Carr oll Coun ty Time s Wednesda y, Oct obe r 13,2010, Page A NATION/WORLD Nation Mexican police commander nvestigating shooting is slain AUSTIN, T exas — A Mexican police com- ander investigating the disappearance of an merican tourist on a border lake plagued by pi- ates was killed, U.S. and Mexican officials said uesday. Rolando Flores, the commander of state inves- igators in Ciudad Miguel Aleman who was part f a group investigating the reported shooting ofavid Hartley, was killed, said Ruben Rios, spokesman for the T amaulipas state prosecutor’s ffice. Rios said authorities “don’t know how or hy he was killed. We don’t have any details on ow he died.” U.S. officials have said threats from drug gangs ho control the area around Falcon Lake have ampered the search for Hartley. Hartley’s wife, iffany, said she and her husband were attacked y pirates on the lake Sept. 30, while they were eturning to the U.S. from Mexico on Jet Skis. U.S. lifts drilling moratorium mposed after Gulf oil spill WASHINGTON — The U.S. is back in the deep ater oil-drilling business. The question now is hen work will resume. The Obama administration, under heavy pres- sure from the oil industry and Gulf states and with lections nearing, lifted the moratorium that it mposed last April in the wake of the disastrous P oil spill. The ban had been scheduled to expire Nov. 30, ut Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday e was moving up the date because new rules im- osed after the spill had reduced the risk of an- ther catastrophic blowout. Industry leaders arily waited for details of those rules, saying the oratorium wouldn’t be truly lifted until then. Negative political ads harsher n campaign’s final weeks WASHINGTON — Is anybody fit for office any more? A Florida congressman casts his foe as a religious extremist, “T aliban Dan.” A challenger in West Virginia stresses a lawmaker’s Arab- merican ancestry as shadowy and foreign. ther candidates are nothing but liars, misers, heaters, even traitors, judging by the 30-second V attacks. Deep-pocketed independent political groups re making the 2010 election homestretch the ost scathing in years. In the frantic final days efore the voting, a blitz of negative ads is hitting he air in more than two dozen tight congres- sional races. The ads warn that candidates who say they’re on your side actually care more about rabs or illegal immigrants — take your pick — han about you. And the other guy seeking your vote? Why , he’ll simply make stuff up to get it. Police treating missing N.C. girl case as homicide HICKORY, N.C. — Investigators indicated uesday they believe someone killed a 10-year- AP PHOTO Fishermen return to shore Members of the Coast Guard tie up the fishing boat Black Magic at the Atlantic City Coast Guard Station Tuesday in Atlantic City, N.J. The fishermen were rescued by the Coast Guard when their fishing boat be- came disabled. The boaters were rescued about 120 miles off Atlantic City’s coast. Judge suspends ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO — A federal judge or- dered the military Tuesday to immedi- ately stop enforcing its ban on openly gay troops, bringing the 17-year “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy closer than it has ever been to being abolished. Justice Department attorneys have 60 days to appeal the injunction but did not say what their next step would be. President Barack Obama has backed a Democratic effort in Congress to repeal the law , rather than in an executive order or in court. But U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips’ injunction leaves the adminis- tration with a choice: Continue defend- ing a law it opposes with an appeal, or do nothing, let the policy be overturned, and add an explosive issue to a midterm election with Republicans poised to make major gains. “The whole thing has become a giant game of hot potato,” said Diane H. Mazur, a legal expert at the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of Califor- nia at Santa Barbara that supports a re- peal. “There isn’t anyone who wants to be responsible, it seems, for actually ending this policy. The potato has been passed around so many times that I think the grown-up in the room is going to be the federal courts.” A federal judge in Tacoma, Wash., ruled in a different case last month that a decorated flight nurse discharged from the Air Force for being gay should be given her job back. Phillips, based in Riverside, Calif., is- sued a landmark ruling Sept. 9, declar- ing the policy unconstitutional and asked both sides to give her input about an injunction. The judge said the policy violates due process rights, freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment. Gay rights groups hailed Phillips’ lat- est move, crediting her with what the administration and Washington have not been able to do. Phillips’ order goes into effect immediately, said Dan Woods, the attorney who represented the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban’s enforcement. “‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’ as of today at least, is done, and the government is going to have to do something now to resurrect it,” Woods said of the Log Cabin Republicans. “Once and for all this failed policy is stopped. Fortunately, now we hope all Americans who wish to serve their country can.” ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JOSE MINE, Chile — The first of 33 men was res- cued Tuesday night after 69 days trapped in a collapsed mine, pulled to fresh air and freedom at last in a missile-like escape capsule to the cheers ofhis family and countrymen. Florencio Avalos, wearing a helmet and sunglasses to pro- tect him from the glare of res- cue lights, smiled broadly as he hugged rescuers, then em- braced Chilean President Se- bastian Pinera. been trapped underground and survived. Avalos, the 31-year-old sec- ond-in-command of the min- ers, has been so shy that he volunteered to handle the camera rescuers sent down so he wouldn’t have to appear on the videos that the miners sent up. Minutes earlier, mine rescue expert Manuel Gonzalez, ofthe state copper company Codelco, grinned and made the sign of the cross as he was lowered into the shaft to the trapped men — apparently Rescues begin First of 33 trapped miners reaches surface after 69 days underground AP PHOTOS In this screen grab taken from video, Florencio Avalos, the first miner to be rescued, center, is greeted after his rescue Tuesday at the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile. Department of Justice has 60 days to appeal “[N]ow we hope all Americans who wish to serve their country can.” Dan Woods Attorney who represents group that filed lawsuit
