WEST

JURY PICKED FOR MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – In surprisingly quick time, a jury was selected yesterday that will decide Michael Jackson’s fate on charges that he molested a teenage boy at his Neverland Ranch.

“We have a jury,” Judge Rodney Melville announced. The judge then began the process of selecting eight alternates for a trial projected to last six months. The panel consists of four men and eight women, ranging in age from 20 to 79.

Jury selection had been expected to last several weeks, but took only five court days, which were interrupted by a one-week break due to the death of an attorney’s sister and another one-week break because Mr. Jackson was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. Selection moved at a fast pace when the judge imposed tight time limits on how long each prospective juror could be questioned.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

VACCINES TO BE TESTED AS BIRD FLU WARNINGS SPREAD

Amid dire warnings of an Asian pandemic, the government is preparing to test an experimental bird flu vaccine and is increasing disease surveillance in hopes of reducing the toll from any eventual American outbreak.

Antiviral drugs are being stockpiled, and 2 million doses of vaccine are being stored in bulk form for possible emergency use and to test whether they maintain their potency.

United Nations officials warned yesterday that the Asian bird flu outbreak poses the “gravest possible danger” of becoming a global pandemic.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the National Press Club this week that “it is a worrisome situation,” though she also said America “is not immediately on the brink of an avian flu epidemic.”

– Associated Press

SOUTH

GOVERNOR BUSH FIGHTS COURTS OVER SCHOOL VOUCHERS

TALLAHASSEE Fla. – Governor Bush said yesterday he wants to extend school vouchers to underperforming readers, even after two courts have said the state’s existing voucher program is unconstitutional.

The governor proposes giving a “reading compact scholarship” to any student who scores in the lowest level on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for three years running. The voucher would allow the student to enroll in another school. Florida’s first voucher law, passed in 1999, was a centerpiece of Mr. Bush’s first legislative agenda but was immediately challenged in court. A trial judge and the 1st District Court of Appeal have ruled that it violates the state constitution by allowing state dollars to be spent on religious schools. The voucher program continues while the challenge goes before the Florida Supreme Court, which could rule sometime this year.

– Associated Press

JUDGE’S ORDER KEEPS BRAIN-DAMAGED WOMAN ALIVE

CLEARWATER, Fla.- A judge yesterday extended an order keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube in place, saying he needed time to decide whether her parents should be allowed to pursue further efforts to keep her husband from removing her life support.

State Circuit Court Judge George Greer extended until 5 p.m. Friday an emergency stay that was to expire yesterday afternoon. He said he needs to decide whether her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, can have more time to determine if she has greater mental capabilities than previously thought. The Schindlers also are seeking to have her husband, Michael Schiavo, removed as her legal guardian.

“We are really elated,” Robert Schindler said. “Forty-eight hours to us right now seems like six years.”

Terri Schiavo’s parents have been in a long, bitter struggle with her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep her alive. She collapsed 15 years ago Friday, when a chemical imbalance caused her heart to stop beating and cut off oxygen to her brain.

– Associated Press