Air quality efforts easing cancer risk
Cancer risk from Southern California’s air pollution has declined by 17 percent over the past seven years but remains dangerously high near ports, truck-laden freeways, rail yards and in parts of the booming Inland Empire, according to a study released Friday by regional air regulators.
“This reduction in cancer risk shows that we are on the right track in tackling toxic air pollution,” said William Burke, chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board, which released the report.
“However, the remaining cancer risk is completely unacceptable. Thousands of residents are getting sick and dying from toxic air pollution. Some of them live in low-income minority neighborhoods that may be heavily impacted by cancer-causing air pollution.”
Diesel exhaust from mobile sources such as ships, trains and trucks remains the single largest problem, according to the analysis.
“Diesel exhaust is the 900-pound gorilla,” said board member Dennis Yates, mayor of Chino.
Washington
High court to weigh execution for rape
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether a state can execute someone convicted of raping a child, one of the few remaining nonfatal crimes that can result in capital punishment.
Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of an 8-year-old girl in Louisiana.
The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case in which the victim was an adult woman.
Kennedy’s lawyers say the death penalty for child rape violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
The justices will hear arguments in the case in April.
Austin, Texas
Prayer in school challenge rejected
Texas schoolchildren will continue to pray or meditate during a daily minute of silence after a federal court threw out a challenge to the state law.
The ruling issued Thursday stems from a complaint by a North Texas couple who say one of their children was told by an elementary school teacher to keep quiet because the minute is a “time for prayer.”
The complaint filed in 2006 by David and Shannon Croft names Gov. Rick Perry and the suburban Dallas school district the Crofts’ three children attend.
The 2003 law allows children to “reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities” for one minute at the beginning of each school day.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn upheld the constitutionality of the law, concluding that “the primary effect of the statute is to institute a moment of silence, not to advance or inhibit religion.”