NATION IN BRIEF

Judge Voids Georgia Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

ATLANTA -- A judge struck down Georgia's ban on same-sex marriage, saying the measure that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004 violated the state constitution's single-subject rule for ballot questions.

In the ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell said that before the state's voters can be asked to decide whether same-sex marriages should be banned, they must first decide whether same-sex relationships should have any legal status before the law.

"It's a victory for voters," said Jack Senterfitt, who challenged the amendment on behalf of the gay rights organization Lambda Legal.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) said he was disappointed by the decision, which he said ran contrary to the view of 76 percent of voters in defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Inundated New England May Get a Little Relief

METHUEN, Mass. -- Driving rains that caused the worst flooding in New England since the 1930s eased, but washed-out roads and the danger of dam breaks prevented many people from returning to their homes.

More than a foot of rain fell across New Hampshire, Massachusetts and southern Maine between Friday and Tuesday, with some places getting up to 17 inches. Police reported a single fatality, a 59-year-old man whose body was found in a submerged car north of Boston.

More rain was forecast for the weekend.

In Methuen, state and federal engineers watched a granite dam in danger of collapse after it was reinforced with 5,000 sandbags.

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· MIAMI -- Despite Hurricane Katrina's devastation of Louisiana and Mississippi last year, coastal residents have not taken steps to protect themselves if threatened by a hurricane, according to a poll. Sixty percent of those questioned have no disaster plan, 68 percent have no survival kit, and 83 percent have not made their homes stronger, Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. found. Also, 48 percent of people living within 30 miles of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts said they do not feel vulnerable to a hurricane.

· BOULDER, Colo. -- An investigation of a professor who likened some of the Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi found serious cases of misconduct in his academic research, including plagiarism and fabrications, a University of Colorado spokesman said. One member of the five-person investigative committee recommended that ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill be fired, and four recommended he be suspended, university spokesman Barrie Hartman said.

· CAPE CANAVERAL -- Inexperience, mismanagement and technical problems caused the DART satellite to smash into its target during an automated test flight last year, the head of NASA's investigation team said. The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology satellite's prime contractor, Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp., was criticized for not using in-house expertise that could have helped designers avoid fatal flaws.

-- From News Services