N.M. governor declares emergency after storm

N.M. governor declaresemergency after storm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Gov. Bill Richardson declared a state of emergency as a winter storm pummeled the state, leaving roads virtually impassable, closing schools and blanketing one town with 13 inches of snow.
Richardson's declaration signed late Tuesday freed up about $750,000 in state funds to help cover overtime costs for road crews, police and emergency workers, said Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for the governor.
The worst of the snow and rain was across northern, eastern and central New Mexico. All state employees were sent home two hours early and Los Alamos National Laboratory closed for the day.
The winter storm had moved out of the state by early today.
The storm blanketed the New Mexico community of Las Vegas with 13 inches of snow, and the nearby mountains received 20 inches. Sandia Park, on the east side of the Sandia Mountains, received up to 11 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.
Missouri court upholdsfiring of teacher
ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri appeals court upheld the firing of a teacher who told her eighth-grade class she opposed interracial marriage and believed such couples should be "fixed" to prevent them from having children.
The attorney for teacher Jendra Loeffelman pledged to appeal the unanimous ruling by the three-judge Missouri Court of Appeals panel. Her attorney, Chuck Ford, said he would ask the entire court to hear the case or seek a state Supreme Court review.
Tuesday's ruling affirms one last summer by a Jefferson County judge, who found that the Crystal City School Board was within its rights in ousting Loeffelman.
Her attorneys argued her reported classroom comments were constitutionally protected free speech. The appellate court rejected that Tuesday, declaring that the First Amendment right applied only to public concerns -- not Loeffelman's discussing a private matter that was not part of the lesson plan.
Loeffelman, the ruling suggested, also should have understood her comments could be harmful to the pupils, who included two biracial students.
Human trafficking report
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Modern-day slavery is alive and well in Florida, the head of a human rights center said Tuesday as it released a report on people forced to work as prostitutes, farmworkers and maids across the state.
Human traffickers bring thousands of people into the United States each year and Florida is believed to be one of the top three destinations, along with New York and Texas, according to the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University.
Although there have been several prosecutions of human trafficking in Florida, no one knows how many people in Florida are under the control of traffickers, said Terry Coonan, the center's executive director.
In south Florida, federal prosecutions have indicated hundreds of farmworkers were victims of human trafficking, and a forced prostitution ring identified as many as 40 young women and girls brought from Mexico.
Green polar bears
SINGAPORE -- It's a wee bit early for St. Patrick's Day, but Singapore Zoo's two polar bears have turned bright green.
The usually white coats of Sheba and her 13-year-old son, Inuka, turned green a few weeks ago from algae growing in their hollow hair shafts, said Vincent Tan, a spokesman for the zoo.
"The harmless algae is the result of Singapore's warm and humid tropical conditions," Tan said.
Polar bears have clear hair shafts that appear white because they reflect light.
Sheba's coat was successfully bleached with hydrogen peroxide 2 1/2 weeks ago and Inuka will be given a similar treatment in three weeks, Tan said.
The zoo wanted to observe Sheba's reaction to the treatment before bleaching Inuka, he said.
Prosecution to rest case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Prosecutors in Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial said today that they will rest their case early because of the illnesses of Milosevic and of the presiding judge.
Prosecutors had been scheduled to call four more witnesses and submit an unknown number of documents in two remaining days of hearings. But they told reporters they had filed a motion with the panel of U.N. judges to end their case immediately.
Milosevic has been ill for the last two weeks. On Sunday, the court announced that presiding judge Richard May will resign in three months due to illness.
Once the motion is accepted, the court will recess for three months to allow Milosevic to prepare his defense case.
Associated Press