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Clergy abuse settlement too small, alleged victims say

BOSTON - Alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse challenged the Archdiocese of Boston to improve the $55-million offer it extended to 542 abuse victims last week, calling it inadequate in helping to mend shattered lives.

At a Sunday press conference outside the archdiocese's chancery grounds, members of several victims' groups said the settlement must not fall short because it will be a model for other large-scale abuse cases around the nation.

"It makes my life very cheap," said Phil Cogswell, 47, of Concord, a plaintiff who says he was abused by former priest John Geoghan. "It makes me feel very worthless."

If the settlement is approved, it would be the largest deal to settle allegations of clergy abuse since the scandal broke in early 2002.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - About 300 protesters marched on the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant Sunday, waving banners and carrying ashes to symbolize the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The Y-12 plant made uranium for the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. The protest marked that anniversary and Y-12's continuing role in making parts for every nuclear warhead in the U.S. arsenal.

Also Sunday, about 1,000 people rallied outside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 35 miles east of San Francisco, to protest the Bush administration's move to develop nuclear weapons.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESIGNATION: Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson will step down in a few weeks, the Associated Press reports, citing an anonymous Justice Department source. Thompson, 58, is the latest in a string of senior Justice Department officials to leave.

WEST NILE DEATH: A fifth person has died from the West Nile virus in Colorado, the state hardest hit by the disease this year. The 67-year-old Boulder woman died Tuesday, six days after the onset of symptoms, Boulder County Public Health officials said Sunday.