In brief: Schools’ legal effort to end strike fails

CHICAGO – Lawyers for Chicago Public Schools were rebuffed Monday in their hopes of winning a temporary restraining order and immediately ending the teachers strike.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge did not agree to hold a hearing on the matter Monday. Instead, Judge Peter Flynn raised the possibility of setting a hearing for Wednesday, but questioned if the legal issues wouldn’t be moot if the strike is over by then, according to Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the city’s Law Department.

In a complaint seeking the court order, CPS argued that the Chicago Teachers Union is prohibited by state law from striking over non-economic issues and that the strike is a clear and present danger to public health and safety.

The union and school leaders appeared headed for a resolution at the end of last week, saying they were optimistic that students would be back in class by Monday. But teachers meeting Sunday afternoon said they felt rushed after getting only a few hours to review a summary of the agreement worked out between the city and union leaders, and union President Karen Lewis admitted for many teachers the decision to wait until today to decide came down to a lack of trust in city hall and the school board.

Cancer leading cause of Latino deaths

LOS ANGELES – Cancer has become the leading cause of death among U.S. Latinos, nosing past heart disease in 2009, researchers at the American Cancer Society reported Monday.

For most demographic groups – and for the country as a whole – heart disease is the top killer, claiming a total of 599,413 American lives in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 567,628 Americans died of cancer.

Among Latinos that year, the rankings were reversed: 29,935 died of cancer and 29,611 of heart disease, according to a study in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Weather delays Endeavour’s trip

LOS ANGELES – Space shuttle Endeavour will arrive in Los Angeles a day later than originally intended after the threat of thunderstorms again delayed the start of the retired orbiter’s cross-country trip from Florida.

The shuttle is now expected to reach Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, NASA announced Monday.

Sandusky sentencing set for early October

There’s little doubt former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, 68, faces a long prison sentence. In a few weeks, he’ll find out just how long.

A judge announced Monday he will sentence Sandusky on Oct. 9, nearly four months after Sandusky was convicted in the child molestation scandal that brought shame to Penn State.

Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 counts of sex abuse involving 10 boys.