Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 3

Wednesday, September 2i, 2(101 www.courierpostonline.com The World. International, National and Regional News Supreme Court to rule on school vouchers 'To be forced to send my Death toll at 13 from blasts in coal mine BROOKWOOD. Ala. -Ten coal miners are being hailed as heroes for rushing into a mine to rescue coworkers Injured by an explosion, only to be killed themselves by a second blast. The death toll was con private and parochial schools.

In Ohio, parents can get up to In tuition help. All but a handful of the sch(K)ls participating in the Ohio program are religious. Supporters say vouchers, also know as school choice, give children an escape from rotten and dangerous public sch(X)ls, public schools incentive to improve and txir-cnts some control over The court also signaled It Is determined to decide the constitutionality of executing the mentally retarded. The court dixpixd one case that asked that question because It had become moot, but immediately substituted another. The Justices probably will hear arguments on the issue In January or February.

Vouchers let parents use government subsidies to pay at least some of the tuition at ry," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The court announced several new cases it will hear In the coming term, which begins Monday. Along with the voucher case, the court agreed to decide whether a national one-strike-and-you'reevlcted policy for drugs In public housing is unnecessarily hirsh. voucher program Involving about 3,700 children in Cleveland. A ruling is expected by summer.

Supporters hope the conservative-led court will use the case to broaden its recent trend of approving limited uses of taxpayer money at religious sch(xls. Opponents, too, say the court's ruling could be a landmark. "This is probably the most important church-state case in the last half-centu By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press WASHINGTON The Supreme Court, tackling a church-state issue dear to President Hush, agreed Tuesday to decide, whether the Constitution permits using taxpayer dollars to pay religious school tuition. The court will hear chrd-lenges sometime early next year to a 6-year-old sch(xl child to a system that's failing is Just idiotic," said Roberta Kitchen, legal guardian for 10-year-old Toshika, whose tuition at a Lutheran elementary school is almost entirely funded through the Cleveland voucher program. Political opponents, Including teachers' unions and most congressional Democrats, say vouchers siphon precious public money from the neediest schools.

gMiiiii iiwfl wpiwmi I III ilnm.l"ll'HM" i.jiiii. Poverty rate declines in U.S.; incomes steady By GENARO ARMAS Associated Press Poverty declines The percent of Americans living in poverty dropped to 1 1 .3 percent last year, the lowest level since 1 974. In addition, the poverty rate for blacks set a record low, although it WASHINGTON The U.S. poverty rate dipped last year to its lowest level in more than a quarter- still lags far behind the national century, driven down by a average. 11.3 11.2 neaiiny economy inai helped a broad range of 18 workers.

Incomes leveled off after years of increase. Overall, many analysts said the Census Bureau report released Tuesday offered a positive picture of the American economy at least before the financial unrest from the terrorist attacks. The year 2000 could prove to be the high-water mark of the economic expansion that began in the firmed at 13 on Tuesday, making Sunday's disaster the nation's worst mining accident since Dec. 19, 1984, when fire killed 27 coal miners near Orangeville, Utah. Federal statistics released Tuesday indicate that the mine had 20 percent more accidents with injuries than the national average last year.

Search teams were at the mine Tuesday, but because of fires more than 2,000 feet beneath the surface and high levels of explosive methane gas in some tunnels, they could not look for the bodies of the remaining miners. Macedonia weapons collection meets goal SKOPJE, Macedonia NATO has completed a key part of Macedonia's peace plan, surpassing its target of collecting arms from ethnic Albanian rebels to put peace "within reach," the alliance's chief said Tuesday. "We can confirm that 3,381 have been collected and the final figure should be higher still," said NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson. The monthlong mission, Operation Essential Harvest, is scheduled to end today. NATO said Monday that the quota of 3,300 weapons had already been met.

Robertson, visiting German troops participating in the mission, told reporters that without the operation "peace would not be within reach." At least 100 hurt after train explosion GAUHATI, India An explosion derailed seven coaches of a passenger train Tuesday in India's remote northeast, injuring at least 100 passengers, 40 of them seriously, an Indian news agency reported. No one claimed responsibility for the explosion, but authorities said they believed the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bor-oland was responsible. 74 '84 '94 Breakdown of poverty in 2000 Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks wmmmmmsBmmm 22.1 LESLIE E. KOSSOFFAssociated Press Fire and rescue workers on Tuesday examine debris left after a tornado hit the University of Maryland campus. Maryland cleans up after deadly tornado Hispanics 121.2 early 1990s, said Tim Smeed- AsianPacific lslanders ing, proiessor 01 economics and public policy at Syracuse University.

"The economy continued to do good things in 2000," Median income flattens The median income refers to the point at which half of households Smeeding said. Speaking of earn more and haf earn iess, ln 2000, it fell by $39 to $42,148. tne poverty rate, ne aaaea, "FTtifrirtiinatplv I'm afraid that what goes down will $45'000 come back up, particularly 35,000 mitf ii The two students died when their car was hurled hundreds of yards. They were identified as sisters Colleen Patricia Marlatt, 23, and Erin Patricia Marlatt, 20, of Clarksville, Prince George's fire spokesman Chauncey Bowers said. Their father, F.

Patrick Marlatt, needed 40 stitches for facial cuts. He is deputy director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, whose trailer offices on the campus were destroyed. In addition, 78-year-old volunteer firefighter Clarence Kretizer collapsed and died after returning to his fire station from the campus area, Bowers said. said John Margraf of the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. The governor's office said it was Maryland's worst tornado in 75 years.

Two tornadoes touched down in the area about 10 minutes apart late Monday afternoon, part of a storm system that stretched along the East Coast, the National Weather Service said. At least one funnel cloud was visible from Washington. Ryan Wirt, a freshman, said he looked out his dormitory window and saw a funnel cloud approaching with lightning flashing inside. "It looked as big as my whole building," he said. afternoon and mobile homes containing offices were destroyed.

Debris, overturned cars and trees were strewn across the campus. More than 100 cars had shattered windows or had been smashed into other vehicles. Gov. Parris Glenden-ing, who once taught at the university, toured the area on Tuesday. He had declared a state of emergency on Monday.

"Where that touched down, it could have been much worse in loss of life and injury," Glendening said Tuesday. The tornado's wind speed likely ranged between 158 and 206 mph, By GRETCHEN PARKER Associated Press COLLEGE PARK, Md. Students and school officials sorted through wreckage Tuesday at the University of Maryland, where tornadoes killed two sisters, both students. At least 50 people were injured there and elsewhere in the Washington suburbs. A 78-year-old volunteer firefighter collapsed and died after helping with the damage.

The father of the dead sisters was among the injured. Several buildings were damaged by the tornadoes that struck late Monday 25,000 15,000 5,000 after" the terror attacks. Several advocacy groups said the report highlighted troubling trends that existed even before the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11. For instance, poverty disparities narrowed but still existed between whites and minority groups and between men and women.

Nationally, the poverty rate declined from 11.8 percent in 1999 to 11.3 percent in 2000, its lowest point since 11.2 percent in 1974. Poverty rates also reached record lows in a number of key groups, including children, households headed by a woman living without a husband at home, and African-Americans. The poverty threshold differs by the size of the household. For instance, in 2000, a family of four lived in poverty if the household earned $17,603 or less a year. Meanwhile, median Pope appears to weaken during visit to Armenia '80 '85 '90 '95 Source: U.S.

Census Bureau Associated Press household income declined slightly from an inflation-adjusted record high of $42,187 in 1999 to $42,148 last year. Though not considered significant, it was still the first decrease in median income since 1992-93 the tail-end of the last recession. Many economists have predicted a recession given the financial unrest in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The latest figures come from a survey of 50,000 households taken in March and relate to questions about income and poverty status for 2000. As a result, the survey does not reflect the recent economic RiERPosronli rucom See our Web site for breaking news 1 from The Associated Press.

fill Mm DAVID BROWN News Editor (856) 486-2440 dbrowncourierpostonllne.com Bloomberg wins GOP primaiy for N.Y. mayor miles west of the capital, Yerevan, the pope's hands shook seemingly uncontrollably as he was halfway through his speech in the Apostolic Cathedral. A priest finished reading John Paul's prepared text, as the pope sat slumped on a throne on the altar. An aide yyiped his face. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Vails said the plan had been for the priest to take over and finish the address in Armenian after the pope had delivered the first portion in English.

Such changeovers have been made in the past when the pope was delivering speeches in languages he does not speak. When he left the cathedral, John Paul was assisted by an aide and by the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin n. By VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press YEREVAN, Armenia His hands trembled, he slumped in his chair and aides rushed to his side to offer comfort through a speech he could not finish. Pope John Paul IPs stop in Armenia on Tuesday, his fourth day of a foreign tour, offered a new test of the 81-year-old pontiffs frail health.

And as often before, he appeared to rebound later in the day, even waving his cane in the air. John Paul has sought to make this trip for years and scheduled it now to take part in celebrations by the ancient Armenian Apostolic Church marking 1,700 years of Christianity in this country. On a visit to the church's seat in Echmiadzin, 15 MISHA JAPARIDZEAssociated Press Pope John Paul II Is assisted by Catholicos Karekin II after he delivered an address Tuesday in the Armenian Apostolic Church's cathedral In Echmiadzin. John Paul keeps an active travel schedule despite declining health. The pope suffers from symptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as trembling hands and slurred speech.

He walks with difficulty and recently has begun wearing a hearing aid. Later in the evening, the pope appeared to have bounced back when he visited Karekin's residence. He seemed in good spirits and waved his cane in the air. The pontiff arrived in Armenia from Kazakstan, where he had spent four days. By JOEL STASHENKO Associated Press NEW YORK Billionaire media owner Michael Bloomberg easily won the Republican primary Tuesday in a mayor's race thrown into turmoil by the World Trade Center disaster and the possibility that Rudolph Giuliani may try to stay on to steer the city through its crisis.

The Democratic race appeared headed to a runoff election between city Public Advocate Mark Green and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Bloomberg, who has already spent more than $20 million of his own money on the race, easily defeated former Congressman Herman Badillo. With 25 percent of 5.630 precincts reporting. Israel, Palestinians finally agree to hold truce negotiations IRS may be red-faced in quest for red cent Taxpayers generally don't find letters from the Internal Revenue Service to be amusing. But Beaver Dam, Mayor Tom Olson couldn't help laughing at the one he received.

The IRS claims he owes the government one cent "When I got it, it cracked me up," Olson said. "I'm sure it cost them more than a penny to collect it" In a subsequent letter earlier this month, the agency told Olson it would deduct the amount from his $300 federal tax rebate, leaving him with only $299.99. "I've gone back over my taxes, but I couldn't find any errors," he said. "But without spending a significant amount of time, I couldn't see how I owed them any money. I figured I wasn't going to make a big case out a penny." Courier-Post wire services Ferrer and Green were in a close contest.

With 25 percent of the vote counted, Ferrer had 73,213 votes, or 36 percent of the votes, to Green's 65,187 votes, or 32 percent Two other candidates. City Comptroller Alan Hev-esi and City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, trailed. The unofficial returns do not include write-in ballots, which will be counted later by the city Board of Elections. Exit polling of Republican voters indicated that about 15 percent wrote in a candidate's name presumably Giuliani which is not enough to affect the primary's outcome. Giuliani, a Republican, is barred by law from running for a third term this fall, and he has not announced his plans.

But his popularity has soared since the Sept 11 attack and some voters say he ought to stay on past Dec. 31. hen his term is up. By MARK LAVIE Associated Press The Bush administration believes that quelling Israeli-Palestinian violence is essential to its efforts to gain support in the Islamic world for a united offensive against terrorism. Although Palestinian-Israeli violence has dropped in recent days, there was no guarantee the meeting would not be scuttled at the last minute, or that it would succeed in cementing a cease-fire.

hopes and killed more than 800 people, four -fifths of them Palestinians. While maintaining official silence over the time and place, Israeli officials on Tuesday made arrangements for the meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Palestinian officials said it would be at Gaza Airport this morning. In his first interview on Palestinian TV since fighting erupted, Peres said Tuesday that "the meeting was prepared properly, in my view, and it is being held in an atmosphere of agreement between the two sides." The United States has been pressing hard for such a meeting, and Secretary of State Colin Powell has been in daily telephone contact with leaders from both sides, according to officials. JERUSALEM High-level Israeli-Palestinian truce talks were finally set for today, following several delays and intense U.S.

pressure, officials said. The announcement raised hopes the talks could pave the way for a gradual end to the year of violence that has shattered peace Bloomberg had 10,502 votes, or 66 percent, to Badillo's 5.397 votes, or 34 percent On the Democratic side,.