Nation in brief: Spitzer takes office as N.Y. governor

Democrat Eliot Spitzer, who built an international reputation fighting corruption on Wall Street, took office as New York’s governor Monday, calling for an end to “the politics of cynicism and division” and signing a series of ethics measures.

Spitzer said frequent deadlocks between Republican Gov. George Pataki and the Legislature thwarted school improvements, ethics reforms, efforts to cut the nation’s highest taxes and attempts to revive the state’s economy.

Spitzer, New York’s two-term attorney general, was nicknamed “the sheriff of Wall Street” for his high-profile investigations of corporate corruption.

He won the governorship on Nov. 7 with a landslide victory. Pataki, who served 12 years, did not seek re-election and is eyeing a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

He was sworn in at a private ceremony just after midnight Sunday and got to work even before his afternoon inaugural, signing orders setting a ban on gifts and certain perks for the executive branch that he wants lawmakers to adopt for themselves.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Riptides kill one, threaten others

Dozens of holiday weekend swimmers were rescued and a man drowned as strong winds created powerful rip currents on busy South Florida beaches.

Emile Buzhaker, 62, of New York, was pronounced dead after being pulled from rough water in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, police said. City lifeguards saved at least two dozen other swimmers from rip currents on Saturday and Sunday.

Lifeguards in Hollywood, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Delray Beach reported dozens of rescues as swimmers went into strong rip currents that pulled them away from shore.

Hank Oppenborn, operations supervisor of Miami Beach’s Ocean Rescue Division, said unusually warm water led hundreds to the beach while easterly winds whipped up riptides.

WESTLAKE, La.

New mayor dies of gunshot

The newly elected mayor of this Louisiana town was found shot to death over the weekend, less than three days before he was set to become the community’s first black leader.

Gerald “Wash” Washington, 57, was found Saturday night in the parking lot of a former high school. He had been shot in the chest, police said.

Authorities said Washington was lying by his truck with a pistol nearby. Investigators were treating the death as a homicide.

Washington, who served on the City Council, was sworn in Dec. 19 as Westlake’s first new mayor in 24 years. He was set to take office today. The City Council has 10 days to appoint an interim mayor, according to retiring Mayor Dudley Dixon.

Westlake, a community of 5,000 residents, is 200 miles west of New Orleans.