WASHINGTON

SUPREME COURT REINSTATES DEATH SENTENCE FOR CALIFORNIA INMATE

A divided Supreme Court reinstated a California inmate’s death sentence yesterday in the first 5-4 vote under newly installed Chief Justice John Roberts.

Justices overturned an appeals court ruling that declared Ronald Sanders’s sentence unconstitutional. Mr. Sanders was put on death row in the 1982 killing of a woman during a drug-related robbery in Bakersfield, Calif.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the ruling, the court’s first death penalty decision since Mr. Roberts replaced Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist last fall.

Special circumstances used by prosecutors in their case against Mr. Sanders – that the crime was committed during a burglary and was cruel or heinous – were later found invalid. California argued that Mr. Sanders would have been sentenced to death even without those arguments. The Supreme Court’s five conservative members agreed.

– Associated Press

POLL: MORE AMERICANS FIND BEING OVERWEIGHT NOT SO UNATTRACTIVE

Thin is still in, but apparently fat is nowhere near as out as it used to be.

A survey finds America’s attitudes toward overweight people are shifting from rejection toward acceptance. Over a 20-year period, the percentage of Americans who said they find overweight people less attractive steadily dropped from 55% to 24%, the market research firm NPD Group found.

With about two-thirds of American adults overweight, Americans seem more accepting of heavier body types, researchers say. The NPD survey of 1,900 people representative of the American population also found other more relaxed attitudes about weight and diet. While body image remains a constant obsession, the national preoccupation with being thin has waned since the late 1980s and early 1990s, said the NPD’s Harry Balzer.

– Associated Press

NORTHEAST

KILLER OF CHILD-MOLESTING PRIEST CLAIMS INSANITY

WORCESTER, Mass. – An inmate charged with strangling child-molesting former priest John Geoghan said he did it to protect other youngsters, a guard testified yesterday as the prisoner’s murder trial began.

Guard Travis Canty said he heard Joseph Druce’s explanation after he was taken from Geoghan’s cell. According to prosecutors, Druce jammed the door of Geoghan’s cell shut with a book, then strangled the defrocked priest with a pillowcase, socks, and a sneaker.

“He said that he did it for the children,” Mr. Canty said, “that when Geoghan got out he was going to do it again.”

The defense and prosecution agree Druce killed Geoghan to “save the children” in 2003, but disagree over whether he was sane when he did it. Druce’s lawyer said he was mentally ill and driven by an “irresistible impulse” to kill Geoghan. Prosecutors contend he planned the slaying for weeks.

– Associated Press

SOUTHWEST

HOUSTON SCHOOLS TO TIE TEACHERS’ PAY TO STUDENT TEST SCORES

HOUSTON – Houston is about to become the biggest school district in the nation to tie teachers’ pay to their students’ test scores.

School Superintendent Abe Saavedra wants to offer teachers as much as $3,000 more per school year if their students improve on state and national tests. The program could eventually grow to as much as $10,000 in merit pay.

The school board is set to vote on the plan today. Five of the nine board members have said they support it. Opponents argue that the plan focuses too much on test scores and would be unfair to teachers outside core subjects.

– Associated Press

WEST

BORDER AGENTS DISCOVER U.S.-MEXICO TUNNEL

SAN DIEGO – Border Patrol agents discovered a 35-foot-long tunnel beneath the American-Mexican border after it caved in and the asphalt roadway above it collapsed, officials said.

The tunnel ended in a patch of vacant land near the San Ysidro port of entry, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Lauren Mack, said. She said it was about 3 feet by 3 feet and appeared to have been used recently.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the tunnel was built or whether it was being used for smuggling drugs or people.

Authorities sealed off the American side with sandbags and metal after discovering it on Monday, Ms. Mack said.

– Associated Press