National Roundup

Florida
Secret Service agent leaves gun on Romney plane
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Secret Service agent left a gun in the bathroom of a plane carrying Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

A reporter discovered the gun while the plane was flying from Florida to Indiana on Wednesday. It was quickly retrieved by a Secret Service agent. The weapon belonged to an agent assigned to Romney's security detail.

In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan says the agency is aware of the incident and that the matter will be handled internally. He would not discuss who left the gun or how it was misplaced.

The agent involved was not on the afternoon flight to Tampa, Fla., the site of the Republican National Convention. Romney is scheduled to accept the presidential nomination on Thursday.

California
Lawmaker says she’ll fix bill after Israel flap
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A state lawmaker on Wednesday promised to introduce a fix to an Assembly resolution that stirred controversy a day earlier because it urged California colleges and universities to crack down on demonstrations against Israel.

Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal said she would work on a resolution that affirms free speech rights on campus when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
"I'm not sure what all it's going to say, but I think it will boil down to a celebration of the First Amendment," the Long Beach Democrat said in a statement. "And it will make clear in no uncertain terms that students in our universities should feel safe to have differing opinions."

Lowenthal and 66 of the Assembly's 80 lawmakers provoked a storm of criticism after they approved a resolution Tuesday that condemned anti-Semitism but also asked administrators at California's public colleges and universities to combat anti-Israel actions.

Republican Assemblywoman Linda Halderman did not mention Israel when she introduced House Resolution 35, which is symbolic and does not carry policy implications.
Most of the instances of anti-Semitism the resolution cited were related to the Israel-Palestine debate on college campuses. Among other things, it condemned the campaign to pressure the University of California system to divest from Israel and the suggestion by some students that Israel is a "racist" state.

Free-speech advocates and Muslim groups took umbrage because the resolution appeared to label criticism and protest of Israel as anti-Jewish hate speech.

California
Police: 100-year-old driver hits 11 near LA school
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The screams of women and children didn't cause a 100-year-old driver to stop as he backed his large powder blue Cadillac onto a sidewalk across from an elementary school and hit 11 people, including nine children.

So people began pounding on his windows screaming for him to stop, a witness said.

Four of the children were in critical condition when firefighters arrived but they were stabilized and were in serious condition at a hospital, city fire Capt. Jaime Moore said. Everyone was expected to survive, he said.

Police said the driver, Preston Carter, was being very cooperative and drugs or alcohol were not a factor in the crash.

Carter talked to television reporters after the crash some five miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. He said he has a driver's license and will be 101 years old Sept. 5.
"My brakes failed. It was out of control," Carter told reporters.

Asked about hitting the children, Preston said: "You know I'm sorry about that. I wouldn't do that for nothing on earth. My sympathies for them."

Nevada
Top newsroom jobs eliminated at Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Review-Journal is eliminating its managing editor, city editor and sports editor positions in a reorganization that will leave two deputy editors overseeing the newsroom, the newspaper announced Wednesday.

The paper's art director, features editor, editorial page editor and business editor positions will also be abolished, according to a story posted on the Review-Journal's website Wednesday night.

Current business editor James G. Wright has been promoted to deputy editor for metro and business, while assistant city editor Mark Whittington has been named deputy editor for sports and features, Hengel said.

Hengel said the reorganization will allow the Review-Journal to focus on generating content. He said the paper is in the process of filling four reporting vacancies to add to its newsroom of about 120 journalists.

Texas
Will dispute stops burial of actor Sherman Hemsley
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The embalmed body of actor Sherman Hemsley, who became famous for his role as television's George Jefferson, will be kept in refrigeration at an El Paso funeral home until a local court rules on the validity of his will.

In the will Hemsley signed six weeks before dying of lung cancer July 24 he named Flora Enchinton, 56, whom he called a "beloved partner," as sole beneficiary of his estate, which is estimated in court documents to be more than $50,000.

The will is being contested by Richard Thornton, of Philadelphia, who claims to be Hemsley's brother and says the will might not have been made by the actor.
There is no date set for the case to be heard, court officials said. Enchinton said she hopes it will all be cleared in court.

The Philadelphia-born Hemsley played Jefferson in the CBS sitcom "All in the Family," then starred in the spinoff "The Jeffersons" from 1975 to 1985. It was one of TV's longest-running and most successful sitcoms, particularly noteworthy for its predominantly black cast.

Connecticut
1 dead in New Milford house propane blast
NEW MILFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut police say a man trying to help a friend repair a propane leak was killed when the house exploded, leaving only a chimney standing.

The Danbury News-Times reported that the homeowner was injured in the blast that leveled the Cape-style farmhouse about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Police spokesman Lt. Larry Ash said the man and a child suffered lacerations and burns. They were taken to hospitals.

Rescuers found no one else at the New Milford home.

Ash said onlookers were being kept away because asbestos particles might have blown into the air.

Eric Bailey, who lives nearby, told the newspaper he and his family were sitting down to dinner when they felt the explosion. He said he thought a plane or a car had run into their house.