Nation in brief

U.S. proposes to make border more friendly to Mexicans

Millions of Mexican citizens who make brief visits to the United States are likely to be exempted from requirements that they be fingerprinted and photographed, the Homeland Security Department said Thursday.

The plan, which applies to 6.8-million holders of a special U.S. border crossing card, was viewed as a gesture to Mexican President Vicente Fox on the eve of his visit to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Mexico has complained that requiring its citizens to submit to the fingerprinting program, known as US-VISIT, would be discriminatory. Canadian visitors are not required to undergo similar checks.

Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security undersecretary responsible for the border, told the House Government Reform Committee that the changes were under consideration and that final details had not been worked out.

In prepared testimony that was circulated to Congress but not delivered at the hearing, Hutchinson described the plan as ready to take effect. Aides said he withdrew the testimony because some technical issues remained unresolved.

Some lawmakers have urged the department to broaden privileges for visitors from Mexico.

Homeland Security officials said that under the plan, holders of border crossing cards would not have to undergo fingerprinting if they intended to stay no more than 72 hours and to travel within 25 miles of the border. Known as "laser visas," the cards are popular with Mexicans who cross frequently to shop, visit family or work in the United States.

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. - A judge approved a plan Thursday to grant custody to the biological mother of a 6-year-old girl who was allegedly snatched from her crib as a newborn.

"I'm going to have her pronto - very, very soon," said Luz Cuevas, the mother of Delimar Vera.

Her lawyer, Andrew Micklin, said the custody transfer will be gradual before the girl lives permanently with her mother.

The little girl's case was thrown into the national spotlight Monday, when authorities in Philadelphia announced they were charging the only mother the girl has ever known - Carolyn Correa - with kidnapping, arson and 13 other crimes.

Police said Correa took the 10-day-old baby from her crib in December 1997 and then set fire to the home to cover her tracks. The infant was thought to have been consumed in the flames.

Six years passed before Correa, the little girl and Cuevas all wound up at the same birthday party, where Cuevas said she had a hunch Aliyah Hernandez was really her own daughter.

MINNEAPOLIS - Twin Cities bus drivers went on strike Thursday, forcing up to 75,000 riders to telecommute, carpool or work staggered shifts.

City officials claimed credit for averting problems by using nonunion buses and encouraging commuters ahead of time to find other ways to get to work.

"Things could not have worked out more smoothly than that," said Peter Bell, chairman of the Metropolitan Council, after a problem-free morning rush hour.

The system shut down when drivers hit the picket lines about 2 a.m. Talks between the drivers union and city transit officials broke down two hours earlier, mainly over health insurance. No new talks were scheduled.

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to prevent federal contractors from using taxpayer dollars to move American jobs offshore.

"You may be able to do that with your own money. The question is, should you be able to do that with the taxpayers' money?" said Sen. Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who proposed to ban outsourcing in federal contracts.

Numerous Republicans criticized the idea as a step away from friendly world trade, and they warned that the ban might result in a backlash. The Senate passed it 70-26.

Opponents demanded and won a change that prevents the policy from taking effect until the Commerce Department proves the ban wouldn't hurt the economy or lead to more job losses. It also makes an exception for defense, homeland security and intelligence contracts deemed necessary for national security.

BOSTON - The highest court in Massachusetts met Thursday to consider a child-support case involving a lesbian couple and their 3-year-old son.

The dispute turns on whether one woman must make support payments to the other, even though the couple broke up three months before the child - conceived through artificial insemination - was born.

The case of the two women, identified only by their initials T.F. and B.L., is the latest installment in the rancorous effort in Massachusetts to establish legal guidelines for same-sex families.

BOSTON - A district attorney in Springfield, Mass., said Thursday he would present a grand jury with accusations that Bishop Thomas L. Dupre of Springfield abused two boys when he was a parish priest.

An indictment by the grand jury would make Dupre the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States to be criminally charged with sexually abusing children, according to advocates for people who have been abused by priests.

At least four bishops have been forced to resign over sex abuse accusations since the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted two years ago. And at least two grand juries have investigated whether bishops should be held criminally liable for failing to respond to abuse complaints. But no American bishop has faced a criminal charge that he himself was abusive, said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

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