WASHINGTON

SUPREME COURT TAKES UP MILITARY CAMPUS RECRUITMENT DISPUTE

The Supreme Court confronts a gay rights issue this week, in a case that asks whether law schools can bar military recruiters because of the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Each fall recruiters of all types jam law schools seeking top students in job fairs, receptions, and interview sessions.

Justices will decide whether universities that accept government money must accommodate the military even if the schools forbid the participation of recruiters from public agencies and private companies that have discriminatory policies.

It is the first time that the court has dealt with a gay-rights related case since a contentious 2003 ruling that struck down laws criminalizing gay sex. In 2000, the court ruled that the Boy Scouts have the right to ban leaders who are openly gay.

The latest appeal pits the Pentagon against a group of law schools and professors. The justices hear arguments tomorrow.

– Associated Press

RICE TO ADDRESS ISSUE OF REPORTED U.S. SECRET PRISONS

During her trip to Europe this week, Secretary of State Rice will tell allies America does not transport suspected terrorists around the globe to be tortured, the president’s national security adviser said yesterday.

European governments have expressed outrage over reports of secret CIA prisons where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated. The Bush administration has refused to address the question of whether it operated secret sites that may be illegal under European law.

Stephen Hadley said that Ms. Rice, who has pledged a response to the European Union on the issue, will address the matter “in a comprehensive way” while in Europe.

“One of the things she will be saying is, ‘Look, we are all threatened by terror. We need to cooperate in its solution,'” Mr. Hadley said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“As part of that cooperation for our part, we comply with U.S. law. We respect the sovereignty of the countries with which we deal. And we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured,” the White House adviser said.

Asked whether America operates secret prisons in Europe, Mr. Hadley said on CNN’s “Late Edition” that “there is a lot of cooperation at a variety of levels on the war on terror.” He added, “There are things that are obviously going to be said and cannot be said publicly. There are things that are going to be said and can be said privately in communications with governments.”

– Associated Press

NORTHEAST

KIN OF MISSING CHILDREN PLANNING TO VISIT SITE WHERE BODIES FOUND

CONCORD, N.H. – The mother of two children who were shot to death and buried by their father 2 1/2 years ago plans to visit the shallow Ohio grave where their bodies were finally found last week.

The remains of Sarah Gehring, 14, and her brother Philip, 11, were identified Saturday by the medical examiner’s office in Summit County, Ohio. The discovery of their wrapped bodies, each marked with a duct-tape cross as their father had said, ended Teri Knight’s long search but renewed her mourning.

Her new husband, Jim Knight, said yesterday that the couple would decide in the next few days when to leave for Ohio, probably to have the children’s bodies cremated there and then return home to New Hampshire with their ashes.

The children were last seen arguing with their father, Manuel Gehring, at a July Fourth fireworks show in Concord. After Gehring was arrested days later in California, he told authorities he had pulled off a highway the night of the fireworks show and shot both children, then drove for hours with their bodies in his van before burying them somewhere off Interstate 80. He gave police several clues but said he couldn’t remember the location, then committed suicide in jail before a trial.

– Associated Press

HEALTH

PEDIATRICIANS ALERTED TO WEIGHT CONCERNS IN YOUNG ATHLETES

Young athletes are at risk of engaging in unhealthy efforts to lose or gain weight and doctors need to give them guidance and “put pressure” on coaches to do the same, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

In a detailed policy statement, the academy stresses that losing or gaining more than roughly one or two pounds weekly is dangerous.

“Weight loss accompanied by over-exercising, using rubber suits, steam baths, or saunas” should be prohibited for all young athletes, the policy says. So should diet pills, nutritional supplements and diuretics, and no weight-loss plan for athletic purposes should ever be used before the ninth grade, the policy says.

The new stance was prompted partly by the 1998 deaths of three college wrestlers using strenuous workouts to lose weight and upcoming weight control requirements for student athletes from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

It applies to youngsters in sports where leanness or strength is emphasized, including bodybuilding, gymnastics, figure skating, football, and cheerleading.

These are sports in which coaches may encourage unhealthy weight management practices that can lead to problems including eating disorders, dehydration, heat stress, and gaining too much fat instead of muscle, which can lead to cardiovascular problems, the policy authors said.

– Associated Press