The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY “This is more than a website problem.The website should have been the easy part. I’m also concerned about what happens next.

Will enrollment glitches become provider payment glitches? Will patients show up at

their doctor’s office or hospital only to be told that they aren’t covered, or even in the system?” Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., on problems plaguing the federal insurance exchange central to President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul Article, 1AKennedy cousin files for prison release

HARTFORD, Conn. - Lawyers for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel filed a motion Thursday seeking his release from prison on bond while he awaits a new trial in the 1975 slaying of neighbor Martha Moxley.

Skakel’s conviction was set aside Wednesday by Connecticut Judge Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel’s trial attorney, Michael Sherman, failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002 in the golf club bludgeoning of Moxley when they were 15 in wealthy Greenwich.

Skakel’s current attorney, Hubert Santos, filed a motion Thursday afternoon in Rockville Superior Court seeking a $500,000 bail. If a judge approves it, Skakel could then post bond and be released from prison.

Bridgeport State’s Attorney John Smriga said prosecutors will appeal both the decision and the request for bail.

He said they remain confident in the jury’ sverdict.

During a state trial in April on the appeal, Skakel took the stand and blasted Sherman’s handling of the case, portraying him as an overly confident lawyer having fun and basking in the limelight while making fundamental mistakes from poor jury picks to failing to track down key witnesses.

Sherman has said he did all he could to prevent Skakel’s conviction and denied he was distracted by media attention in the high-profile case.

Oswald wedding ring sells for $118,000

DALLAS - Lee Harvey Oswald’s gold wedding band sold Thursday at auction for $118,000.

RR Auction said the ring sold to a buyer from Texas who wished to remain anonymous. The ring that once belonged to the assassin of President John F. Kennedy was among almost 300 items linked to Kennedy’s life and death that went up for auction Thursday in Boston.

Nov. 22 is the 50th anniversary of the 1963 assassination of Kennedy in downtown Dallas.

Oswald left the ring in a cup on the dresser on the morning of the assassination. After being turned over to the Secret Service, it spent decades in the files of a Fort Worth lawyer before being returned to Oswald’s widow. She agreed to put it up for auction.

Stricter Alabama abortion rules urged

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - State health officials looking to tighten rules for doctors performing abortions in Alabama should impose even stricter regulations than ones now being considered, abortion opponents told the agency Thursday.

While an abortion-rights supporter spoke against the proposed rule, others attending a public hearing at the Alabama Department of Public Health said strict regulations are needed to govern the medical procedure for the safety of women.

Current state rules define an abortion clinic as any facility that performs 30 or more abortions during any two months in a year. The designation is important because clinics must follow tighter rules than physician offices.

The new rule, proposed after the state’s attempt to shut down what regulators said was an illegal abortion clinic in Birmingham, would define a clinic as any doctor’s office that performs 10 or more abortions in any month or 100 or more during a year.

Jeanne Paxson, describing herself as an anti-abortion activist from Birmingham, said the stricter rule would be an improvement but still isn’t enough.

“I would like them to reduce it to one” abortion a month before regulation kicks in, she said.

But abortion rights backer Libby Rich called opponents “sanctimonious” and unconcerned about the health of women.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/25/2013

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