JERSEY SHUTDOWN TO END

Jersey shutdown to end
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey's governor and lawmakers reached a deal Thursday on a new state budget, six days into a state government shutdown that shuttered casinos and threw more than 80,000 people out of work. Gov. Jon S. Corzine said the shutdown will end in the next 24 to 36 hours, and budget bills first must pass both the Senate and Assembly. The governor cautioned that the budget accord was not cause for celebration, because too many residents' lives were disrupted. "We have much more to do in the coming months and years to fix our state's public finances," he said. The deal will increase the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent and use half the $1.1 billion that it will raise to help lower property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation. It allows the possibility that, in future years, the entire increase will go to property tax relief.
Lawsuit goes up in smoke
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Supreme Court lifted a huge burden from U.S. tobacco companies Thursday when it threw out a record $145 billion punitive damage award against them even though it agreed the companies had misled smokers about the dangers of lighting up. The court also ruled that individual smokers could sue the companies -- and gave plaintiffs a potent legal weapon by upholding the trial jury's finding that the companies had negligently misled the public about the dangers and addictive nature of cigarettes. The court, which deemed the July 2000 award excessive, also approved an appellate court ruling that it had been a mistake to certify the lawsuit as a class-action representing an estimated 300,000 to 700,000 Floridians made ill by smoking. "It's a big sigh of relief, I'm sure, for big tobacco, especially in terms of the punitive damages," University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said of the ruling. "I think Wall Street reflects that." Tobacco stocks jumped on the news that the court had rejected an award that the industry said was potentially ruinous.
Shuttle docks, no troubles
HOUSTON -- Life in space returned Thursday to as close to normal as it has been since the Columbia disaster three years ago. After the space shuttle Discovery docked with the international space station, the orbiting outpost was fully staffed with three crew members for the first time since 2003. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter arrived on the shuttle for a six-month stay. And the news for Discovery was also reminiscent of more carefree days: NASA found no major problems with the shuttle's heat shield. Pictures taken by the space station crew, as Discovery approached for the linkup, uncovered no serious concerns with the thermal tiles, said deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon. He called that "somewhat of a surprise, but a very pleasant surprise." As of Thursday evening, experts on the ground had analyzed many of the 352 digital images. The pictures revealed a second protruding thermal tile filler on the shuttle's underside, and engineers were assessing whether the flaws posed any risk for re-entry. A small piece of fabric was also a little loose behind the nose.
Conservative wins vote
MEXICO CITY -- The ruling party's Felipe Calderon won the official count in Mexico's disputed presidential race Thursday, a come-from-behind victory for the stiff technocrat. But his leftist rival refused to concede and said he'd fight the results in court. Calderon, a conservative who preached free-market values and financial stability during the campaign, was already reaching out to other parties to build a "unity government." His opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, blamed fraud for his narrow loss in the vote count and called on his supporters to fill Mexico City's main square Saturday in a show of force. With the 41 million votes counted, Calderon of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party had 35.89 percent to 35.31 percent for Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party. The two were separated by 0.57 percent, or 236,006 votes. Luis Carlos Ugalde, president of the Federal Electoral Institute, confimed Calderon as the winner Thursday night, several hours after the final vote count was released.
Official condemns attacks
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S.-led coalition soldier and 10 suspected Taliban militants died in the latest clashes to roil southern and eastern Afghanistan, while security was tightened in Kabul after a series of bombings, officials said Thursday. The attacks have raised fears that Taliban militants are bringing their fight to the capital, nearly five years after their ouster in a U.S.-backed military campaign. In eastern Afghanistan, militants opened fire on a coalition patrol in Paktika's Gayan district, killing one soldier. A 10-year old girl was also wounded in Wednesday's firefight, and was in stable condition after surgery, a coalition statement said. The statement did not identify the dead soldier or give a nationality. President Hamid Karzai vowed that bombings targeting government officials and army officers in Kabul on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing one person and wounding about 60, wouldn't shake Afghans' hopes for peace.
Associated Press
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