■ UNITED STATES
Aide turns 100
When Sally Gordon was born in 1909, workers hadn't even started building Nebraska’s Capitol where she still works. On Thursday, her 100th birthday, hundreds of people came to honor the woman who has served as an assistant sergeant-at-arms helping to maintain order in the Nebraska Legislature for 26 years. She was an aide to three governors before that. “When I don’t work, I just go crazy,” said Gordon, who has worked for more than 80 of her 100 years. “I’m a desperate housewife, and I’m allergic to housework.” Although she’s slowed down a little, Gordon still walks to work at the Capitol when the weather’s nice. Her son, Jim, calls her “the Energizer Bunny.” After the party, she headed upstairs and back to work, with no plans of retiring anytime soon.
■ UNITED STATES
Asians least hit by crime
Asian-Americans suffer less from violent crime than other racial groups in the US, Justice Department figures have shown. Some 11 out of 1,000 Asian-Americans aged 12 or older are the victims of non-fatal violent crimes each year, compared with 24 out of every 1,000 non-Asian Americans, statistics released on Wednesday showed. In 2006, 360 Asian-Americans were murdered. They were victims of 2 percent of all US homicides, while accounting for about 4 percent of the population, the study found. In one of the more striking differences among racial groups, strangers were responsible for most crime against Asian-Americans. Seventy-seven percent of violent crimes against Asian-American men was committed by strangers, compared with 59 percent for non-Asians. Half of crimes against Asian-American women was by people they did not know, compared with 34 percent for other women.
■ UNITED STATES
Sebelius readies for hearing
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius faces a confirmation hearing next week in Washington on her nomination as US secretary of health and human services. Sebelius will testify on Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee, which will then decide whether to send the nomination to the full Senate. She is expected to face little opposition.
■ MEXICO
Court upholds ruling
A federal court has upheld a ruling that dismissed charges against former Mexican president Luis Echeverria in a 1968 student massacre. Echeverria was the country’s interior secretary on Oct. 2, 1968, when soldiers opened fire on a student demonstration in Mexico City’s Tlatelolco Plaza before the capital hosted the Olympics. A lower court previously ruled the massacre constituted genocide but dismissed charges of involvement against Echeverria. Echeverria was president from 1970 to 1976.
■ UNITED STATES
Freedom Tower is out
The signature skyscraper replacing the towers destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, will be known as One World Trade Center, the agency that owns the site said on Thursday. The building under construction at the site was named the Freedom Tower in the first master plan to demonstrate the country’s triumph over terrorism. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman Anthony Coscia said the agency now refers to the building as One World Trade Center because it is the building’s legal name and it is “the easiest for people to identify with.”
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