National News for September 15 - September 29

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from The Washington Post. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

Washington, D.C.
Sept. 19- The Senate rejected a bill that would allow longer home leaves for U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The proposal, which needed 60 votes for passage, only received 56. A similar bill also failed in June.

Sept. 21- The Senate voted against a timetable to bring home most U.S. troops from Iraq in nine months. The vote failed, receiving only 47 of the necessary 60 votes. The outcome is viewed as another legislative defeat for the Senate's Democrats.

Detroit, MI
Sept. 24- The United Auto Workers union called for a nationwide strike, prompting General Motors' employees to walk off the job. The UAW and GM engaged in negotiations over a three-year contract but after 10 days the strike began. The UAW was striking to secure safe working conditions for all members; a tentative agreement was reached after two days.

Las Vegas, NV
Sept. 25- Engineers discovered that the Bow Ridge fault line runs beneath the original site for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. The Energy Department reports that they made necessary adjustments to the plan in June.

Florida
Sept 24- The Florida Democratic Party announced that they will hold their presidential primary on Jan. 29 even though this risks having their delegates excluded from the 2008 national convention by the Democratic National Committee. The DNC wants the primary to be held on or after Feb. 5. Florida's Democratic Party Chairwoman, Karen Thurman, said that the reason for the change is to make sure that the country is paying attention to the outcome of the Florida primary, thus giving them more influence in the national primaries.

Nashville, TN
Sept. 19- A federal court ruled that Tennessee's lethal injection program is cruel and unusual because it "presents a substantial risk of unnecessary pain," according to the ruling judge, Aleta Trauger. The verdict came a week before Edward Jerome Harbison was scheduled to be executed. Now Harbison can only be executed after Tennessee develops a more humane form of capital punishment.

Dover, DE
Sept. 25- A Delaware State University freshman was arrested in his dorm for his involvement in the Sept. 21 shooting and charged with attempted first-degree murder. Two Delaware State University freshmen from Washington, D.C. were injured in the shooting.

New York, NY
Sept. 24- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran visited Columbia University in an effort to articulate to the American public his beliefs on a series of political issues. Columbia President, Lee Bollinger, greeted Ahmadinejad in a hostile way, suggesting that he is a "petty and cruel dictator."