High court to review protesters' punishment

High court to reviewprotesters' punishment
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is considering whether a federal racketeering law -- intended to combat corruption -- can be used to punish anti-abortion protesters.
The justices will revisit a case they first dealt with nine years ago when they ruled that anti-abortion groups and demonstrators could be sued in a private lawsuit under the 32-year-old Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.
The case being argued today raises free-speech questions about violent or threatening political and social protests. While it does not involve the constitutionality of abortion, emotion from abortion rights supporters and foes has spilled into court filings.
The Supreme Court is hearing appeals from Operation Rescue, anti-abortion leader Joseph Scheidler and others who were ordered to pay damages to abortion clinics and barred from interfering with their businesses for 10 years.
The groups were sued by the National Organization for Women and abortion clinics in Milwaukee and Wilmington, Del., over what they described as violent tactics. The anti-abortion groups also were accused of extortion under another law, the Hobbs Act.
Twins found with ratbites; mother charged
AURORA, Mo. -- A mother was charged with child abuse Tuesday after her twin 5-month-old boys were found strapped into child seats in an attic and being bitten by rats, police said.
Police said Charlee Heitz, 22, was arrested after two of her friends took the children to a hospital.
Aurora police Capt. Pat Jenkins said officers who went to the family's home saw rodents scurry past, holes in the walls and drug paraphernalia and other debris strewn about.
Heitz was charged with child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. She was being held on a $65,000 bond, and was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
In a television interview, Heitz denied abusing her children and said she didn't know there were rats in the attic.
"They threw me in jail because the rats bit the babies, and I didn't even know there were rats there," Heitz told Springfield television station KOLR. She added: "I do not abuse my kids, and had I known there were rats up there, I would never have left my kids."
Jenkins said the twins were released from the hospital later Tuesday. The boys and an older toddler brother were placed in the custody of juvenile authorities, Jenkins said.
Piece of rudder fell offConcorde, airline says
LONDON -- Part of the rudder on the tail of a British Airways Concorde fell off as the supersonic jet approached New York, the airline said Tuesday.
Pilots on Flight 001 from London felt a small vibration as they approached John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 27, British Airways spokeswoman Jo Devereux said.
The landing was smooth, but once the plane was on the ground workers discovered part of the lowest of four rudder sections on the tail fin was missing.
Safety aboard the supersonic jet has been in the spotlight since the July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde after takeoff from Paris killed 113 people and grounded the planes for more than a year. British Airways and Air France are the only airlines flying the Concorde.
Devereux said the rudder problem did not affect the pilots' ability to control the plane and the flight was never in any danger.
"Concorde's a very sophisticated aircraft," she said, adding that the plane had many backup systems and that the damaged rudder was one of four.
Rioting prompts curfew
DILI, East Timor -- Police in East Timor's capital declared a nighttime curfew today after officers fired on student protesters, killing at least two people and sparking a rampage of looting and arson that left the prime minister's house burned to the ground.
The rioting, the worst since the poverty-stricken country became independent in May, started on the second day of protests by about 500 students who gathered at police headquarters in Dili to demand the release of a fellow student arrested for alleged gang violence.
President Xanana Gusmao denied remarks by officials from the United Nations that a state of emergency had been introduced to quell the violence. The United Nations is assisting with security in East Timor after administering the former Indonesian province for two years.
The violence began early today when some students started throwing stones at East Timorese and U.N. police guarding the headquarters. Officers opened fire, killing two people, including a 16-year-old boy, witnesses said.
Associated Press