Lawyer: McVeigh felt bombing was failure

AUSTIN, Texas – Timothy McVeigh considered the Oklahoma City bombing a failure because he left the building standing and once suggested the government should pay his defense attorneys $800,000.

Documents revealing those things are among the more than 1 million pages the convicted bomber’s former lawyer donated to the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas. The school began assembling the collection in 1998, but it only became fully organized late last year.

McVeigh was executed by injection in 2001 for the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people. At the time it was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Obama defends plans for trade pact

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday defended his pursuit of a sweeping trade pact as good for American workers in a global economy, dismissing fierce opposition from his own party as a “ratification of the status quo.”

Obama said the authority he sought is the same exercised by past presidents of both parties. And the pact he’s seeking with 11 Pacific nations would prevent countries like China and Japan from having a leg up in global commerce.

Measles oubreak declared to be over

LOS ANGELES – California health authorities on Friday declared an end to a large measles outbreak that started at Disneyland and triggered a national debate about vaccinations.

Disease detectives for months raced to contain the highly contagious disease, which surfaced at Disney theme parks in December and spread to a half-dozen U.S. states, Mexico and Canada.

The outbreak sickened 147 people in the U.S., including 131 in California. There were no deaths.

Associated Press