Walesa leaves party

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 Walesa leaves party WARSAW, Poland — Lech Walesa, the charismatic founder of Poland's Solidarity movement, said Tuesday he has formally quit the trade union that he founded and that helped bring down communism in Eastern Europe. "I have given up my membership last year because Solidarity and I have gone separate ways," Walesa told The Associated Press. Walesa also said he plans to stay away from events marking the 26th anniversary of Solidarity's founding Aug. 31 in part because he disapproves of the union's support for Poland's new conservative leaders. Train platform safety will be studied NEW YORK — State authorities said Tuesday they'll study the safety of platforms at 250 commuter railroad stations after the death of a teenager who fell into a foot-wide gap between a train car and the station platform. The study is expected to take more than six months and could include recommendations such as widening train cars or installing moveable platforms at certain stations of the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's two largest commuter railroads. "I'm not gonna rule out anything at this time," LIRR President James Dermody said during a news conference at the Woodside station in the borough of Queens, where Natalie Smead, an 18-year-old tourist from Minnesota, was killed Aug. 5 after slipping through a gap and being struck by a train. The state Public Transportation Safety Board is conducting the study. Chairman Tom Madison defended the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs Metro-North and the LIRR, saying there were only 59 gap-related incidents out of 91 million riders who used the LIRR last year. Gaps, some as wide as 15 inches, can be caused by a station's curvature and the design of trains, whose sides are straight. Fliers, posters and yellow stickers on train doors urge riders to "Watch The Gap." Murder suspect agrees to return to Colorado LOS ANGELES — John Mark Karr, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs chained around his waist, waived extradition to Colorado on Tuesday to face murder charges in the slaying of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. Karr spoke only briefly during a two-minute court hearing to confirm his decision. His blank expression changed only once when he slowly closed his eyes as the judge recited the charge of first-degree murder. Although his public defender and a former defense attorney described Karr as eager to go, it was unclear when the 41-year-old teacher would be transferred. The Boulder County deputies would not discuss travel plans, and Los Angeles jail officials said they had not yet been contacted about a transfer. Federal agencies to provide information MINNETONKA, Minn. — President Bush, on a campaign fund-raising trip Tuesday, signed an executive order that the administration said would help Americans choose health care the way they shop for airline tickets and cars. The order will require various federal agencies to compile information about the quality and price of health care they pay for, and share that information with their customers and each other. "How many of you have got insurance and you never really care about the cost because somebody else is paying the bill?" Bush asked rhetorically. "You don't really care about quality because some person in an office somewhere is paying the bill on your behalf." Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said the executive order is a way for the federal government, which pays for up to 40 percent of all health care, to use its purchasing power to push for changes in the health-care system. Death recommended for family's killer RICHMOND, Va. — A jury recommended Tuesday that a man be put to death for the random mutilation killings of a musician and his family during a bloody crime spree that left four others dead. The jury's recommendation followed several days of graphic testimony in the trial of Ricky Jovan Gray, who was convicted last week of capital murder in the slayings of Bryan Harvey, 49, his wife, Kathryn, 39, and daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4. They were found in the basement of their burning home, bound, beaten with a hammer and stabbed, with their throats cut. Jurors, who met for 121/2 hours over two days, recommend death for the murders of Stella and Ruby and life for their parents' slayings. Formal sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 23. Associated Press