Sacramento News:

Sacramento - California

Sacramento - California

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"• an economic meltdown of historic proportions"
"• a car industry crashing, because of a lack of innovation and growth"
"• oil dependence transferring our wealth abroad"
"• an extended military presence in the Middle East"
"• and climate change, which threatens the health of our planet"

US Immigrant - Women - Children - Politics - Sacramento - California - US - Mexico - "Abused immigrant spouses may face deportation: U.S. [United States] rethinks its policy of letting them remain here in certain cases." ... "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is re-examining a longtime policy [Violence Against Women Act visas] to let immigrant spouses remain here when their abusive U.S. citizen or permanent-resident spouses refuse to help them obtain legal status." ... "Ana Bertha Arellano, who runs her own Sacramento [California's capital] restaurant and cleans offices all night as a janitor, fears a change in that policy would destroy the safe life she's been struggling to build for herself and her children." ... "Without that protection, Arellano could end up deported by the same U.S. officials who agreed to shelter her from abuse six years ago and legally stay here on a special provisional visa." ... ""I have my own health insurance. I don't take any aid for anything. I don't want anything else but a chance to have some stability for my family," said Arellano, 37, one of the thousands of immigrants, many mothers of U.S.-born children, who could be affected if the policy shifts." ... "Arellano's story, like many, begins with marriage to a husband she loved and with whom she had two children, both born here. But her husband, a permanent resident of the United States, never filed papers to sponsor her for permanent residency, she said." ... "After they were married, she said he told her to cross the border from Mexico illegally in 1997, saying he would submit their application once she got here." ... "Instead, she said, he used her undocumented status to prevent her from complaining about his subsequent beatings and verbal taunts." ... "Beth Hassett, executive director of Women Escaping a Violent Environment, which counsels battered women in Sacramento County, predicted that a hard-line policy will cause immigrant women to remain in violent relationships if coming forward leaves them vulnerable to deportation." (1, 2) -By Susan Ferriss -SacBee.com 

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CA - Sacramento - Religion - "Pledge Unconstitutional at Public Schools, Judge Says (Update2)." ... "A federal judge in California said the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional, in a ruling that will rekindle a debate over the use of the phrase ``under God.''" ... "Judge Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento, California, today said that a school district's policy requiring the pledge with the phrase ``under God'' is unconstitutional. The case was brought by Michael Newdow, an atheist who had previously sued to challenge the use of the phrase." ... "The case is Newdow v. Congress of the United States of America, No. S-05-17, in U.S. District Court in Sacramento." -By Joel Rosenblatt -Bloomberg 

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CA - Sacramento - Gay -  - "A day after Assembly's OK, Schwarzenegger pledges to kill same-sex marriage bill." ... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, under growing pressure from his conservative supporters, promised Wednesday to veto the gay-marriage bill passed less than a day earlier by the Democrat-led Legislature." ... "While Schwarzenegger had hinted he would veto the bill, Wednesday's abrupt early evening announcement came as a surprise. "I'm not going to talk about that at all today,'' the governor said when he was asked about a possible veto at a morning meeting with Salvation Army volunteers in Sacramento." ... "At the same Sacramento stop, [Governor Schwarzenegger's press secretary Margita] Thompson told reporters there was no hurry to make a decision on the bill. It would be handled the same as any other bill sent to the governor, she added." -By John Wildermuth and Lynda Gledhill -SFGate.com 

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CA - Sacramento - Gay -  - "Same-Sex Marriage Approved In California ... For Now: Governor Schwarzenegger may veto the bill." ... "A week after the State Senate voted in favor of a same-sex marriage bill, the State Assembly approved the measure on Tuesday, making California the first state in the nation to pass a bill allowing gay marriage." ... "Though gay-rights supporters were loudly celebrating the victory in the gallery of the Assembly house in Sacramento, the party could be a brief one." ... "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger —  who has said he accepts the idea of gay marriage —  could veto the bill, according to The Associated Press, because of his belief that it is an issue that voters or the state courts should decide." -By Gil Kaufman -MTV.com/News 

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-  - CA - Sacramento -  -  -  - Religion - "Four indicted in alleged terrorist plot against LA-area targets." ... "The head of a militant Islamic prison gang and three others were indicted Wednesday on federal charges of planning terrorist attacks against National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and other Los Angeles-area targets." ... "Prosecutors contend the plot was orchestrated by [Levar Haley] Washington, [Gregory Vernon] Patterson and [Hammad Riaz] Samana at the behest of [Kevin] James, a California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS. Washington converted to Islam while serving three years in the prison for a previous robbery conviction." -By Jeremiah Marquez -AP via -MercuryNews

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-  -  -  -  - "California Father and Son Face Charges in Terrorism Case." ... "An American man of Pakistani descent has been arrested along with his father, a naturalized American citizen, as part of an investigation by federal law enforcement officials into possible terrorist connections with Al Qaeda." ... "According to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in Federal District Court in Sacramento, about 40 miles north of this agricultural town, Hamid Hayat, 22, told investigators last weekend that he had been trained "on how to kill Americans" at a camp in Pakistan affiliated with Al Qaeda. The affidavit said that during Mr. Hayat's weapons training, "photos of various high-ranking United States political figures, including President Bush, would be pasted on their targets."" ... "Mr. Hayat, who was born in California, returned to the United States on May 29 after spending more than two years in Pakistan." ... "The affidavit said Mr. Hayat's father, Umer Hayat, 47, who drives an ice cream truck in Lodi, provided financial support for his son's training." ... "They have been charged with lying to federal investigators about the training camp and are scheduled to appear in court on June 21, said Johnny L. Griffin III, a lawyer for the father." -By Dean E. Murphy and David Johnston with contributions by Carolyn Marshall -NYTimes 

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- Sacramento - Autos - "Lemon Lawsuits:  Litigation over bad cars, including class actions, is on the rise across the U.S.." ... "Rosemary Shahan, founder and president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a Sacramento, Calif.-based group working to improve lemon laws, says the Fresno case is "the largest verdict she had heard of for lemon laundering" -- the general term used in the industry to describe the practice of hiding the background of vehicles with major problems. She says that even if the award is knocked down on appeal, it "gets the manufacturers' attention."" -By Alan Fisk -Law.com 

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