Legislature convenes to discuss state tax code
SANTA FE (AP) - Lawmakers gathered Monday to tinker with the tax code as Republicans promised to resist any efforts to make tax increases part of the package.
The big tax bill that will incorporate Gov. Bill Richardson's proposals wasn't expected to be ready for legislative scrutiny until mid-week - prompting grumbling in some quarters.
Tougher penalties for sex offenders and a highway-financing plan also are on the agenda for the special legislative session called by Richardson.
Agency reviews records after boys found starved
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The body of a 7-year-old boy found in a box in a Newark basement nearly a year ago prompted a shake-up at New Jersey's child welfare agency. The agency reviewed all open cases, hired 366 more employees and received $30 million in emergency aid. Despite those changes, four adopted boys - one of them 19 - were found earlier this month malnourished and weighing less than 50 pounds each. Their adoptive parents were charged last week with starving them, and on Monday, nine child welfare employees were fired and the state announced another review of recently compiled safety assessments of children in state care.
Stem cell researchers near trials on humans
WASHINGTON (AP) - The pioneers of stem cell research said Monday they expect clinical trials in humans within five years. Political opposition and limited federal funding have delayed efforts to learn how the cells can be used, but work is beginning to progress, James Thomson and John Gearhart said at a briefing at the National Press Club.
Series of coordinated suicide bombings kill 35
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Striking in rapid succession, suicide car bombers bent on death for "collaborators" devastated the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations Monday, killing three dozen people and wounding more than 200 in the bloodiest day in Baghdad since the start of the U.S. occupation. From north to south in this city of 5 million, the explosions over a 45-minute period left streetscapes of broken bodies, twisted wreckage and Iraqis unnerved by an escalating underground war. The dead included a U.S. soldier, eight Iraqi policemen and at least 26 Iraqi civilians.
