Nation in brief: UAW, Ford reach tentative deal
The United Auto Workers union reached a tentative contract agreement Saturday with Ford Motor Co., the last of the Big Three automakers participating in a historic round of negotiations that has slashed wages and changed the way health care is provided to retirees.
Ford said the deal, if approved by a majority of the approximately 54,000 workers represented, will make it more competitive as it tries to halt its sliding U.S. market share.
Tentative agreement on Ford’s four-year contract was reached about 3:20 a.m. EDT without a strike.
Details were not immediately released, but a person briefed on the deal said Ford scaled back plans to close some U.S. plants and has promised to make significant product investments to ensure those plants will remain open for now.
In exchange, Ford will be allowed to pay lower wages to thousands of new hires, a provision already agreed to in contracts with GM and Chrysler.
CHARLESTON, W.Va.
Hundreds push for hate crime charges
Hundreds of people gathered at West Virginia’s Capitol on Saturday to urge prosecutors to add hate crime charges against six white people charged in the beating, torture and sexual assault of a 20-year-old black woman.
Authorities say the accused, three men and three women, held Megan Williams captive for days at a rural trailer – sexually assaulting her, beating her and forcing her to eat human and animal feces.
“Hate crimes are out of control in America,” Malik Shabazz, a legal adviser to Williams and her family and a founder of Black Lawyers for Justice, told the group. “Nooses are being hung, and our women are being raped by white moms. What happened to Megan Williams was a hate crime and we want this prosecuted as a hate crime.”
Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham has not filed hate crime charges in the case, saying the other charges already filed carried harsher penalties. A hate crime conviction carries up to 10 years in prison in West Virginia. All six face kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Kidnapping carries a possible life sentence.
NEW YORK
Lunch bags recalled because of lead
Lunch bags made in China and distributed for a program meant to encourage healthy eating are being recalled because they may contain lead, a suburban county health department says.
The recall is “purely precautionary” because authorities hadn’t determined how much lead the bags contain, said Nassau County Health Department spokeswoman Cynthia Brown.
However, she said they had confirmed the heavy metal was present in some amount in the material used in the bags, which the Long Island county got through a federal grant.
Nassau County is recalling 169 bags given out between Oct. 11 and 18 to participants in the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program. The insulated bags were printed with the message “fruits and veggies/more matters.”
A county employee happened to spot a label inside one of the bags that said the product “may contain lead,” Brown said. The label also said the bags were made in China.