Cops: Remains may be those of missing Virginia student

Cops: Remains may be those of missing Virginia student

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.

Searchers found human remains Saturday that could be those of a University of Virginia sophomore who has been missing since Sept. 13, police said.

Further forensic tests are needed to confirm whether the remains are those of Hannah Graham, but Graham’s parents were notified of the preliminary findings, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo told a news conference.

The Albemarle County Police Department also said a volunteer search for Graham that had been planned for today has been canceled so law enforcement can turn their attention to the new evidence.

Longo said a search team from the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office found the remains on an abandoned property in southern Albemarle County — the same region where police found the body of 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington three months after she vanished in 2009.

High court allows Texas’ voter-ID law

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court has allowed Texas to use its strict voter-ID law in the November election even after a federal judge said the law was the equivalent of a poll tax and threatened to deprive many blacks and Latinos of the right to vote this year.

Like earlier orders in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, the justices’ action before dawn Saturday, two days before the start of early voting in Texas, appears to be based on their view that changing the rules so close to an election would be confusing.

Of the four states, only Wisconsin’s new rules were blocked, and in that case, absentee ballots already had been mailed without any notice about the need for identification.

Bermuda clears trees, power lines hit by Gonzalo

HAMILTON, Bermuda

Crews cleared away downed trees and power lines Saturday after Hurricane Gonzalo battered this tiny, wealthy British territory for several hours but caused no deaths or serious injuries.

The storm’s center crossed over Bermuda late Friday, and Gonzalo quickly moved northward over the Atlantic on a track that could take it just off the shore of Newfoundland in Canada.

Some 20,000 homes in Bermuda were still without power in the afternoon, but Premier Michael Dunkley said cleanup efforts were going smoothly. He said the U.S., Britain and other nations have offered assistance.

“All hands are on deck,” he tweeted. “Bermuda is roaring back!”

Gay-rights group backs the use of HIV-prevention pill

NEW YORK

The largest U.S. gay-rights organization endorsed efforts to promote the use of a once-a-day pill to prevent HIV infection and called on insurers Saturday to provide more generous coverage of the drug.

Some doctors have been reluctant to prescribe the drug, Truvada, on the premise that it might encourage high-risk, unprotected sexual behavior. However, its preventive use has been endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and many HIV/AIDS advocacy groups.

The Human Rights Campaign, which recently has been focusing its gay-rights advocacy on same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination issues, joined those ranks with the release of a policy paper strongly supporting the preventive use of Truvada. It depicted the drug as “a critically important tool” in combatting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Associated Press