The Nation in Brief

N.D. seeks drop of marriage suit

BISMARCK, N.D. — State officials are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging North Dakota’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, despite a wave of court decisions striking down bans in other states.

The state attorney general’s office filed the motion late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo. North Dakota Solicitor General Doug Bahr argues in court documents that states have the right to define and regulate marriage.

North Dakota voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage 10 years ago. The ballot initiative received 73 percent approval.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem on Wednesday said his office is duty bound to defend the ban, despite what appears to be a growing national tide in support of gay marriage.

The complaint, filed last month by Minneapolis attorney Josh Newville on behalf of seven couples, seeks a declaration that the ban is unconstitutional and asks that the state be forced to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize gay marriages from other states.

Atmosphere-study craft enters orbit

NASA’s new spacecraft to track carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere reached orbit Wednesday after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch of the $468 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission had to be put off when Tuesday’s launching attempt was halted with just 46 seconds left in the countdown. Technicians spent the day replacing a defective valve in the system that sprays water beneath the rocket during liftoff.

The Delta 2 rocket carrying the satellite lifted off at 4:56 a.m. Central time Wednesday and rose to 429 miles above earth. The success comes five years after the loss of the mission’s original satellite whose clamshell nose cone failed to separate, and the spacecraft splashed into the ocean off Antarctica. At the end of 2009, the Obama administration gave the go-ahead to build a replacement.

Over the next 10 days, flight controllers will check out the spacecraft and will then nudge it over three weeks into its final destination, 438 miles up in an orbit passing over the North and South Poles, where it will take its position at the front of a parade of other earth-observing spacecraft. The mission is to last at least two years.

The observatory carries a single instrument, which will measure carbon dioxide levels by looking at the intensity of colors of sunlight bouncing off the earth (carbon dioxide absorbs certain colors, but not others).

Another at VA exits over furor on care

WASHINGTON — The chief medical inspector for the Department of Veterans Affairs has retired, after a report that his office downplayed whistleblower complaints outlining serious problems at VA facilities across the country, acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said Wednesday.

Dr. John Pierce had served as medical inspector since 2004 and was deputy medical inspector for two years before that.

Pierce’s office came under scrutiny last week, after the independent Office of Special Counsel issued a report that identified “a troubling pattern of deficient patient care” at VA facilities around the country.

Pierce is one of a half-dozen high-ranking officials who have resigned or retired from the VA after a national outcry over reports of patient deaths, widespread treatment delays and falsified records at VA facilities nationwide. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned in late May.

Upcoming Events