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Politics

Bill designed to break logjams on passports

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 17, 2007

WASHINGTON - Help may be on the way to deal with the backlog of unprocessed passport requests. Legislation passed Monday by the House would make it easier for the State Department to rehire retired personnel to pitch in. A sharp increase in applications followed the January implementation of a law, enacted in 2004, requiring those returning by air from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda to present a passport.

A sweet find: a smelly orchid

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists announced Monday the discovery of a rare - and malodorous - orchid species that flourishes only in the wet meadows of Yosemite National Park. Botanist Alison Colwell said the species' tennis-ball yellow flowers weren't what first led her to it, but rather the smell of sweaty feet that the Yosemite bog-orchid emits to attract pollinators. "It smelled like a horse corral on a hot afternoon," she said.

College staff faces cheating charges

NEW YORK - Teachers, students and administrators at the private Touro College tampered with a computer system to change grades and create fake degrees for money, prosecutors charged Monday. Among the fake degrees given were those for physicians' assistants, they said. The 10 defendants created or altered records for at least 50 people since January, charging fees of $3,000 to $25,000 for better or deleted grades and for bachelor's and master's degrees, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.

Jobs lost to rape scandal

YPSILANTI, MICH - Three Eastern Michigan University administrators, including the president, have been forced out, months after top school officials were accused of covering up the rape and slaying of a student by publicly ruling out foul play. President John Fallon was fired, and vice president of student affairs Jim Vick and public safety director Cindy Hall lost their jobs at the 23,500-student public university, the chairman of the school's governing board said Monday. The body of the slain student, Laura Dickinson, 22, was discovered Dec. 15 in her dorm room. At the time, university officials told her parents and the media that she died of asphyxiation but that there was no sign of foul play, despite evidence to the contrary.

Elsewhere

No hookers: Sen. David Vitter on Monday denied having relationships with New Orleans prostitutes, a week after admitting links to a Washington escort service that prosecutors allege was a prostitution ring.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 07:00:06]