NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1. 2005
4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN COURTS
Judge says reunion in order for family
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 15-year-old cancer patient who was put into foster care after her parents refused to allow radiation treatment will be reunited with her family, a judge ruled Monday.
State district Judge Jack Hunter said Katie Werneck would be better off with her family in Corpus Christi than in the custody of the foster parents she was assigned by Child Protective Services.
BY LYNN BREZOSKY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
"CPS and the Werneckes are never, ever going to agree," Hunter said. "If I leave it up to CPS and the Werneckes ... this child is going to die for lack of anything being done."
Child Protective Services removed Katie from her family after her parents stopped her cancer treatment. Her father, Edward Wernecke, worried that a move to radiation treatment could put his daughter at heightened risk for breast cancer and learning disorders.
Katie's parents have made several attempts to stop treatment for the girl's Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes.
Katie's oncologist has said her chances of surviving have fallen from 80 percent to about 20 percent because of incomplete treatment.
Before the ruling, Hunter told Wernecke to "look at me man to man, eyeball to eyeball" and promise he would do the best for Katie. Wernecke said he would.
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"College students who pull all-nighters, smoke cigarettes and drink caffeine to stay awake, skip meals, then celebrate with alcohol after a test are suppressing their immune systems," Dening said. "They are more likely to become ill."
Mindy Brissey, Kansas City, Mo., senior, said she was sick with the flu last year. She said she was trying a different method to stay healthy this year because she hadn't had the time or extra money for a vaccine shot.
Flu
A flu shot costs $15, while the nasal mist vaccine costs $25.
"I have been trying to get more sleep," Brissey said. "That was one of the reasons I got sick."
"The flu season's an adventure," Thrasher said. "You never know what's going to happen."
Cathy Thrasher, clinical coordinator of support services at Watkins, said the health center had ordered 1,950 doses of the flu vaccine last March. She said every dose would probably be
given, but she couldn't be sure what to expect.
Concerns of flu shot dangers rose last week after more than 1,000 Exxon Mobil Corporation employees were injected with a fake vaccine, but Denning said KU students didn't have to worry about the authenticity of the vaccine shots at Watkins.
Watkins is a credible source because its nurses were trained in proper delivery of the shot and the health center bought its vaccines from a credible manufacturer, Denning said.
"If students want to make sure, all they have to do is ask the nurse," Denning said. "She will gladly show them the bottle, which has a clear label stating 'influenza vaccine.' She'll even draw the vaccine up in the patient's presence, then give them the injection."
Edited by Erick R. Schmidt
SUPREME COURT
Bush nominates veteran judge
President Bush watches judge Samuel Alito, right, speak after he announced Alito as his new nominee for the Supreme Court on Monday, in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington. Alito is Bush's replacement for Harriet Miers, who dropped out of the running last week.
Ron Edmonds/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY RON FOURNIER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Bush nominated veteran judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court Monday, seeking to shift the judiciary to the right and mollify conservatives who detailed his previous pick. Ready-to-rumble Democrats said Alito may curb abortion rights and be "too radical for the American people."
Drawing an unspoken contrast to failed nominee Harriet Miers, Bush declared that the appeals court judge "has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years."
In a political twist, Republicans who helped sink Miers' nomination rallied to Alito's side. A leading Democrat who backed Miers led the attack against Alito.
Alito, 55, newly installed Chief Justice John Roberts, 50, and the more than 200 other federal judges Bush has pushed through the Senate could give the Republican president a legacy far beyond his two terms.
"The Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. A rare Democratic senator who opposes abortion, Reid chided Bush for not nominating the first Hispanic to the court.
Abortion emerged as a potential fault line. Democrats pointed to Alito's rulings that sought to restrict a woman's right to abortion. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said that Alito's views on the hot-button issue "will be among one of the first items Judge Alito and I will discuss."
Alito's mother shed some light. "Of course, he's against abortion," 90-year-old Rose Alito said of her son, a Catholic.
"President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club," Reid said.
So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But while Scalia is outspoken and is known to badger lawyers, Alito is polite, reserved and even-tempered.
Given solid Republican support in the Senate — where the GOP controls 55 of the 100 seats
Democrats would have to mubster to block Alito's confirmation, a tactic that comes with political risks. Alito also enjoys the early support of conservative activists who used their sway in the Bush White House to derail Miers' nominations.
The fight to nominate Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990, is one step in Bush's political recovery plan as he tries to regain his footing after a cascade of troubles — including the Iraq
war and the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff — rocked his presidency.
If confirmed by the Senate, Alito would replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a decisive swing vote in cases involving affirmative action, abortion, campaign finance, discrimination and the death penalty.
"The Supreme Court is an institution I have long held in reverence," said the bespectacled Alito, a former prosecutor and government attorney who has argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court, losing just two. "During my 29 years as a public servant, I've had an opportunity to view the Supreme Court from a variety of perspectives."
Miers had never been a judge.
Praised by Democrats when confirmed for a Philladelphi-based appeals court 15 years ago. Alito has staked out positions supporting restrictions on abortion, such as parental and spousal notification.
The jurist from New Jersey favors more restrictions on
abortion rights than either the Supreme Court has allowed or O'Connor has supported, based on a 1929 case in which he supported spousal notification.
Bush called for confirmation by year's end, but Senate leaders said the vote may wait until next year.
Wasting no time, Alito went to the Capitol shortly after the announcement to meet with lawmakers. Accompanied by two of his children and Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, Alito paused first to pay his respects at the coffin of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in the Capitol rotunda.
Specter said he would not ask Alito directly about whether he would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights ruling.
"There is a lot more to do with a woman's right to choose than how you feel about it personally," he said. Specter cited adherence to legal precedent in view of a series of rulings over 30 years upholding abortion rights.
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