Pro-gun Dem gets seat

Pro-gun Dem gets seat

ALBANY, N.Y. — Instantly opening a rift among New York Democrats, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand — a little-known, pro-gun Democrat from a rural Republican district — won appointment Friday to the Senate seat left vacant by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Gov. David Paterson announced his choice a day after presumed front-runner Caroline Kennedy — a woman with considerably more star power but less experience — mysteriously dropped out of contention in an embarrassing turn of events that touched off sniping between the governor and the Kennedy camp.

Gillibrand, at 42, will be the youngest member of the Senate and one of 17 women in the chamber.

Before the governor even took the podium to introduce Gillibrand, anti-gun crusader Rep. Carolyn McCarthy said she would challenge Gillibrand in the Democratic primary next year, or find someone who would. Gillibrand has a 100 percent voting record with the National Rifle Association.

Charged in parents’ deaths

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A 24-year-old man is accused of bludgeoning his parents to death, stashing their bodies in the backyard cesspool and using their credit cards for a big-ticket spending spree, authorities said Friday.

James A. Soares Jr. faces 68 counts, including murder, computer fraud, obtaining money under false pretenses and fraudulent use of a credit card. He pleaded innocent Friday at an arraignment.

Investigators allege Soares bludgeoned James and Marian Soares with a hoe, then dragged their bodies to the in-ground cesspool behind their home in Warren, a small town about 13 miles southeast of Providence.

Blagojevich media blitz

CHICAGO — Launching an all-out media blitz as his impeachment trial draws near, Gov. Rod Blagojevich compared himself Friday to an honest, hardworking cowboy about to be lynched by a band of black-hatted political insiders eager to raise taxes.

After keeping mostly out of the public eye since his arrest on federal corruption charges, Blagojevich is reversing course with a series of interviews and public statements portraying himself as the victim of vengeful lawmakers eager to toss him out of office.

The FBI arrested Blagojevich on a variety of corruption charges, including the allegation he schemed to benefit from his power to name President Barack Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate.

His arrest triggered impeachment proceedings, and the House voted almost unanimously to send his case to the Senate for trial. A Senate conviction would remove him from office but have no impact on the continuing criminal case.

FDA OKs stem-cell tests

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have approved the first experiment testing human embryonic stem cells on people, officials announced Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., to test stem cells derived from human embryos on eight to 10 patients with severe spinal cord injuries. The study is aimed primarily at determining the safety of the cells in human subjects, but researchers also will examine the patients for any signs the therapy restored sensation or movement.

Although researchers have already begun testing embryonic cells derived from adults and fetuses in people, the study will mark the first government-approved use of those derived from embryos, which have been highly controversial because the process involves the destruction of the embryos.

President Obama is expected to lift a ban on federal funding for such research imposed by his predecessor.

Marines start leaving Iraq

WASHINGTON — The top Marine commander said Friday that his forces already had begun pulling equipment out of Iraq and that nearly all of his troops could be out in as little as six months.

“The time is right for the Marines to leave Iraq,” Gen. James Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said at a breakfast with reporters. Any “sustainment force” in Iraq, he added, will be almost exclusively from the Army.

The Marine withdrawal from Iraq is one of many efforts to shift forces from Iraq to Afghanistan, where President Barack Obama has pledged to send more U.S. troops. At the Pentagon, which until now has focused principally on Iraq, officials are reassessing their tactics and reconfiguring their equipment to shift toward Afghanistan.

Combined dispatches