$100M to be used to remove lead-based paint

$100M to be used to remove lead-based paint

LOS ANGELES — Nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money will go toward a program to remove lead-based paint and other health and safety hazards from low-income homes, Vice President Joe Biden announced Friday.

Biden announced the plan in the courtyard of an affordable-housing development operated by a community group that is getting $875,000 of that money to help identify and remove toxic paint and other health hazards from 225 Los Angeles homes.

Biden said the program will immediately employ workers to do the lead-abatement work.

He said it will also save the country millions in future health-care costs that otherwise would be spent treating people suffering from neurological damage, slowed growth and other ailments connected to growing up in contact with lead-based paint.

4 young Americans slain in Tijuana, Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico — The slayings of four young Americans in Tijuana sowed fear in Southern California on Friday as Mexican prosecutors tried to determine whether the youths were involved in the country’s violent drug trade or innocent victims of a brutal crime.

The victims, two men and two women in their teens and early 20s, said they were headed for a night of partying across the border only to be found strangled, stabbed and beaten a few days later.

U.N. Security Council condemns Somalia battles

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Hundreds of foreigners fighting alongside Somali Islamic insurgents have driven this week’s fierce battles against government forces, which have killed more than 100 people, the U.N. envoy to Somalia said Friday.

Concern that the government might fall is mounting. Observers fear that if the al-Qaida linked insurgents seize the capital, they will gain a safe haven on the Horn of Africa.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday condemned the upsurge in fighting and gave strong support to the country’s leaders. A statement approved by all 15 council members demanded that opposition groups immediately end their offensive, renounce violence and join reconciliation efforts.

WWII Japanese-American detainees get degrees

SEATTLE — Michiko Kiyokawa was a typical freshman in 1942, taking biology and playing field hockey, when she was forced to leave college during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

This Sunday, more than six decades later, Kiyokawa will return to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma to receive an honorary degree.

“It’s an honor,” the 85-year-old woman said in a telephone interview Friday from her home in Parkdale, Ore. “The college is being very broad-minded. It’s an effort to make up for something that had been done to us.”

Kiyokawa is one of two former WWII internees who will attend the graduation ceremony at the university’s Baker Stadium. Relatives of more than 30 other former Japanese American students who have passed away or couldn’t travel also are attending.

Bloomberg spends $18.6M of own funds on campaign

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg has blown through a record $18.6 million of his own cash on his campaign for a third term, nearly double what he had spent by this point in the race four years ago.

Finance reports prepared by the campaign and released Friday show the billionaire independent — who is the richest man in New York City — has poured about half of his total so far into television, print and radio ads.

Ameriprise Financial rejects federal bailout

WASHINGTON — Ameriprise Financial, one of six life insurers offered federal bailout funds Thursday, said Friday that it is turning down the money.

“While we appreciate Treasury’s approval of our application, we have elected not to accept funding,” Jim Cracchiolo, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “We have carefully evaluated our current position and expectations for the future, and we are confident that our current capital position and access to potential additional funding sources are more than adequate.”

Prudential, which also was granted preliminary approval for taxpayer capital, signaled that it hasn’t decided whether to accept the aid. The company said it is “evaluating all options.”

Combined dispatches