THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
NEWS
9A
》FLOOD
Rising water levels threaten Midwest towns
Last week's torrential rain linked to 17 deaths, severe flooding
ASSOCIATED PRESS
John and Sue Ann Calhoun, relocate their pygmy goats from their flooded property outside of Des Arc, Ark., Monday. The White River flooded low-lying areas of Des Arc on Monday and continued to rise, as other towns along the river were warned they could suffer their worst flooding in more than a quarter-century.
DES ARC, Ark. — Sandbagging shored up a weakened levee along the White River on Tuesday and relieved a threat that it would fail as a major flood crest moved down the waterway, emergency management officials said.
Although the rural levee in central Arkansas was leaking in spots, it was holding. Officials told residents it was safe to stay in Des Arc, after urging them to evacuate earlier in the day.
"We're just kind of monitoring the water right now. As far as we know from the Corps of Engineers, it's safe to stay," said Prairie County Sheriff Gary Burnett.
Elsewhere in Arkansas, state and federal teams prepared to examine flood-damaged buildings and businesses.
Bob Alvey, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he expected nine teams to spread across counties in northwest Arkansas first, then move to Arkansas' prairie, where the White River is threatening communities.
"We're hitting areas we can get to because a lot of areas we can't get to." Alvey said Tuesday morning. State and federal officials planned an afternoon news conference Tuesday to provide an update on damages.
The White River swelled after last week's storms, which devastated large parts of the Midwest.
The river had risen about 7 feet in four days at Des Arc and was expected to crest Tuesday afternoon at 33.5 feet, the National Weather Service estimated.
On Monday, water poured into Bayou Des Arc, an area just north of the town of 1,900, damaging scattered homes and cabins. Downtown Des Arc is on a rise and was not in immediate danger.
Last week's torrential rain caused flooding in parts of Ohio, Indiana and southern Illinois, and in wide areas of Missouri. At least 17 deaths have been linked to the weather.
Although wide areas of Missouri were especially hard-hit, the city of Cape Girardeau, which had record flooding in 1993, narrowly escaped serious problems this time. The Mississippi River crested there early Monday at 41.04 feet, a foot shy of the level that causes serious flooding, the weather service said.
Flood gates protecting the city's business district were closed Monday and will stay closed until the river drops to below 36 feet.
There was some minor flooding Monday in Cape Girardeau's northeast section.
River towns south of the point where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet at Cairo, Ill., could see
flooding in the next few days.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in St. Louis refused on Tuesday to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from raising water levels on the Missouri River this
week. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to stop the action, claiming it could add to downstream flooding.
The corps usually releases
extra water in March, and again in May, to prompt spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon. The corps was expected to decide later Tuesday whether to release water after midnight.
AIRLINES
Law regulating delayed planes struck down
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down a state law requiring airlines to give food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck in delayed planes, saying the measure was well-intentioned but stepped on federal authority.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said New York's law — the first of its kind in the country — interferes with federal law governing the price, route or service of an air carrier.
The law was passed after thousands of passengers were stranded aboard airplanes for up to 10 hours on several JetBlue Airways flights at Kennedy International Airport on Valentine's Day last year. They complained they were deprived of food and water and that soilets overflowed. A month later, hundreds more passengers of other airlines were stranded aboard planes at JFK after a daylong ice storm.
The law was challenged by the Air Transport Association of America, the industry trade group representing leading U.S. airlines.
The court said that while the goals of the law were "laudable" and the circumstances prompting its adoption "deplorable," only the federal government has the authority to pass such regulations.
"If New York's view regarding the scope of its regulatory authority carried the day, another state could be free to enact a law prohibiting the service of soda on flights departing from its airports, while another
could require allergen-free food options on its outbound flights, unraveling the centralized federal framework for air travel," the court wrote.
Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, the prime sponsor of New York Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, said in a statement that the ruling "is a disappointment to anyone who has suffered at the hands of airlines that care more about profits than their customers."
"This is far from over," the Democrat said. Options for proponents of the law include an appeal, a new law or putting pressure on the federal government to create similar rules for long-delayed flights.
In a statement, the air transport association said the ruling vindicates its position that airline services are regulated by the federal government and that a "patchwork" of state and local measures would not benefit customers.
A recent federal report showed that about 24 percent of flights nationally arrived late in the first 10 months of last year, which was the industry's second-worst performance record since comparable data began being collected in 1995.
During appellate arguments earlier this month, Seth Waxman, a lawyer for the trade group, said a dozen other states and Congress were considering laws similar to New York's.
Kennedy airport had the third-worst on-time arrival record of any major U.S. airport through October, behind the New York area's other two major airports, LaGuardia and Newark, according to the report.
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WASHINGTON — Texas can ignore President Bush and an international court in refusing to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.
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The court said Bush exceeded his authority when he tried to intervene on behalf of Jose Ernesto Medellin, facing the death penalty for killing two teenagers nearly 15 years ago.
Bush's request in death row case denied
A Texas prosecutor whose office won a conviction against Medellin said she would ask for an execution date to be set as soon as the high court resolves a separate case over a challenge to lethal injection procedures. The court also could dispose of the cases of seven other Mexicans on death row in Texas as early as Monday.
The Constitution "allows the president to execute the laws, not make them," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a rebuke of the president in a case that mixed presidential power, international relations and the death penalty.
Roberts, in the unfamiliar role
She noted that the administration's position in the case was focused on the authority it believed the president has to compel a state to comply with international agreements. "The argument of the United States in this case in no way condoned or defended the heinous crime," Perino said.
Justice Stephen Breyer, in dissent, said the decision calls into question U.S. obligations under international treaties and makes it "more difficult to negotiate new ones."
By a 6-3 vote, the court said Texas does not have to give a new hearing to death row prisoner
administration argued that the president's declaration is reason enough for Texas to grant Medellin a new hearing.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush was disappointed with the decision and is now reviewing it to see how it might impact international relations.
Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas joined Roberts' opinion.
Bush, who oversaw 152 executions as Texas governor, disagreed with the decision. But he said it must be carried out by state courts because the United States had agreed to abide by the world court's rulings in such cases. The
of limiting presidential power, said the international court decision cannot be forced upon the states.
Some legal commentators said the decision could have far-reaching implications for other international agreements involving the United States if they cannot be enforced within the United States.
The president may not "establish binding rules of decision that preempt contrary state law," Roberts said. Neither does the treaty, by itself, require individual states to take action, he said.
The International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, said the Mexican prisoners should have new court hearings to determine whether the violation affected their cases.
Breyer, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, said the international court judgment should be enforced.
Medellin, a former Houston gang member who is now 33.
The president was in the unusual position of siding with Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty.
Justice John Paul Stevens did not sign onto the majority opinion but agreed with the outcome of the case and said nothing prevents Texas from giving Medellin another hearing even though it is not compelled to do so.
An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row around the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country's consular officials.
IN BRIEF
IN BRIEF Children find parachute thought to be hiacker's
Children playing outside near Amboy found the chute's fabric sticking up from the ground in an area where their father had been grading a road, agent Larry Carr said. They pulled it out as far as they could, then cut the parachute's ropes with scissors.
thought to be hijacker's SEATTLE — The FBI is analyzing a torn, tangled parachute found buried by children in southwest Washington to determine whether it might have been used by famed plane hijacker D.B. Cooper, the agency said Tuesday.
The children had seen recent media coverage of the case — the FBI launched a publicity campaign last fall, hoping to generate tips to solve the 36-year-old mystery — and they urged their dad to call the agency.
A man identifying himself as Dan Cooper — later mistakenly but enduringly identified as D.B. Cooper — hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore., to Seattle in November 1971, claiming he had a bomb.
"When we went to the public, the whole idea was that the public is going to bring the answers to us"; Carr said. "This is exactly what we were hoping for."
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Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, he released the passengers in exchange for $200,000 and asked to be flown to Mexico. He apparently parachuted from the plane's back stairs somewhere
Associated Press
Agents doubt he survived because conditions were poor and the terrain was rough, but few signs of his fate have been found.
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