WASHINGTON

SOUTHERN AND WESTERN STATES GAINING POPULATION, POLITICAL CLOUT

Southern and Western states are growing so much faster than the rest of the country that several are expected to grab House seats from the Northeast and Midwest when Congress is reapportioned in 2010.

Demographers and political analysts project that Texas and Florida could each gain as many as three House seats. Ohio and New York could lose as many as two seats apiece. Several other states could gain or lose single seats.

The projections are based on state population estimates by the Census Bureau. The bureau released its July 2005 estimates today, showing that Nevada grew at a faster rate than any other state for the 19th consecutive year, followed by Arizona, Idaho, Florida, and Utah.

Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts lost population, as did the District of Columbia. The populations of North Dakota, Ohio, and Michigan grew, but at a slower rate than others. Overall, the country grew by 0.9% in the past year, to about 296.4 million people.

– Associated Press

APPEALS COURT REFUSES TO TRANSFER PADILLA TO CIVILIAN CUSTODY

In a sharp rebuke, a federal appeals court denied yesterday a Bush administration request to transfer terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military to civilian law enforcement custody.

The three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused the administration’s request to vacate a September ruling that gave President Bush wide authority to detain “enemy combatants” indefinitely without charges on American soil.

The decision, written by Judge Michael Luttig, questioned why the administration used one set of facts before the court for three and a half years to justify holding Mr. Padilla without charges but used another set to convince a grand jury in Florida to indict him last month.

Judge Luttig said the administration has risked its “credibility before the courts” by appearing to use the indictment of Mr. Padilla to thwart an appeal of the appeals court’s decision that gave the president wide berth in holding enemy combatants.

– Associated Press

ECONOMY BOOMS THROUGH KATRINA, HIGH GAS PRICES

The American economy grew at the fastest pace in one and a half years in the summer as booming auto sales offset the adverse effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But the year is expected to end with much slower growth.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at a 4.1 percent annual rate from July through September.

That was down from a 4.3% estimate made a month ago but it was still the fastest pace since early 2004. The gain was even more remarkable considering that the country was hit by devastating hurricanes and gasoline prices that topped $3 a gallon.

– Associated Press

NEARLY ONE IN 10 PENSION PLANS FROZEN, STUDY FINDS

Employers froze nearly one in 10 pension plans insured by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. in 2003, according to a study released yesterday.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that guarantees worker pension benefits, said 9.4% of the 29,000 plans it insures and for which it had data were “hard-frozen” in 2003, the most recent year for which numbers were available. Hard-frozen means employees can no longer accrue benefits under a pension plan.

The study comes amid a steady stream of headlines about companies, including Sears Roebuck & Co., Motorola Inc. and IBM Corp., freezing pensions to cut costs. Among the latest was Verizon Communications Inc., which recently said it would freeze the pensions of 50,500 managers.

. – Associated Press

JEWISH COUPLE’S REQUEST FOR EDUCATION TAX DEDUCTION DENIED

A federal tax court yesterday refused an Orthodox Jewish couple’s request to deduct religious education fees for their children on the grounds that the Internal Revenue Service allows a similar deduction for members of the Church of Scientology.

Judge John Colvin said the couple, Michael and Marla Sklar of Los Angeles, would only have been entitled to a deduction if they intended their tuition payments as gifts and didn’t expect to get a substantial benefit in return. He said the Internal Revenue Service’s 1993 agreement to allow deductions for “auditing and training” by Scientologists was irrelevant to the Sklars’ case.

An attorney for the taxpayers, Jeffrey Zuckerman, said an appeal is planned. He faulted the judge for blocking the couple’s efforts to inquire about the Scientology arrangement, which remains secret, and for disallowing a deduction for Mishna classes, which are entirely religious.

In 2002,a federal appeals court judge, Barry Silverman, wrote that the pact with the Scientologists raised the issue of whether they “have become the IRS’s chosen people.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SOUTH

TWO NEW ORLEANS COPS FIRED IN BEATING CASE

NEW ORLEANS – Two officers were fired yesterday for a beating in the French Quarter shortly after Hurricane Katrina that was photographed and videotaped by the Associated Press. A third officer was suspended.

A union official vowed to fight the firings of officers Robert Evangelist and Lance Schilling for their role in the beating of 64-year-old Robert Davis. Officer Stuart Smith was suspended for 120 days. The confrontation renewed longstanding allegations of racism, brutality, and corruption in the New Orleans Police Department. The officers are white, and Mr. Davis is black. Mr. Davis said he does not believe race was an issue in the beating.

– Associated Press

NTSB FINDS CRACK IN BEAM IN SEAPLANE

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.- A 1940s-era seaplane that lost a wing during takeoff and crashed within sight of the beach, killing all 20 people aboard, had undetected cracks in its airframe that apparently caused the aircraft to break up, federal investigators said yesterday.

After the discovery was disclosed, Chalk’s Ocean Airways voluntarily grounded its fleet of four planes for inspection. All four planes are the same model as the one that crashed. The cracks were found in the main support beam of a wing that fell off the seaplane shortly after it took off for the Bahamas on Monday.

– Associated Press