The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Today someone else has become the greatest living singer of traditional country

music, but there will never be another George Jones,”

Bobby Braddock, a Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter, on the death of 81-year-old country-music star George Jones Article, 2A

N.D. students place 100,000 sandbags

FARGO, N.D. - Hundreds of high-school students pitched in Friday to place 100,000 sandbags around Fargo to help protect homes against Red River flooding.

The familiar sandbag party, which kicked off what city officials call “tuck-it-in weekend,” began in 2009, when residents fought the first of three straight major floods. Students placed 700,000 sandbags in less than two days during the last flood in 2011.

The students sandbagged 134 homes throughout the city Friday and headed back to school after lunch was served by grateful residents such as Glenda Bro. About 40 students, mostly from Fargo North, laughed and sang as they tossed sandbags outside the home where Bro has lived for 32 years.

Bro said it was a relief to have the sandbagging help, which she called “organized and calm.” The singing helped.

“That’s kind of contagious,” Bro said. “Fear is contagious, and so is a happy spirit.”

The latest forecast calls for the Red River to reach a water level between 37 and 39 feet. Although the river begins to spill its banks at 18 feet, few structures are threatened until the water level goes above 38 feet, thanks primarily to increased flood-protection efforts in recent years.

Buffer for funeral protests is upheld

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a Missouri law banning protests within 300 feet of funerals but struck down a broader law that could have kept protesters even farther away.

The decision by a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stems from a challenge to a pair of 2006 Missouri laws enacted after protests of military members’ funerals by Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan.

The appeals court said one law barring protests “in front of or about any location at which a funeral is held” violates First Amendment free-speech rights because it creates a buffer zone of an undetermined size. It upheld a separate law setting the 300-foot protest buffer around funeral ceremonies and graveside memorial services, but the court said it cannot apply to funeral processions that wind their way through town.

Although it ruled the 300-foot buffer did not violate free-speech protections, the three-judge panel sent the case back to a trial judge to consider several other complaints against the law.

’11 French gifts to Obamas hit $41,000

WASHINGTON - New documents show that former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, showered President Barack Obama and his family with more than $41,000 worth of gifts in 2011.

The presents to the Obamas ranged from Hermes travel bags and crystal to soaps and perfumes, according to the State Department, which tracks gifts to U.S. officials from foreign leaders and publishes an annual accounting, often one or two years late because of processing. The latest was published Friday.

Most of the gifts are turned over to the National Archives.9/11 landing gear found at building site

NEW YORK - A 5-foot-long piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been discovered wedged between a mosque site and another building near the World Trade Center.

The part includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said Friday. The twisted, rusted metal part has cables and levers on it and is about 3 feet wide and 1.5 feet deep.

It was discovered Wednesday by surveyors inspecting the Lower Manhattan site of a planned Islamic community center on behalf of the building’s owner, police said. The inspectors called 911, and police secured the scene, documenting it with photos.

The spot where the landing gear was found is about three blocks from where two hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers in 2001, killing thousands of people.

The medical examiner’s office will complete a health and safety evaluation to determine whether to sift the soil around the buildings for possible human remains, police said.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 04/27/2013

Upcoming Events