N.J. girl wins Spelling Bee

N.J. girl wins Spelling Bee
WASHINGTON -- A 13-year-old New Jersey girl making her fifth straight appearance at the Scripps National Spelling Bee rattled off ursprache to claim the title of America's best speller on prime-time television Thursday night. Katharine Close, an eighth-grader at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, N.J., is the first girl since 1999 to win the national spelling title. She stepped back from the microphone and put her hands to her mouth upon being declared the winner. "I'm just in shock," Katharine said. Asked what she'll remember most, she said: "Probably just hearing ursprache, which is a parent language." She recognized the word as soon as she heard it. Runner-up was Finola Mei Hwa Hackett, a 14-year-old Canadian, a confident speller during two days of competition who stumbled on weltschmerz. Third place went to Saryn Hooks, a 14-year-old from West Alexander Middle School in Taylorsville, N.C., who was disqualified earlier in the evening, then returned to competition after the judges corrected their mistake. Saryn fumbled on icteritious, which means of a jaundiced color.
Calif. OKs border guard
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Thursday to send the California National Guard to the Mexican border, ending a 17-day standoff with the Bush administration, a Schwarzenegger spokesman said. The two sides had been at odds over whether California Guardsmen would join the effort to bolster the Border Patrol and who would pay for it. They reached an agreement under which California will contribute about 1,000 Guardsmen for border duty and the federal government will pick up the full cost, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn. However, in a separate act that was not part of the agreement with the federal government, Schwarzenegger will sign an executive order that ends the California National Guard's participation Dec. 31, 2008, state officials said.
Nagin begins 2nd term
NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin took the oath of office Thursday for a second term leading this storm-hobbled city, promising a better future during a ceremony at the site of some of the worst misery caused by Hurricane Katrina. Nagin, who defeated Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu on May 20, was sworn in at the convention center, a giant riverside complex where thousands of hungry, scared evacuees waited days for rescue last summer as muddy water submerged most of the city. He took the oath of office the same day as the start of the new hurricane season.
NYC security funds cut
NEW YORK -- From Times Square and the Empire State Building to the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty, New York is a city of spectacular landmarks. Ask any of the 41 million tourists who visited last year. But according to the Homeland Security Department, New York has no national monuments or icons -- a determination that led to a 40 percent cut in anti-terrorism funding. New Yorkers are seething over the news, and some are demanding the firing of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. The local tabloids have savaged Chertoff, with an editorial cartoon in the Daily News comparing him to Benedict Arnold. "Terror? What Terror?" asked a mocking front-page headline in the New York Post. In Washington, Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman said his agency would review its finding that New York City has no national monuments or icons that would be at risk of terrorist attack.
Gay marriage amendment
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will promote a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Monday, the eve of a scheduled Senate vote on the cause that is dear to his conservative backers. The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become law, the proposal would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures. It stands little chance of passing the 100-member Senate, where proponents are struggling to get even 50 votes. Several Republicans oppose the measure, and so far only one Democrat -- Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- says he will vote for it.
Prince acknowledges child
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Monaco's Prince Albert II has acknowledged he is the father of a 14-year-old California girl, his lawyer said in an interview published Thursday in a French newspaper. Jazmin Grace Grimaldi is welcome in Monaco but she cannot take the throne, and the royal family does not recognize her use of the Grimaldi name, lawyer Thierry Lacoste was quoted as saying in Le Figaro. French press reports have said Albert, 48, had a brief affair with the girl's mother, Tamara Rotolo, in 1991 when she vacationed on the Cote d'Azur. Albert, who has never married, acknowledged last July that he had fathered a child out of wedlock with a former flight attendant from Togo, a country in West Africa. The boy, Alexandre, is now 3 years old.
Associated Press