Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Same-sex marriage ban fails

BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers defeated a ban on gay marriage Thursday, but quickly took up another compromise proposal that would establish civil unions while stripping couples of the right to full-fledged marriage.

It was the third proposal rejected by lawmakers since the start of the historic session Wednesday. The first two amendments would have allowed for civil unions, while the third was an outright ban.

The latest compromise is more blunt than the earlier proposals about establishing civil unions in Massachusetts, and legislative leaders were hopeful that this particular mix of words would bring the Statehouse spectacle to an end.

Although the amendment under consideration would make Massachusetts only the second state in the country to approve civil unions, gay-rights advocates fiercely condemned it, arguing it would revert gay people to second-class citizenship after a hard-won court victory. Vermont is the other state with civil unions.

Border authorities in Miami have seized the first cache ever of "counterfeit" roses, thousands of blooms from Colombia and Ecuador that were grown or distributed without paying royalties or other fees on brands with trademarks.

Customs said Thursday they've destroyed 79 boxes of the illegal flowers during the pre-Valentine's Day surge, each with 125 to 200 stems, or likely more than 10,000 roses since late January.

MESA, Ariz. - About 160 illegal immigrants were found crammed inside a house in a well-to-do Phoenix suburb, officials said. Several men believed to be immigrant smugglers were arrested during Wednesday's roundup. No charges were filed Thursday, officials said.

The immigrants from Mexico and Central America "were sitting shoulder to shoulder, back to back," said Russell L. Ahr, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration. "You could not see the carpet."

Authorities found the immigrants in a house along a golf course.