Nation in brief: Activists arrested at Bush ranch

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan and four other protesters were arrested Thursday for blocking a road near President Bush’s ranch, authorities said.

Sheehan and the others lay or sat in the road about 20 minutes and didn’t heed requests to move, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. R.T. King said.

“They weren’t going unless they were arrested,” King told the Associated Press.

Sheehan told the Waco Tribune-Herald that she and others were conducting a “peace surge” to address concerns that Bush may increase U.S. troop numbers in Iraq. Protesters said they had expected to be arrested.

Sheehan and the others were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a highway passageway, said a bond clerk at the McLennan County Jail in Waco.

Washington

Senator improving after brain surgery

Sen. Tim Johnson turned 60 on Thursday, two weeks after emergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in critical condition.

Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for the South Dakota Democrat, said Johnson won’t be present in the first days of the new Congress next week but is continuing to improve. She said he is responsive to directions from his wife but has not yet spoken.

It’s too early to tell how long recovery will take, Fisher said.

In a statement Thursday, Johnson’s doctors said he remains in intensive care at George Washington University Hospital. They have released few new details about Johnson’s condition and prognosis since the days after the Dec. 13 surgery to stop bleeding in his brain.

Dr. Vivek Deshmukh, head of Johnson’s surgical team, said in a statement that the senator’s overall condition has improved and he is being weaned off sedation to help his brain heal.

The statement said Johnson is expected to undergo more tests in coming days.

Sacramento, Calif.

California panel to study pensions

Nearly two years after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger abandoned his bid to curb government worker retirement benefits, he cautiously waded back into the issue of runaway pension costs Thursday by creating a commission to study the issue.

The move comes as some estimates now show the state has promised its government workers at least $100 billion more in cash payments and health care benefits than its pension funds are projected to be able to cover. That amount is roughly equal to what the state will spend from its general fund this year on all government services – including schools, health care, transportation and prisons.

Schwarzenegger, in a written statement, called the spiraling pension costs “one of the biggest problems facing governments everywhere.”

But administration officials say the governor does not intend to push for any major new reforms that would address that problem until the 12-member commission – to be appointed by the governor and legislative leaders – finishes its work in January 2008.