Caroline Kennedy renews bid for Senate
ALBANY, N.Y. : After wavering briefly, Caroline Kennedy renewed her determination yesterday to win appointment to the U.S. Senate seat once held by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy, a person close to the decision said. After her uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, suffered a seizure on Inauguration Day, Caroline Kennedy had misgivings about taking on the new job, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak for Kennedy. Earlier in the day, The New York Times and the New York Post reported that Kennedy had ended her monthlong bid to succeed Hillary Clinton, who was confirmed as secretary of state. Spokesmen for Caroline Kennedy and for Gov. David Paterson, who will make the appointment to fill the Clinton seat, declined to comment. Senator Kennedy has been under treatment for a brain tumor and was released from a Washington hospital yesterday.
Law to ban child access to Internet porn dies
WASHINGTON: A federal law intended to restrict children's access to Internet pornography died quietly yesterday at the Supreme Court, more than 10 years after Congress overwhelmingly approved it. The Child Online Protection Act would have barred Web sites from making harmful content available to minors over the Internet. The law had been embroiled in challenges to its constitutionality since it passed in 1998 and never took effect. The Internet blocking law did not make it as far as a high court hearing. The justices rejected the government's final attempt to revive the law, turning away the appeal without comment. The American Civil Liberties Union led the challenge to the law on behalf of writers, artists and health educators.
Steroids no help to kids with colds, wheezing
LOS ANGELES: Steroid drugs, a common treatment for young children prone to wheezing and colds, do not help and may even be harmful, according to new research. Preschoolers in Britain who were hospitalized with a wheezing attack and treated with the steroid prednisolone stayed just as long as children who were given dummy pills. In another study, Canadian children who had previous wheezing trouble and took the steroid fluticasone as a preventive measure showed modest improvement, but the side effect of possible stunted growth outweighed the benefit, researchers said. Both studies were reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Female student stabbed to death at Va. Tech
