Pa. high court wants voter-ID law review

Pa. high court wants voter-ID law review

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday told a lower court that it should stop a tough, new voter photo-identification law from taking effect in this year’s presidential election if the judge concludes voters cannot easily get ID cards or thinks they will be disenfranchised.

The 4-2 decision by the state Supreme Court sends the case back to the lower Commonwealth Court, where a judge initially ruled in August that the divisive law could go forward. The high court asked for an opinion by Oct. 2 — just 35 days before the election.

Group forecasts steep rise in obesity

NEW YORK

We Americans already know how fat we are. Can it get much worse?

Apparently, yes, according to an advocacy group that predicts that by 2030, more than half the people in the vast majority of states will be obese.

Mississippi is expected to retain its crown as the fattest state in the nation for at least two more decades. The report predicts 67 percent of that state’s adults will be obese by 2030; that would be an astounding increase from Mississippi’s current 35 percent obesity rate.

Ohio’s current obesity rate of 30 percent is projected to increase to 60 percent by 2030.

The new projections were released Tuesday by Trust for America’s Health with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Schools chief: Dance violates law

CRANSTON, R.I.

A Rhode Island schools superintendent has ended the district’s father-daughter dances and mother-son ball games to comply with a state gender-discrimination law.

Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said Tuesday he was “utterly disappointed” that the Cranston schools superintendent nixed the events in what the mayor called “the name of political correctness” after the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union complained last spring.

The ACLU complaint in May came on behalf of a single mother whose daughter had no father in her life and was precluded from attending the father-daughter dance, ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said Tuesday.

Alaskans to get $878 in yearly oil payout

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

It’s not much — $878 — but Sina Takafua isn’t balking at her first annual payout from Alaska’s oil savings account.

“I’m just happy. It’s free money,” she said of the amount after taxes that she’ll receive just for living in the state, in her case the northernmost town of Barrow.

State officials on Tuesday announced the amount of Alaska Permanent Fund dividends to be distributed Oct. 4 to all men, women and children who have lived in the state for at least a year. This time around, that’s nearly 647,000 people.

This year’s amount is the lowest since 2005 and the ninth-lowest in the program that began three decades ago. Last year’s dividend was $1,174.

Syrian forces, rebels clash near Turkey

BEIRUT

Fierce clashes broke out Tuesday between Syrian rebels and regime forces battling for control of a border crossing on the frontier with Turkey, and Turkish authorities told residents to evacuate the area.

On the diplomatic front, a spokesman for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said the Egyptian leader told Iran’s foreign minister in a meeting Tuesday in Cairo that relations between the two countries were being hindered by Tehran’s support for Syria’s regime.

Associated Press