Nation in brief: Pelosi plans celebration

WASHINGTON – On a scale associated with presidential inaugurations, Nancy Pelosi is planning four days of celebration around her Jan. 4 swearing-in as the first female speaker of the House.

She will return to the blue-collar Baltimore neighborhood where she grew up, attend Mass at the women’s college where she studied political science, and dine at the Italian Embassy as Tony Bennett sings “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

But the hoopla is more than just a party.

Pelosi is grabbing the moment to present herself as the new face of the Democratic Party and to recast the party’s image as one hospitable to ethnic minorities, families, religion, the working class and women.

Brendan Daly, Pelosi’s spokesman, said the four-day celebration befits a historic moment in American politics. “We’ve never had a woman speaker before,” Daly said. “This is a big deal.”

Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., took two days to celebrate his election as speaker when the Republicans formally took control of Congress in 1995.

Atlanta

Measles outbreak traced to traveler

The biggest U.S. measles outbreak in a decade – 34 people stricken in Indiana and Illinois last year – was traced back to a 17-year-old girl who had traveled to Romania without first getting vaccinated, government health officials said Thursday.

The outbreak accounted for more than half of the 66 measles cases in the United States in 2005. Widespread use of the measles vaccine has dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease over the past four decades; in 2004, there were just 37 cases.

The Indiana girl became infected after visiting a Romanian orphanage while on a church trip, health investigators said. The others became infected after they attended a church gathering with her the day after her return.