The nation in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Let’s be very clear: Having a pathway to earned legalization is an essential element. And I think that we are largely moving in that direction as an agreement.”

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., on a bipartisan plan for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration system Article, this page

Jet in battery fire a recent delivery

WASHINGTON - Federal investigators say the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that experienced a battery fire earlier this month was delivered to Japan Airlines less than three weeks before the fire.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday in an update of its investigation of the fire that the airliner was delivered on Dec. 20. It had recorded only 169 flight hours and 22 flights when the fire began in one of the airliner’s two lithium ion batteries on Jan. 7.

The fire occurred at Logan International Airport shortly after the plane landed. The safety board said the battery was manufactured by GS Yuasa of Japan in September 2012.

A second battery problem led to an emergency landing by another 787 in Japan on Jan. 16. The 787 fleet worldwide has since been grounded.

Oil spill feared on Mississippi River

VICKSBURG, Miss. - The Coast Guard says a barge that hit a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Miss., was carrying 80,000 gallons of light crude oil, but officials don’t know how much has spilled into the Mississippi River.

Lt. Ryan Gomez said an oily sheen was reported three miles downriver of the accident, which happened early Sunday. Gomez said booms were set out to absorb and contain the oil. The river has been closed for eight miles in each direction, halting at least five northbound and two southbound vessels.

Gomez said he doesn’t know how much oil has leaked. He said two barges were damaged, but it’s possible only one actually hit the bridge.

Petty Officer Carlos Vega said the bridge was found safe for trains.

Senator: Labor rulings in doubt

WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said hundreds of U.S. labor rulings may be invalid because of a court decision that found President Barack Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are unconstitutional.

Corker, interviewed on Fox News Sunday, said that in each case individuals may have to challenge the rulings. Corker, one of 42 Republican senators who challenged the president’s recess appointments in court, said rulings by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau may also be thrown out because its head, Richard Cordray, was appointed without Senate approval.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Friday sided with Republican lawmakers in a unanimous opinion, which held that Obama’s recess appointments to the labor board last year, made after Republicans refused to consider his nominees, were “constitutionally invalid” because the Senate wasn’t in recess at the time.

Corker, who said the decision will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, called the ruling “very far reaching” and said it knocks down decades of action by presidents.

The White House said the ruling won’t affect Cordray and is restricted to the company at issue. Republicans, meanwhile, have demanded the labor board appointees quit immediately.

The case is Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board, 12-1115, 12-1153, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington).

Front Section, Pages 3 on 01/28/2013

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