Democrat says he’ll vote for Alito
Washington — Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska on Tuesday became the first Democrat to announce he will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.
Nelson, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, said in a statement that he had made up his mind to support Alito “because of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association’s strong recommendation and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the court.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote next Tuesday on Alito’s nomination to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Pluto launch delayed for at least one day
Cape Canaveral, Fla. High winds forced NASA to scrub the launch Tuesday of an unmanned spacecraft on a nine-year, 3-billion-mile voyage to Pluto, the solar system’s last unexplored planet.
NASA planned to try again today to launch the New Horizons probe, although the forecast held a greater chance of thunderstorms, clouds and gusty winds that could prevent a launch.
Mississippi’s Lott seeking another term
Pascagoula, Miss. Sen. Trent Lott announced Tuesday he is running for a fourth term this year, ending months of speculation about his plans.
The 64-year-old Republican told a hometown crowd that he wants to continue working on federal issues related to Mississippi’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. He lost his own beachside house to Katrina on Aug. 29.
Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Wayne Dowdy said Lott’s decision to seek re-election will not dissuade Democrats from running. State Rep. Erik Fleming has already announced his intention to seek the Democratic Senate nomination.
California district won’t teach intelligent design
Fresno, Calif. In a second defeat in a month for proponents of teaching intelligent design in public schools, a rural school district in Kern County agreed Tuesday to stop a course that had included discussion of a religion-based alternative to evolution.
As part of a court settlement, Frazier Mountain High School in Lebec will terminate the course one week earlier than planned, and the El Tejon Unified School District agreed never to offer such a course in its classrooms again.
The settlement comes on the heels of a court battle in Pennsylvania, in which a U.S. district judge rejected the Dover, Pa., school board’s decision to teach intelligent design as part of a science course, ruling that it was a theological argument, and not science. The Lebec suit, brought by a group of parents, was the first legal challenge of teaching intelligent design in California.
Intelligent design holds that some biological aspects of life are so complex that they could not have evolved randomly, but must have been produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, or designer.