North loses to South in emergency heating aid

North loses to South in emergency heating aid

PORTLAND, Maine — The recent cold snap in the Deep South has sucked federal emergency home- heating dollars away from traditional cold-weather states, causing heating aid to dry up faster than usual in many northern states.

The South was the beneficiary last month when the Obama administration released $490 million in emergency heating funds, using a formula that took into account colder-than-normal temperatures and, for the first time, unemployment levels. Both factors favored the South, so Sun Belt states reaped the biggest gains.

Compared with last year, Maine saw a drop in emergency aid of 81 percent, followed by Vermont’s 80 percent and New Hampshire’s 78 percent.

By contrast, emergency funding more than tripled for Florida and Georgia and more than doubled in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, according to the Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition. Even Puerto Rico picked up $540,000 under the formula.

Inventor of Frisbee dies

SALT LAKE CITY — Walter Fredrick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died. He was 90.

Utah House Rep. Kay McIff, an attorney who represented Morrison in a royalties case, said Morrison died at his home in Monroe, Utah, on Tuesday.

Morrison sold the production and manufacturing rights to his “Pluto Platter” in 1957. The plastic flying disc was later renamed the “Frisbee,” with sales surpassing 200 million discs. It is now a staple at beaches and college campuses across the country and spawned sports such as Frisbee golf and the team sport Ultimate.

Haitian judge urges release of Americans

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The 10 U.S. missionaries charged with kidnapping for trying to take a busload of children out of Haiti should be released from jail while an investigation continues, a Haitian judge said Thursday, giving the Americans their best news since their arrests nearly two weeks ago.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil has the final word on whether to free the missionaries, though he gave the prosecutor-general the opportunity to raise objections.

Condoms to call attention to endangered species

TUCSON, Ariz. — An environmental group plans to distribute 100,000 free condoms across the U.S. beginning on Valentine’s Day to call attention to the impact of human overpopulation on endangered species.

The packages have slogans such as “Wrap with care, save the polar bear,” and “Wear a condom now, save the spotted owl.”

The Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson says it will hand out six various condom packages with original artwork. The endangered-species condoms will be distributed in bars, supermarkets, schools, concerts, parties and other public events.

Census Bureau concerned by fund-raising mailings

WASHINGTON — Republican groups are raising money under the guise of the U.S. Census Bureau, leaving the government’s people-counters worried that a flurry of misleading letters could make some Americans less likely to respond to the real thing.

After the Republican National Committee raised money with such mailings, congressional Republicans are now conducting a fund-raising “census” of their own.

House Minority Leader John Boehner writes in a new mailing that people were specially chosen to receive “the enclosed CENSUS DOCUMENT containing your 2010 Census of America’s Republican Leadership.”

The Census Bureau is worried the flurry of misleading letters could deter participation, and Democrats are pushing legislation to stop it.

Mandela honored 20 years after release from prison

JOHANNESBURG — South African lawmakers sang Nelson Mandela’s praises Thursday as the anti- apartheid icon settled into parliament’s public gallery for a State of the Nation address scheduled in tribute to his 20 years of freedom.

Mandela was released in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison and went on to lead South Africa through the last stretch of a stunning, peaceful revolution from apartheid to democracy.

His release was remembered as triumphant Thursday, but the moment was uncertain and anxious for South Africa, and it is a testimony to Mandela’s statesmanship that things went so well.

Just four years after Mandela’s release, South Africans voted in their first all-race elections, making Mandela their first black president.

Associated Press