Fla. gay-marriage ban struck down

Fla. gay-marriage ban struck down

MIAMI

A federal judge on Thursday declared Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, joining judges across the country who have sided with gay couples wishing to tie the knot.

U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle in Tallahassee ruled that the ban added to Florida’s constitution by voters in 2008 violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantees of equal protection and due process. Hinkle issued a stay delaying the effect of his order, meaning no marriage licenses will be immediately issued for gay couples. That also means gay couples legally married in other states will not immediately have their marriages recognized in Florida.

Malaysia receives bodies from crash

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

The bodies and ashes of 20 Malaysians killed when Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine in July have arrived in Kuala Lumpur.

It was the first repatriation of victims from the flight to the country.

The government has urged people to wear black and observe a minute of silence and prayer.

A charted Malaysian Airlines jet arrived Friday at the international airport from Amsterdam, where the bodies of all the victims were first taken.

All 298 people onboard died when the plane was shot down over an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists as it flew to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

The victims included 43 Malaysians and 195 Dutch nationals.

DEA tightens rules on hydrocodone

HACKENSACK, N.J.

Federal authorities have tightened rules for the most commonly prescribed painkiller in the United States, the latest in a series of policy changes aimed at stopping the nation’s growing epidemic of painkiller abuse and overdose deaths.

Products containing hydrocodone, an opioid found in drugs such as Vicodin, will now be restricted as Schedule II controlled substances like oxycodone, a reflection of the drugs’ high potential for abuse, according to a rule released Thursday by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The rule, which takes effect in 45 days, prohibits automatic refills of products containing hydrocodone and reduces the number of pills allowed per prescription to a three-month supply written in 30-day increments. Patients will have to visit their doctors every three months to get a new prescription.

GPS finds huge loss of water in drought

SAN DIEGO

About 63 trillion gallons of water have been lost to drought in the western United States, enough to blanket the region with 4 inches of water, according to a study published Thursday.

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, arrived at the conclusion by measuring the level of the earth’s crust with a network of GPS stations that is normally used to predict earthquakes.

When water is lost because of a lack of rain and snow, the earth’s crust rises. The sensors show that the earth’s crust has risen an average of 4 millimeters in the western United States since last year and as much as 15 millimeters in the California mountains.

The earth’s crust typically sags in the winter and spring, weighed down by water, and it rises during the dry season in summer and fall, said co-author Adrian Borsa. The authors removed those seasonal factors when analyzing about a decade of data from GPS stations within the National Science Foundation’s Plate Boundary Observatory.

Combined dispatches