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Nation in brief

Lawyer: Kevorkian's life at risk

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 21, 2006

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - An attorney for Jack Kevorkian said the assisted-suicide advocate will probably not survive another year if kept in prison, as he again asked the state to grant his client a pardon or commute his sentence.

Lawyer Mayer Morganroth said he applied to the state Parole Board and Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Friday seeking a pardon, parole or commutation, citing the 77-year-old's deteriorating health.

"Kevorkian has become increasingly frail and has fallen twice, injuring his wrist and fracturing two ribs," Morganroth said in a statement.

His blood pressure has gone "through the roof," the lawyer said Saturday.

The former doctor is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder for giving a fatal injection of drugs in 1998. He is eligible for parole in 2007.

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, Granholm followed the parole board's advice in denying applications for a commuted sentence or a pardon.

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has promised that he will not assist in another if released.

New Yorkers skip donation on tax return for 9/11 fund

NEW YORK - Fewer than 15,000 of the millions of New Yorkers who filed tax returns this year checked off a box to make a donation to the World Trade Center Memorial fund, state officials said.

The program raised $150,085, according to the Department of Taxation and Finance.

"We are slightly disappointed by the results," WTC Memorial Foundation president Gretchen Dykstra told the New York Daily News for a story in Saturday editions.

Voluntary tax donations are only one way the foundation is raising money to build the World Trade Center memorial, a Sept. 11 museum and two other cultural buildings at ground zero.

In its first year, the nonprofit foundation has raised $130-million from private donors and $300-million was committed by government agencies. It is unclear whether that is enough.

Reach out to the world, first lady tells graduates

BRISTOL, R.I. - This year's college graduates are faced with problems that lie beyond the nation's borders, because disasters elsewhere can't be ignored in a world so interconnected, first lady Laura Bush said Saturday.

"You can't neglect millions of people around the world living under tyranny," Bush said, mentioning the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, during her address to 900 graduates of Roger Williams University. She also pointed to the challenges posed by the tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Civil War-era fort will go to the highest Internet bidder

ROUSES POINT, N.Y. - A Civil War-era fort is for sale on eBay.

Fort Montgomery, built in 1844, was manned during the war but never saw any action. "This is the first time it's been formally for sale," said Victor Podd of Boca Raton, whose family has owned the fort for 23 years.

The limestone fort sits on a Lake Champlain island in northern New York and is connected to the mainland by a 700-foot causeway. The full package offered on the auction Web site includes 6,900 feet of lake frontage and 279 acres on the mainland.

As of Saturday, the top bid for the property was $1-million. The online auction ends June 5.

[Last modified May 21, 2006, 07:46:27]