The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This is sheer, basic, low-level politics

at its best. I don’t think that’s going to create a single job.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,

as House Republicans prepared to vote this week on holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress Article, 1A

Virginia university reinstates chief

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The University of Virginia trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to reinstate the president they had forced to resign over concerns that the university was not adapting fast enough to financial and technological pressures.

The reversal by the governing Board of Visitors came 16 days after the ouster of President Teresa Sullivan, 62, was made public.

After trustees suddenly forced out a popular leader after only two years and with little explanation, students, faculty, administrators and alumni united in her defense, demanding that the board reverse itself. They held protests that at times drew thousands of people to a campus where most students have gone home for the summer.

Even the interim president selected by the Board of Visitors said he disagreed with Sullivan’s removal, and later said he would not fill his new role as long as there was a chance she might be reinstated.

Gov. Bob McDonnell was also drawn into the fray, first criticizing the board’s secrecy and then, Friday, demanding that it resolve the matter one way or another, or he would ask all of its members to resign.

Pentagon salutes ‘Gay Pride Month’

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon recognized “Gay Pride Month” for the first time Tuesday, recognizing the contributions of its homosexual troops.

Hundreds of gay service members and their supporters overflowed a Pentagon auditorium that seats 350 people for a ceremony marking a milestone in U.S. military culture.

“In my lifetime, I never thought this would happen,” said Angela Shrader, a captain in the Army Nurse Corps who sat with her arm around her female partner of 20 years.

The Pentagon ended in September its 18-year “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that had barred homosexual service members from revealing their sexual orientation.

Repeal of the policy, approved by Congress in December 2010, cleared the way for the hour-long ceremony held to honor “openly gay service members who defend our country with honor and integrity,” as President Barack Obama said in a videotaped message played at the event.

Trains’ wreckage yields remains of 3

OKLAHOMA CITY - The remains of three Union Pacific crew members killed when two trains crashed in a fiery head-on collision in the Oklahoma Panhandle have been recovered, the state’s medical examiner’s office said Tuesday.

The “very badly burned” remains have been sent to the medical examiner’s office in Oklahoma City, spokesman Amy Elliott said.

The Union Pacific trains slammed into each other just east of Goodwell on Sunday morning, triggering a diesel-fueled fireball that appeared to weld the locomotives together.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said it appears signals were working properly at the time of the wreck, and that one of two trains passing through the flat landscape should have pulled onto a sidetrack.

The United Transportation Union identified those aboard the trains as conductor Brian L. Stone, 50, of Dalhart, Texas; and engineers Dan Hall and John Hall. The Halls were not related. Conductor Juan Zurita managed to jump free before the crash and suffered only cuts and bruises.

California city’s debt talks flounder

STOCKTON, Calif. - Officials in Stockton said Tuesday that mediation with creditors has failed, meaning the city is set to become the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy.

City Manager Bob Deis said officials couldn’t reach a deal to restructure hundreds of millions of dollars of debt under a new state law designed to help municipalities avoid bankruptcy.

Monday marked the three-month deadline for negotiations.

“Unfortunately we have no comprehensive set of agreements with our creditors that would eliminate the deficit and avoid insolvency,” Deis said at a City Council meeting.

He said, however, that the city was still negotiating with some creditors and could reach deals with as many as onethird of them.

“We think Chapter 9 protection is the only choice left,” Deis said.

City lawyers could file for Chapter 9 protection in court as soon as today.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 06/27/2012

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