Jindal travels to New Mexico to rally for gubernatorial candidate
Add New Mexico to the list of states where Gov. Bobby Jindal has lent a hand to Republican candidates this election cycle.Jindal’s office says the governor traveled to New Mexico on Tuesday for a campaign rally for GOP gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez, as part of a Republican Governors Association tour of states with tough governor’s races. More stops on the tour are expected for Jindal this week.
Louisiana’s governor has been a frequent flier on the campaign circuit this fall.
He’s been stumping for GOP candidates and attending Republican fundraisers in Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, California, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Georgia. He also met with GOP governors in Ohio and New York.
Fayard raises more funds than Jay Dardenne in lt. governors race
Democrat Caroline Fayard outpaced Republican Jay Dardenne in fundraising for the lieutenant governor’s race in the latest campaign finance reports, but she’s also burned through cash faster than Dardenne.
Fayard reported bringing in $383,000 in contributions from Sept. 13 through Oct. 13.
Massive windstorm howls across Midwest, wind tops 81 mph
CHICAGO — A massive storm with wind gusts up to 81 mph howled across the nation’s midsection Tuesday, snapping trees and power lines, ripping off roofs, delaying flights and soaking commuters.
Spanning from the Dakotas to the eastern Great Lakes, the unusual system mesmerized meteorologists because of its size and because it had barometric pressure similar to a Category 3 hurricane but with much less destructive power.
Wisconsin paid $150K in prison sex case to avoid inmate lawsuit
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis — A Wisconsin prison guard allegedly coerced male inmates into letting him give them oral sex in exchange for bringing them contraband, and his superiors initially failed to stop the assaults despite warning signs, according to previously confidential records obtained by The Associated Press.
Now the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ handling of the three-year-old case involving Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution guard James Trentin is costing taxpayers money.
Ariz. goes overseas to buy lethal injection drug during shortage
FLORENCE, Ariz. — Facing a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, Arizona has taken an unusual step that other death penalty states may soon follow: get their supplies from another country. Such a move, experts say, raises questions about the effectiveness of the drug. It also may further complicate executions in the 35 states that allow them, as inmates challenge the use of drugs not approved by federal inspectors for use in the U.S.
Arizona said Tuesday that it got its sodium thiopental from Great Britain, the first time a state has acknowledged obtaining the drug from outside the United States since the shortage began slowing executions in the spring.
Iran acknowledges it funds Afghan government to aid reconstruction
TEHRAN, Iran  — Iran acknowledged Tuesday it has been sending funds to neighboring Afghanistan for years but said the money was intended to aid reconstruction and not to buy influence in the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai said Monday he receives millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding that Washington also gives him “bags of money” because his office lacks funds.
In Washington, President Barack Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, denied that. “We’re not in the big bags of cash business,” he said Tuesday.
Earlier, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said some of the U.S. aid to Afghanistan is in cash. U.S. officials asserted the money flowing from Tehran was proof that Iran is playing a double game in Afghanistan — wooing the government while helping Taliban insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO forces. Iran denies that.
“Iran has provided the country with plenty of help,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday in his weekly news briefing in Tehran. “Iran has helped construction of Afghanistan and the preparation of its economic infrastructure, and it will pursue it in the future too.”
Mehmanparast said Iran’s help began years ago. He said peace and stability in Afghanistan is important for Iran.
Aid workers try to contain cholera  epidemic as death toll passes 280
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Hundreds of new cholera cases are appearing in Haiti as aid workers move to contain the outbreak.
U.N. officials say 3,769 cases of the deadly diarrhea have been counted as of Tuesday. Twenty-five more people died bringing the total to 284. UN-OCHA spokeswoman Imogen Wall says the majority of cases occurred along the central Artibonite River with many new instances in Haiti’s central plateau.
That region borders the Dominican Republic, which announced that everyone crossing the border must wash hands and complete a medical form.
Dominican officials increased military surveillance and closed a twice-weekly binational market, sparking protests.
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