Obama refuses to talk about Illinois governor

December 13, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is refusing to answer any questions about the internal review he has ordered into Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to sell his former Senate seat, saying he will do so when the examination is finished.

Obama’s staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, such as who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. Obama has promised transparency throughout his service and to divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich’s office in the coming days. But his staff has locked down on inquiries in the meantime.

1.25 million customers in N.E. left without power

CONCORD, N.H. — An ice storm to compare with some of the Northeast’s worst made a mess of the region Friday, leaving 1.25 million homes and businesses in seven states without power as it forced schools to close and toppled ice-laden trees and power lines onto slippery roads.

Most of the outages were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York, and it was expected to take several days to completely restore electricity. The storm wreaked havoc from Maine to Pennsylvania, leaving a sparkling, ice-covered landscape that was too destructive for many to find beautiful.

At least one death was related to the storm: New Hampshire officials said a 49-year-old Danville man who lived in a camper died of carbon monoxide poisoning after turning on his generator when his power went out Thursday night.

Breast cancer risk test

SAN ANTONIO — A new test to predict an ordinary woman’s odds of getting breast cancer works better than a method doctors have relied on for decades, researchers reported Friday.

The test is the first to combine dozens of genes and personal factors such as age and childbearing to gauge risk in women who don’t have a strong family history of the disease. They account for three-fourths of all cases.

In a California study to check its validity, the test correctly classified 50 percent more women with breast cancer as high risk than the current method did, and properly scored others lower. Results were given at a cancer conference in Texas.

British find skull with 2,000-year-old brain

LONDON — British archaeologists have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise — an unusually well-preserved brain.

Scientists said Friday that the mass of gray matter was more than 2,000 years old — the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it “a real freak of preservation.”

The skull was severed from its owner sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain and found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England this fall, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.

Police: Spurned lover causes $100,000 fire

ANDERSON, Ind. — Police in Indiana say a woman set fire to her ex-boyfriend’s clothing at a self-storage center and caused more than $100,000 in damage.

Donna J. Duell was arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire Wednesday night. She was released from Madison County Jail after posting $20,000 bond Thursday.

Police say she first denied involvement but then admitted to setting the clothes on fire in an empty unit at Community Storage Lockers.

Police say the fire engulfed the building in Anderson and caused more than $100,000 in damages.

Help for dolphins rejected

HIGHLANDS, N.J. — Federal wildlife officials rejected an offer by four marine mammal groups from Florida to help rescue a group of wayward dolphins whose six-month stay in two New Jersey shore rivers is leading to worries they won’t survive the winter.

Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has jurisdiction over the animals, said Friday that the offer was not needed.

The Marine Mammal Conservancy, a research and rescue group based in Key Largo, Fla., and three similar organizations had offered to go to New Jersey and remove the remaining dolphins from the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers.

Associated Press