This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
TEXAS
Army builds bridge to help U.S.-Mexico border patrol
EL INDIO - The U.S. military is building a $2.5 million bridge over a creek near the Rio Grande in an effort to help Border Patrol agents respond more quickly to undocumented immigrants and drug smuggling.
Border Patrol officials said they need the sturdy bridge on Cinco Ranch to deal with a ''problem spot'' about a quarter-mile north of the Rio Grande.
Officials said it would knock the patrol's 40-minute response time from one side of the creek to the other to a few seconds.
The span, known as a Bailey bridge, is strong yet portable and stout enough to hold tanks.
MICHIGAN
Anti-gay-marriage proposal won't be on Michigan ballot
LANSING - A state board voted along party lines Monday to keep a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage off the ballot - even though supporters apparently collected many more signatures than required.
The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on whether to certify more than 464,000 signatures in favor of the amendment. Supporters needed only 317,757 valid signatures.
Two Democrats on the board voted against certification, while two Republicans voted for it.
Eric Doster, an attorney for a group that collected the signatures, accused the Democrats of ignoring their legal duty, and vowed an immediate challenge in the courts.
''We'll let the real judges decide now,'' Doster said.
The amendment would define marriage as between a man and a woman.
IOWA
Head of celebrated Writers' Workshop stepping down
IOWA CITY - Frank Conroy, the longtime head of the celebrated Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, will step down at the end of the year, The Associated Press learned Monday.
Conroy, who has run the program since 1987, underwent surgery for colon cancer last year. ''I'm doing fine, but I've been in this job for almost 20 years, and it's time for new blood,'' he said in a telephone interview.
Founded in 1936, the workshop is the oldest and most prestigious academic writing program in the country. It has produced a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners and four of the last five U.S. poet laureates. Last year, President Bush awarded the workshop a National Humanities Medal during a ceremony at the White House.
Conroy, 68, is only the fourth director in the program's history. School policy bars his having any role in choosing his replacement.
FLORIDA
Four suspects indicted in grisly killings of six at home
DELAND - A grand jury Monday indicted four men for the grisly slayings of six people in a Florida home, and the state prosecutor planned to seek the death penalty.
Included in the 15-count indictment were newly released details of the massacre - including that one female victim was sexually assaulted with a bat and that each of the victims was stabbed and cut after they were dead.
The bodies of the victims were found in a blood-spattered home Aug. 6.
The alleged ringleader, Troy Victorino, 27, and Robert Cannon, Michael Salas and Jerone Hunter, all 18, were charged with first-degree murder, among other charges. They also were charged with cruelty to animals for killing a dog in the house.
Police said the killings were the culmination of an argument between Victorino and one of the victims, Erin Belanger, 22, over an X-Box video game system and clothes owned by Victorino.