Rendell signs bills to end Pa. budget stalemate

Rendell signs bills to end Pa. budget stalemate

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has signed the key pieces of legislation necessary to end a 101-day state budget stalemate, the longest in the nation this year.

A spokeswoman for the governor says Rendell signed the bills Friday night after the state Legislature conducted a flurry of votes on the $27.8 billion budget’s primary appropriations bill and a key companion bill.

The budget agreement cuts spending by more than 1 percent to help resolve Pennsylvania’s multibillion-dollar, recession- driven shortfall.

The companion bill taps more than $1.5 billion from the state’s reserves. However, approval of nearly $700 million in discretionary funding for universities and other institutions is being held up in the House.

Support increases for same-sex civil unions

NEW YORK — An increasing majority of Americans favors allowing same-sex couples to obtain most of the same rights as married straight couples, but only 39 percent support legalization of same-sex marriage, according to a poll released Friday.

The Pew Research Center said support for civil unions has risen to 57 percent, up from 54 percent a year ago and 45 percent when the question was first asked by Pew in 2003.

Views on legalizing same-sex marriage remained almost unchanged from last year, with 53 percent opposed and 39 percent in favor, the center said.

Miss Plastic Hungary ’09

BUDAPEST, Hungary — It was a night for unnatural beauties.

Contestants showed off breast implants, nose jobs and face-lifts as Miss Plastic Hungary 2009 strove to promote the benefits of plastic surgery in a country where artificial enhancements are viewed mostly with a wary eye.

“I think this competition is long overdue,” said photographer Marton Szipal, one of the pageant judges. “Hungarians used to laugh about plastic surgery but, it’s time for Hungarian women to care more about their appearance. They are the most beautiful in Europe.”

2 dead, 4 hospitalized after using sweat lodge

PHOENIX — A saunalike sweat lodge at an Arizona resort meant to provide spiritual cleansing became the scene of a police investigation Friday when more than a dozen people became ill during a two-hour session and two later died.

In all, 21 of the 64 people crowded inside the sweat lodge Thursday evening received medical care at hospitals and a fire station. Four remained hospitalized Friday evening — one in critical condition and the others in fair condition.

Authorities haven’t determined the cause of the deaths and illnesses; tests for carbon monoxide and other contaminants were negative.

Lawsuit: Teacher tried to sicken autistic boy, 8

INDIANAPOLIS — The mother of an 8-year-old autistic boy with severe peanut allergies said Friday that an Indianapolis teacher gave her son a peanut-filled candy bar in hopes of making him sick so he wouldn’t go on a field trip.

A lawsuit filed by the boy’s mother, Anita Young, alleges that special-education teacher Trinda Barocas told a classroom aide that the boy would likely misbehave and “maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won’t have to deal with it.” Young said her son, Jacob, who is mostly nonverbal, gets hives and experiences swelling if he merely touches peanuts.

Officials at Mary Bryan Elementary School in Indianapolis contacted Young in March after classroom aides reported that Barocas mistreated the boy, who was 7 at the time, and another child.

Jacob didn’t eat the candy bar, probably because he does not eat unfamiliar foods and didn’t recognize its yellow wrapper, his mother said.

Department of Education officials and Marion County prosecutors are investigating.

Physicist suspected of ties to al-Qaida

GENEVA — A physicist working at the world’s largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, adding to the woes of the $10 billion project that ceased operation a year ago — just days after its celebrated start-up.

The scientist, arrested in France, is suspected of involvement with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a French official said Friday. The North African group regularly targets Algerian government forces and occasionally attacks foreigners.

The judicial official said the suspect was one of two brothers arrested Thursday in southeastern French city of Vienne, 20 miles south of Lyon.

Associated Press