Gay-marriage bans in 2 states ruled illegal
CHICAGO – A U.S. appeals court issued a scathing, unequivocal ruling Thursday, declaring that gay marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana violated the U.S. Constitution – a decision released a little more than a week after oral arguments from a normally slow and deliberative court.
The unanimous, 40-page decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago blasted the states’ justifications for their bans, several times singling out the argument that only marriage between a man and a woman should be allowed because it is – simply – tradition.
There are “bad traditions that are historical realities such as cannibalism, foot-binding, and suttee, and traditions that ... are neither good nor bad – such as trick-or-treating on Halloween,” the ruling says. “Tradition per se therefore cannot be a lawful ground for discrimination – regardless of the age of the tradition.”
It also laid into another argument from the states that gays should not be allowed to marry because, on their own, they can’t procreate, saying that rationale “is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.”
Eastern Europe presses NATO for military bases
WARSAW, Poland – On the eve of a NATO summit, President Barack Obama gave the alliance’s eastern European members a soaring assurance of protection from any Russian threat. But Poland and the Baltic states are seeking more than lofty words: They want permanent bases with troops on their land.
And they probably won’t get that. While the request from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will be on the agenda at the summit in Wales, European heavyweight Germany and other members strongly oppose it. They argue that it would violate a 1997 agreement with Russia in which NATO pledges not to put “substantial combat forces” in central and eastern Europe.
The eastern NATO members suspect, however, that the accord with Russia is just a cover for not wanting to further damage economic relations. And Poland argues that the agreement, known as the Founding Act, has already been invalidated by Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
In Latvia last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there will be “no permanent stationing of combat troops” on the alliance’s eastern edge.
El Niño unlikely to help California
The likelihood of a wet winter for parched California took a hit Thursday as federal forecasters say that only a “weak” El Niño is predicted for later this year.
“There is a “60-65 percent chance of an El Niño,” said Climate Prediction Center deputy director Mike Halpert when reached by phone Thursday.
“A majority of models ... favor a weak El Niño,” noted an online forecast from the CPC. “At this time, the consensus of forecasters expects El Niño to emerge during September-October and to peak at weak strength during the late fall and early winter.”
Halpert added that there’s still a 1 in 3 chance that it won’t develop at all.
El Niño, a seasonal climate pattern in which tropical Pacific Ocean water temperatures are warmer than average, is one of the main influences on winter weather in the United States and around the world. Depending on their strength, El Niños sometimes – but not always – deliver significant amounts of rain and snow to much of the Western U.S.
U.S. justice department to probe Ferguson police
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice launched a broad investigation Thursday into the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting last month of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer.
The investigation, which goes beyond an existing federal probe into the Aug. 9 shooting, will look for patterns of discrimination within the predominantly white department and focus on how officers use force, search and arrest suspects as well as treat inmates at the city jail. The police department said it welcomed the investigation.
In announcing the action, Attorney General Eric Holder, who visited the St. Louis suburb two weeks ago, said he heard repeated and consistent concerns from community members about general police practices and a lack of diversity on the police force. That experience influenced the decision to seek a wide-ranging probe into the department.
“I heard from them directly about the deep mistrust that has taken hold between law enforcement officials and members of the community,” Holder said, adding that other evidence reviewed so far – including traffic stop data – appeared to validate community concerns.
AP, USA TODAY
