TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU POLITICS & THE NATION DIGEST CALIFORNIA


Furlough orders for state workers upheld The California Supreme Court


on Monday upheld an order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to furloughstateworkers, provid- ing amajor victory for part of the governor’s budgeting plans. State employee unions have


been challenging Schwarzeneg- ger’s order since he implemented two-day-a-month furloughs for more than 200,000 stateworkers in February 2009. He later ex- panded it to three days a month, which has translated to a pay cut of roughly 14 percent for govern- ment employees. Schwarzenegger said themove


was intended to save money as California faced a severe budget crisis. The administration es- timates that furloughs saved $1.5 billion during the previous two fiscal years and an additional $80million amonth in the fiscal year that began July 1, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the gover- nor’s Department of Finance. In a separate ruling, the jus-


tices said Schwarzenegger had the authority to use his line-item veto power to cut an additional $489 million from last year’s budget, a move that angered charities, to which the money was directed. The court said all spending, regardless of how it is described by the legislature, is subject to the line-itemveto. —Associated Press


VERMONT


Police say body may be kidnap victim Police inVermont saidMonday


that a body found by huntersmay be that of a grandmother who disappeared in an apparent kid- napping. Vermont State Police investi-


gators say they’re awaiting the results of an autopsy before they will be able to say whether the body found in Wheelock, Vt., is that of Pat O’Hagan, 78. State police say bird hunters


found the remains Sunday about 10miles fromO’Hagan’s home in Sheffield. The body had the same


build as O’Hagan. ALABAMA


Legislators charged in vote-buying case U.S. authorities charged four


Alabama legislators and two businessmen Monday in an al- leged vote-buying scheme to push legislation to expand elec- tronic bingo in the state, the Justice Department said. Eleven people, including three


lobbyists, were charged with tak- ing part in a conspiracy to bribe lawmakers for their votes and influence on proposed legisla- tion, Assistant Attorney General LannyBreuer said ina statement. The criminal charges include


conspiracy, bribery, extortion, money laundering,mail andwire fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. The al- leged offenses took place during the 2009 and 2010 sessions of the Alabama legislature.


The bribes came in the formof


campaign contributions, cam- paign appearances by country music stars, fundraising assis- tance and other things of value, Breuer said.


FLORIDA


Gunman kills himself after deadly rampage Agunman driving a red pickup


truck went on a shooting ram- page in Gainesville on Monday, killing one other person and wounding five before taking his own life, police said. The gunman shot seemingly


unrelated people, with the first 911 call being recorded at 4:03 p.m., Cpl. Tscharna Senn said. The wounded were being treated at Gainesville area hospitals, Senn said. They had minor to critical injuries. Police in Gainesville, home of


the University of Florida, were searching for amotive last night.


Molester sentenced: A Vermont man accused of confining his adolescent stepson to an alarm- rigged bedroom and molesting him for nearly six years is going to prison. Robert J. Pratt, 39, of Bennington was sentenced Mon- day to 18 years to life in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault on a child.


SeaWorld visitor dies: A 68-year- old tourist died after being pulled from a ride at SeaWorld Orlando on Monday. The man was found in the park’s Roa’s Rapids, which is a faster version of a lazy river.


Sheriff’s officer fires at victim:A deputy trainee fired eight times at a liquor store manager after mistaking the man’s finger for a gun as he pointed toward fleeing robbers. Los Angeles sheriff ’s Capt. Mike Parker told the Los Angeles Times that all the shots missed Sunday. —Fromnews services


On her first day as justice, Kagan finds a comfort zone


The court said the statute gen- BY ROBERT BARNES Elena Kagan worked behind


the scenes at the Supreme Court as a clerk, and stood at the lectern as solicitor general representing the government of the United States. So it is not surprising that


when she took her spot at the end of the mahogany bench Monday as the newest justice, Kagan, 50, seemed right at home. She waited a respectful period


as colleagues asked questions, thendived intoacomplicatedand murky bankruptcy case in which the court’s best option, Chief Jus- tice John G. Roberts Jr. noted, might be to choose the less “ab- surd” result. Kagan’s debut, brief as it was,


CARLOS JAVIER ORTIZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


Former WhiteHouse chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, taking to the streets of Chicago onMonday as he begins his campaign formayor, visits Pilsen, a largelyHispanic neighborhood on the city’s South Side.


was the highlight of the court’s first day of its 2010-2011 term. Because of her work as solicitor general, Kagan was recused from the court’s second case of the day, and she will be absent more than present during its first two-week session. She will hear only four of 12 cases. The court announced Monday


that it declined to accept about 2,000 petitions that were among the cases that had accumulated during its summer break. Includ- ed in the group: whether school districts can ban religious music at events; what kind of records theNational SecurityAgencymay be forced to produce; and wheth- er theUniversityofSouthernCali- fornia owns the trademark “SC” or if theUniversity of South Caro- lina can use it as well to sell baseball caps (lower courts sided with the Los Angeles school). The court showed interest in a


case in which civil detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq allege abuse by private companies that contract with the military. A pan- el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the contractors cannot be sued under the 1789U.S. Alien Tort Statute.


erallymay not be invoked against private parties.The justices asked Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal for the government’s view and whether it should accept the case. In the bankruptcy case, Ran-


som v. FIA Card Services, the justices considered ambiguous wording in the bankruptcy law. It appears to give a debtor a way to shield some income by deducting car “ownership costs,” even if the car is paid for. The law gave Jason Ransom,


who owed more than $80,000 in credit card debt, an ownership expense of $471 a month. That would add up to about $28,000 in shielded income over the course of his five-year payment plan. Some justices, Kagan included,


did not understand how a person whoownedacar could receive the samebreak assomeonepaying off a loan or leasing a car. Roberts, on the other hand,


said paying even a dollar on a car loan would allow the debtor to receive thewholemonthybenefit, because the benefit was not based on actual costs but an average of others making car payments. “So your argument leads to a


result that is just as absurd as your colleague’s result on the oth- er side,” Roberts told lawyer DeanneE.Maynard, representing the credit card company “I don’t believe so, your honor,”


Maynard replied. Kagan sat farthest from Rob-


erts’s right on the bench, the tra- ditional spot for the most junior justice. President Obama’s first nominee, Justice Sonia Sotomay- or, satat the other end.Sotomayor has shown herself to be an active questioner, and Kagan seemed to indicate that she will be as well. Kagan asked 10 questions,


about as many as her colleagues, save for JusticeClarenceThomas, whodoesnotaskquestionsat oral arguments.


barnesb@washpost.com


A3


Visual Communications Director Richard Chatfield Graduate of ITT Technical Institute in Oxnard, California


There was a time when a high school diploma was all you needed to reach the middle class. Now, people like Richard Chatfield are turning to private sector colleges and universities to get the skills they need to succeed – while leading companies are turning to them to find qualified employees.


So when Washington, DC proposes policies to make it harder for working people like Richard to go back to school and get ahead, tell Congress, “It’s my education. My job. My choice.”


My education. My job. My choice. Visit myeducationchoice.org and sign the petition.


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