IDAHO ANIMAL SHELTER BANS ADOPTIONS OF BLACK CATS

Idaho animal shelter bansadoptions of black cats
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- No black cat will cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks -- or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual. The risk is likely remote, said the shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan.
Boston population grows
BOSTON -- The city is growing, not shrinking, the U.S. Census Bureau says, acknowledging it underestimated the population by more than 37,000 people. Its new estimate puts Boston's population at 596,638, rather than 559,034, an increase by 1.3 percent since 2000 instead of a decrease of 5.1 percent, Mayor Thomas Menino said Friday. The former estimate of where the population stood as of July 1, 2005, was challenged by Menino, who has sought to counter perceptions that Boston is a city in decline amid high housing prices and surging crime in some sections. He argued that the agency failed to account for new housing production and new college dormitories, and overestimated housing demolition.
Sniper confesses killing60-year-old in Arizona
TUCSON, Ariz.-- Cheryll Witz wrote convicted Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo a letter in June, imploring him to talk to Arizona detectives about her father's 2002 death. She got her wish. Police said Friday that Malvo tearfully confessed that he and John Allen Muhammad were responsible for killing 60-year-old Jerry Taylor on a golf course in Tucson. Witz said she long suspected the pair were responsible, though they had never been conclusively linked to the death.
Disgruntled NIH scientists
Nearly 40 percent of the scientists conducting hands-on research at the National Institutes of Health say they are looking for other jobs or are considering doing so to escape new ethics rules that have curtailed their opportunity to earn outside income. Most scientists say the ethics crackdown is too severe, and nearly three-quarters of them believe it will hinder the government's ability to attract and keep medical researchers, according to a survey commissioned by the government's premier medical research agency.
Serbians vote on Kosovo
BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbians voted on a new constitution Saturday that reasserts the nation's claim on Kosovo, the breakaway province whose future status is under negotiation at U.N.-brokered talks. But most of Kosovo's residents -- ethnic Albanians who want independence -- were left off the voter lists for the two-day referendum.
The Serbian government says the proposed constitution consolidates democracy and the rule of law in the Balkan country, which hopes to restart stalled membership talks with the European Union. But the focus has been on the preamble's declaration that predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo is an "integral part of Serbia."
Crisis in Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A retired justice whose appointment as Bangladesh's interim leader led to deadly riots declined the position on Saturday, but the political crisis that has paralyzed the country for two days appeared no closer to a resolution. At least 18 people were killed -- including three politicians linked to the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia -- and hundreds were injured in two days of violence.
Associated Press
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