The nation in brief

Saturday, March 15, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s our obligation as the city of New York - and I know all New Yorkers feel this way - to stand by them.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said the city would find temporary or long-term housing for about 50 displaced families after a gas explosion that destroyed two buildings Article, this page

Tennessee told to recognize 3 gay unions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A federal judge Friday said that Tennessee must recognize the marriages of three same sex couples while their lawsuit against the state works its way through the court system.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger issued a preliminary injunction barring Tennessee from enforcing state laws that prohibit recognition of their marriages. Trauger, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, said in a written memorandum that her order is only preliminary and would apply only to the three couples.

The three same-sex couples were legally married in other states. They filed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s laws that prohibit recognition of their marriages. In Tennessee, marriage between partners of the same gender is prohibited by state law and by a constitutional amendment approved in 2006.

U.S. re-indicts Indian diplomat on fraud

NEW YORK - An Indian diplomat was re-indicted Friday on U.S. visa-fraud charges that touched off an international stir after she was arrested and strip-searched last year.

The new indictment, filed Friday, essentially reinstates recently dismissed charges against the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, who has left the country.

A judge threw out last year’s virtually identical indictment Wednesday on diplomatic immunity grounds, but the ruling left a door open to reviving the case, and federal prosecutors quickly suggested they would. The indictment accuses Khobragade of lying to the U.S. government to get her housekeeper a work visa.

Khobragade’s lawyer, Daniel Arshack, had no immediate comment Friday. He said Wednesday that re-indicting his client “might be viewed as an aggressive act and one that [prosecutors] would be ill-advised to pursue.”

Khobragade is back in India. There was no immediate response to messages left at India’s embassy in Washington and consulate in New York.

It’s unclear when, if ever, she might appear in court in New York again. It’s unlikely she would ever be forced to appear through extradition.

9 from Texas music fest still hospitalized

Nine people remained hospitalized Friday, including two in critical condition and one in serious condition, after police said a drunken man drove into a crowd at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, leaving two dead.

Officials with University Medical Center Brackenridge told the Los Angeles Times that two people were discharged Thursday after being injured when Rashad Charjuan Owens, 21, purportedly tried to flee a DUI checkpoint and hit a bicyclist and two people on a moped, then barreled into a crowd on a sidewalk.

Three other people were listed in good or fair condition at Brackenridge. Three other victims were recovering at St.

David’s HealthCare facilities and were listed in fair condition, hospital officials there said.

Owens, meanwhile, was being held in the Travis County jail without bail on suspicion of killing two people and injuring 23 others. Owens’ court date was not immediately available. Owens has a previous conviction for a DUI in Fairbanks, Alaska, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Obama to sign bill on flood insurance

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is set to sign into law a bipartisan bill relieving homeowners living in flood-prone neighborhoods from big increases in their insurance bills.

The legislation, which cleared Congress on Thursday, reverses much of a 2012 overhaul of the government’s much-criticized flood insurance program after angry homeowners facing sharp premium increases protested.

The Senate’s 72-22 vote sent the House-drafted measure to Obama. White House officials said he’ll sign it.

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas voted for the bill; Republican Sen. John Boozman voted against it.

The measure would scale back big flood insurance premium increases faced by hundreds of thousands of homeowners. The measure also would allow below-market insurance rates to be passed on to people buying homes in flood zones with taxpayer-subsidized policies.

Critics say Washington is caving to political pressure to undo one of the few recent overhauls it has managed to pass.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/15/2014