WASHINGTON

LABOR FEDERATION TRIES TO ADDRESS INTERNAL DISSENT

The AFL-CIO proposed spending more money on union organizing yesterday, trying to pre-empt a plan pushed by Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and other labor leaders.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is seeking re-election in July and a new report by the labor federation says too few unions are investing 30% or more of their overall budgets on organizing. Dissidents including Mr. Hoffa, who runs one of the nation’s largest unions, want to cut the AFL-CIO’s budget, proposing reductions in dues paid to the federation for unions that commit more resources to organizing. The initiative will be voted on at the AFL-CIO’s national convention in July. Mr. Sweeney is proposing a $22.5 million strategic organizing fund – an increase of nearly $10 million over the current amount. The fund would rebate $15 million to unions. The question is how he will pay for it.

– Associated Press

WOODPECKER THOUGHT EXTINCT SIGHTED IN ARKANSAS

The ivory-billed woodpecker, once prized for its plumage and sought by American Indians as magical, was thought to be extinct for years. Now it’s been sighted again and conservationists are exulting. The striking bird, last seen in 1944, has been rediscovered in the Big Woods area of Arkansas, scientists and conservationists reported yesterday.

“This is thrilling beyond words … after 60 years of fading hope that we would ever see this spectacular bird again,” director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, John Fitzpatrick, said at a news conference.

Since early 2004, there have been several independent sightings, including one caught on videotape, of one or more of the birds, Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

– Associated Press

WEST

JACKSON’S EX CALLS POP STAR A ‘GREAT FATHER’

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Deborah Rowe testified yesterday at his child molestation trial that Mr. Jackson is a “great person and a great father” and that some of the pop star’s associates are “vultures” trying to exploit him. Ms. Rowe’s testimony resumed for a second day under a cloud as Judge Rodney Melville considered an unexplained defense request to strike her testimony. But after a morning of more testimony favorable to Mr. Jackson, defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. suddenly withdrew the request.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

HUNDREDS SEARCH FOR MISSING BRIDE-TO-BE

DULUTH, Ga. – A 32-year-old woman disappeared just days before she was to be married, and authorities said yesterday they were expanding their search for her. Jennifer Wilbanks’s fiance told authorities she left home Tuesday night to go jogging. When she did not return in a couple of hours, he began looking for her, then notified police. On Wednesday, more than 250 people searched for Ms. Wilbanks, including volunteers and police using helicopters and tracking dogs. Authorities called off the volunteer search but continued canvassing door-to-door for clues in this northeastern Atlanta suburb. They were treating the disappearance as a criminal investigation but did not elaborate.

– Associated Press

JURY RETURNS DEATH SENTENCE AGAINST SOLDIER

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – A military jury sentenced a soldier to death yesterday for a grenade-and-rifle attack on his own comrades during the opening days of the Iraq invasion, a barrage that killed two officers and that prosecutors said was driven by religious extremism. Sergeant Hasan Akbar, who gave a brief, barely audible apology hours earlier, stood at attention between his lawyers as the verdict was delivered. He showed no emotion. He could have been sentenced to life in prison with or without parole for the early morning March 2003 attack, which also wounded 14 fellow members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. The 15-person military jury, which last week took just two and a half hours to convict Akbar of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, deliberated for about seven hours in the sentencing phase.

– Associated Press