Sen.: Gay marriage bill will pass easily

Sen.: Gay marriage bill will pass easily

HONOLULU

The head of Hawaii’s Senate judiciary committee said Saturday he expects an amended bill legalizing gay marriage to pass easily in the Senate this week, with no changes to the measure passed by the House on Friday night after two grueling floor sessions and a lengthy public hearing.

Senate approval would send the bill to Gov. Neil Abercrombie for his signature. He is expected to sign after calling the lawmakers into special session and saying he approved changes to the bill made by the House.

Man, girlfriend in court over jackpot

PATERSON, N.J.

A New Jersey man who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot, among the largest lottery winnings, is embroiled in a court fight with his former girlfriend over the money.

Pedro Quezada of Passaic was the sole winner of the Powerball drawing last spring, worth about $152 million after taxes.

His lawyer argues that Inez Sanchez has no claim to the money because the couple were never married.

But attorneys for Sanchez say Quezada purchased the ticket based on the couple’s shared earnings. Sanchez and Quezada lived together for 10 years, have a child together and shared ownership of a grocery store in Passaic, attorneys say.

4 hurt in explosion of hot-air balloon

TEMECULA, Calif.

Officials say the explosion and crash-landing of a hot- air balloon over Southern California wine country left four people hospitalized, one with severe burns.

The Riverside County Fire Department says the balloon was carrying five people when it went down Saturday morning in vineyards near Temecula.

It was not immediately clear whether the explosion occurred before or after the balloon hit the ground.

Fire officials say one person was severely burned. Two others had serious injuries, one had minor injuries and one person walked away safely.

Official: No evidence shooter was bullied

RENO, Nev.

A northwestern Nevada superintendent said there’s no evidence a seventh-grader was bullied before he fatally shot a teacher and wounded two classmates at Sparks Middle School last month.

Jose Reyes, 12, killed math teacher Michael Landsberry with a semi-automatic handgun outside the school Oct. 21 before taking his own life.

Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez told KTVN-TV that “there was nothing in our official records about bullying for this child, whether at the elementary school or the middle school. Even the parents recently said there was no indication from what they saw.”

Editors leave amid gun-column uproar

It was a magazine column designed to generate a discussion of gun rights.

“Way too many gun owners still seem to believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement,” the column said. “The fact is, all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, all need to be.”

Titled “Let’s Talk Limits,” the column was published in the December issue of Guns & Ammo, the well-known magazine based in Florida, and written by longtime contributing editor Dick Metcalf.

And it enraged readers.

Over the past few days, opposition to Metcalf’s stance reached a boiling point. On Wednesday, the magazine’s editor, Jim Bequette, posted an online letter of apology that addressed Guns & Ammo readers and announced that both he and Metcalf would no longer be working at the magazine.

Combined dispatches