been dressed.
A 5-foot, 500-pound replica of David prompted a series of complaints to city hall when it was displayed outside a central Florida shop.
"I didn't even know it was art," said Jeanne Johnson, the owner of a nearby barber shop who was among those who complained to city hall.
The backlash persuaded the owners of the Fountain and Falls store to wrap a cloth around the Biblical figure's waist.
David dressed has since attracted more attention that the nude artwork. Tourists have been posing by the statue. A few even sneak a peak underneath the informal loin cloth.
Shop manager Chuck Cole said he plans to replace the plain white cloth with a leopard-print bandanna: "I figure if I'm going to have to cover him up, I might as well do it in style."
Associated Press