Nation in brief: Senator improves, speech returning

Sen. Tim Johnson has been transferred out of intensive care and has said some words, his doctor said Thursday, nearly a month after the South Dakota Democrat suffered a brain hemorrhage.

An MRI on Wednesday showed the speech centers in the senator’s brain were spared injury in the initial hemorrhage Dec. 13, said Johnson’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Vivek Deshmukh.

The senator is expected to leave intensive care but remain in the hospital when he begins the rehabilitation process. His office has said that his recovery is expected to take several months.

Johnson’s sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats’ one-vote majority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota’s Republican governor, Mike Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson’s seat were vacated by his death or resignation.

NEW YORK

Democrats to gather in Denver

Democrats selected Denver to host their 2008 presidential convention, turning down New York in favor of a problematic but enthusiastic bid from a city in the increasingly Democratic Rocky Mountain West.

Denver mounted a spirited effort to win the convention, organizing a sophisticated public relations campaign and enlisting help from Democratic lawmakers throughout the West. But the bid was fraught with logistical problems, among them a lack of close-in hotel rooms, its ability to raise the necessary $55 million to run the convention and serious labor concerns.

The convention – which is expected to attract 35,000, including 4,950 delegates and alternates – will be held from Aug. 25-28 after the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

Vatican negligence lawsuit advances

Three men who claim childhood sexual abuse by priests can pursue damages from the Vatican in a negligence lawsuit, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II lets the men pursue their claim that top church officials should have warned the public or local authorities of known or suspected sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville.

William McMurry, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said the ruling could open the way to take depositions of Vatican officials and to get copies of church records and documents.

Many lawsuits stemming from the clergy sex abuse crisis have named the pope, the Vatican and other high-ranking church officials as defendants. But the Holy See is typically immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.

Vatican officials declined to comment.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

Powders cause courthouse scares

Hazardous materials teams scrambled to two South Florida courthouses Thursday after suspicious powders werediscovered on letters.

A white powder was found in the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach about 11:45 a.m., and a brown substance in the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale about 4:30 p.m., authorities said. No one was injured or appeared sick.

Officials did not know whether the two cases were related and are trying to determine where the letters came from.

In Palm Beach County, the Hazardous Materials Unit identified the powder as tellurium. The Broward County powder turned out to be a food additive, possibly a sugar substitute.

Firefighters decontaminated five people who touched two envelopes that had traces of tellurium, but none had an adverse reaction, West Palm Beach Fire Rescue spokesman Phil Kaplan said.