Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

Reality show hopes to recruit nurses

LOS ANGELES — An Internet-based reality show about nurses made its debut yesterday in a bid to improve the image of the profession and attract more nurses to California.

The show, “13 Weeks,” started Webcasts on www.nursetv.com. It follows six nurses recruited from across the nation as they live in a rented $10 million mansion, go surfing and skydiving in their spare time and work in hospitals in Orange County.

The show was the brainchild of San Diego-based recruiting agency Access Nurses as part of efforts to resolve a desperate shortage of nurses as California gears up to implement a law that mandates one nurse for every five patients in most hospital wards.

INDIANA

Court upholds abortion law

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday upheld a law that requires women seeking abortions to get counseling about medical risks and alternatives and to wait at least 18 hours after the session before having the procedure.

The court ruled 4-1 that opponents of the law could not pursue their lawsuit, which argued that privacy is a core right under the state constitution and extends to women seeking to end their pregnancies.

MAINE

Truck crashes into day care center

LEWISTON — A pickup truck went out of control on a slippery road and crashed into a day care center yesterday morning, hitting and seriously injuring a 4-year-old girl.

The girl suffered injuries including a broken shoulder, broken collarbone and a broken cheekbone. She underwent surgery yesterday afternoon at Central Maine Medical Center.

A 4-year-old boy was treated for a bruised finger after the crash.

Police said the driver, Carl Dematteo, 27, of Litchfield, was going too fast for the weather.

MASSACHUSETTS

Airport announces new runway rules

BURLINGTON — Officials at Boston’s airport are recommending new safety measures to reduce the risk of runway collisions after a series of recent safety lapses, including one in which two planes narrowly avoided a high-speed crash.

The proposed changes include building a taxiway so planes heading to or from gates at Logan International Airport would not cross runways, Federal Aviation Administration and Massachusetts Port Authority officials announced Tuesday.

The recommendations include setting limits on which runways can be used for takeoff and requiring additional training for air-traffic controllers.

MISSOURI

City sells evidence in drunk-driving case

KANSAS CITY — A drunken driver linked to the deaths of two pedestrians when parts from his car were found near their bodies has avoided a lengthy prison term because the city sold key evidence — his car — for scrap.

Scott A. Weber, 25, of Independence, was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days of prison substance-abuse treatment and three years of probation.

Prosecutors agreed to the light sentence when they learned Weber’s car, seized after the deaths, was sold to a salvager two months after the September 2004 accident.

NEW YORK

Psychiatrists OK releasing sex criminal

NEW YORK — Psychiatrists have approved the release of a sex criminal who was among 27 held in mental hospitals on Gov. George E. Pataki’s orders after their prison sentences were completed.

The governor on Tuesday said the development was “disappointing” and added, “I don’t think this predator should be out on the street.”

Kevin Quinn, Mr. Pataki’s spokesman, said the man spent four years in prison for raping an 8-year-old girl. He said the man, held at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Wards Island after his sentence, was expected to be released yesterday.

OKLAHOMA

Preacher prays for his assailant

TULSA — A preacher who was punched in the face during a church service met with his purported assailant, saying he wanted to pray for him.

The Rev. Billy Joe Daugherty said Tuesday that Steven Wayne Rogers showed no remorse and offered no apology during their meeting at the Tulsa Jail.

“He said he’d do whatever he wants, to whomever he wants, whenever he wants,” Mr. Daugherty said.

Mr. Rogers, 50, was identified as the man who came forward during an altar call near the end of Sunday’s Victory Christian Center service, motioned for Mr. Daugherty to approach and then hit him twice, opening a cut above the preacher’s eye that required two stitches.

OREGON

Turkey fryer fire destroys house

EUGENE — A construction worker’s tradition of cooking a turkey for an early Thanksgiving celebration went awry when a deep fryer caught on fire, burning the house he and his co-workers had just finished building.

Cement worker Henry Schmerber bought a propane fryer Tuesday and set it up inside the vacant house’s garage. Workers took turns watching the kettle.

But the fryer’s thermometer was broken, and oil inside the kettle overheated, spilling onto the burner and igniting, workers said. Flames spread through the garage and up the front of the house to the second floor.

The men used a fire extinguisher to no avail.

Eugene District Fire Chief Paul Dammen estimated the loss at $75,000.

PENNSYLVANIA

Woman faces charges in dance-contest flap

PHILADELPHIA — The mother of a boy who was struck during a neighborhood street dancing contest has been charged with killing the stepfather of another youth.

Police said they charged Patricia Hayward, 39, with murder and related counts on Tuesday after she surrendered to authorities at her attorney’s office.

Donald Clyburn, 41, was shot in the head near his home in the city’s Kensington neighborhood on Nov. 15.

The dispute started when Mr. Clyburn’s stepson, Alex Ledino, struck the other boy with his elbow during the impromptu dance contest, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Alex said it was an accident and that he apologized.

However, witnesses said Mrs. Hayward later went to the boy’s home, got into an argument and shot Mr. Clyburn, witnesses said.

From staff reports and wire dispatches