Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 120, No. 148 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE REAL AFGHANISTAN
Tamim Abdullah is 19 years old and lives in the city of Herat in Afghanistan. He comes from a middle-class family, speaks English and lived in Seattle last year as a high-school exchange student. This year, his dream of becoming a filmmaker with a mission of telling stories of the real Afghanistan came true. - PAGE A5
June 21, 2011
TUESDAY
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High court bars Wal-Mart sex bias case WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court blocked the largest sex-discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history on Monday, siding with Wal-Mart and against up to 1.6 million female workers in a decision that makes it harder to mount large-scale bias claims against the nation’s other huge companies, too. The justices all agreed that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could not proceed as a class action in its current form, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court also
said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to wrap into one lawsuit. “Because respondents provide no convincing proof of a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy, we have concluded that they have not established the existence of any common question,” Justice Antonin Scalia said in his majority opinion. Theodore Boutrous Jr., Wal-Mart’s lawyer, said the decision also would affect pending class-action claims against Costco and others. Companies as varied as the big Wall Street firm Goldman-Sachs & Co., electron-
ics giant Toshiba America Inc., and Cigna Healthcare Inc. also face class-action claims from women they employ. “This is an extremely important victory not just for Wal-Mart, but for all companies that do business in the United States,” Boutrous said. The assessment was similar on the other side of the issue. Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, said, “The court has told employers that they can rest easy, knowing See WAL-MART, Page A2
AP Photo
Carol Rosenblatt, of Washington, right, and others, take part in a rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, March 29, in support of the plaintiffs in a case of women employees against Wal-Mart.
NM begins to rework voting districts
TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours
Political impact could be lasting
• Roswell celebrates Juneteenth in style • Police arrest 4th juvie gun burglary suspect • Gov attends ChalleNGe graduation • ‘Moooo,’ says the meadowlark • Ruidoso fire
INSIDE SPORTS AP Photo
The huge fire plume from the Pacheco Canyon Wildfire fills the Santa Fe skies as it burns in the Santa Fe National Forest six miles northeast of Tesuque on Saturday afternoon.
Crews fight Santa Fe forest fire More bans imposed on state trust land n
GLORY FOR RORY AT OPEN
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Rory McIlroy buried the memory of his Masters meltdown the same way he buried the competition at the U.S. Open, with a breathtaking performance filled with the promise of more majors to come. Four days of flawless golf at Congressional ended Sunday afternoon when McIlroy polished off a 2-under 69 to shatter U.S. Open records that simply defy logic at the major known as the toughest test in golf. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Malva Elaine Lipe • Travis Bealer • Ruby Gray • Walter J. Hopkins - PAGE A3
HIGH .......90˚ LOW ....66˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Firefighters banked on cooler temperatures and slightly less gusty winds Monday for help in slow-
ing wildfires bur ning around New Mexico, as the state’s top land manager issued an openended ban to prevent fires on millions of acres of state trust land. The ban announced Monday by Land Commissioner Ray Powell was simple and straight forward: No fireworks, open
fires or smoking until further notice. The ban covers the state’s 13 million acres, or more than 20,300 square miles, of trust land. “The severe drought, high winds and dense fuel loads are ingredients for catastrophic fires throughout New Mexico,” Powell said, adding that
trust lands can’t afford to be damaged since they provide about $500 million in annual support to public schools, universities and hospitals in the form of leases, rents, royalties and other fees. Several hundred fire See SANTA FE, Page A2
SANTA FE (AP) — All of eastern New Mexico could be consolidated into the state’s southern congressional district under a proposal outlined to lawmakers on Monday for revamping district boundaries to adjust for population trends during the past decade. A legislative committee reviewed seven proposals for drawing new boundaries of the state’s three congressional districts. The outcome of redistricting could alter the balance of political power and influence congressional races for the next 10 years. Democrats hold two of the seats — the Albuquerque-area 1st District and the 3rd District of norther n New Mexico — while a Republican represents the 2nd District, which covers the southern half of the state. See DISTRICTS, Page A2
US troops coming home? Obama to say on Wednesday WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will announce the critical next steps in America’s decade-long war in Afghanistan on Wednesday, outlining both a plan to start bringing thousands of U.S. troops home next month and a broader withdrawal blueprint aimed at giving Afghans control of their own security in 2014. But even as Obama finalizes those plans, there are divisions in his administration, with military leaders favoring only a gradual reduction in troops but other advisers advocating a
significant decrease in the coming months. Administration officials say Obama is still working through the details on how many troops will start leaving Afghanistan in July, his self-imposed deadline for beginning the drawdown. He is considering a range of options presented to him last week by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. “He’s finalizing his decision. He’s reviewing his options,” White House spokesman Jay Car ney said Monday.
Obama is expected to make Wednesday’s announcement in Washington. On Thursday, he will visit troops at Fort Drum, the upstate New York military base that is home to the 10th Mountain Division, one of the most frequently deployed divisions to Afghanistan and Iraq. While much of the attention is focused on how many troops will leave Afghanistan next month, the more telling aspects of Obama’s decision center on what happens after July, particularly how long the president plans to keep the
30,000 surge forces he sent in 2009 in the country. There is a growing belief that the president must at least map out the initial withdrawal of the surge troops when he addresses the public. But whether those forces should come out over the next eight to 12 months or slowly trickle out over a longer time is hotly debated. Military commanders want to keep as many of those forces in Afghanistan for as long as possible, arguing that too fast a withdrawal could undermine the fragile security
AP Photo
President Barack Obama in Pensacola, Fla., Wednesday.
gains in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the al-Qaida See OBAMA, Page A2
Syria’s president Assad vows reform, critics shout ‘Liar!’
INDEX
AP Photo
A screen grab taken from Syrian TV shows Syria's President Bashar Assad delivering a speech, in Damascus, Syria, Monday.
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s president promised a national dialogue Monday to consider political reforms, but his vague overtures to a prodemocracy uprising fell flat as protesters took to the streets shouting “Liar!” and demanding his ouster. In only his third public appearance since the revolt erupted in March, Bashar Assad returned to a now-familiar refrain: He blamed the unrest on “saboteurs,” offered modest potential reforms, but gave no sign he’d move toward ending the Assad family’s political domination. He clearly intends to try to ride out the wave of protests, showing the steely determination that has
kept the Assads in power for 40 years. But the mobilized opposition appeared to be digging in as well, bracing for a showdown in one of the deadliest uprisings of the Arab Spring. “We want only one thing: Toppling the regime!” read one banner among marchers in several cities Monday. “The timeline is not in (Assad’s) favor,” Mideast scholar Shadi Hamid, at The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, told The Associated Press after what he called a “disappointing” speech. “The question is, how long can Assad sustain the current situation?” Standing before a hand-picked
crowd of supporters at Damascus University, in dark suit and tie, Assad presented himself as a secure — and beloved — leader intent on protecting his people. He likened some of the country’s troubles to a “ger m” that must be fought off. He said a national dialogue would start soon and he was forming a committee to study constitutional amendments, including one that would open the way to forming political parties other than the ruling Baath Party. He acknowledged demands for reform were legitimate, but he rehashed allegations that “saboteurs” were exploiting See ASSAD, Page A2