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Spring break alive and well for some Spring break revelers drink beer as they participate in a bikini contest Thursday at a nightclub in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico. Cancun remains a top beach destination for college students during Spring Break.
AP photo
DAMASCUS, Syria
Civilian deaths to be probed
Facing a massive protest movement demanding reform, Syria’s president set up committees Thursday to look into the deaths of civilians during nearly two weeks of unrest and replacing decades-old emergency laws.
The moves appear to be a carefully designed attempt by President Bashar Assad to head off massive protests planned for today while showing he will not be pressured to implement reform — instead, he will make changes at his own pace.
On Wednesday, he dashed expectations that he would announce sweeping changes, instead blaming two weeks of popular fury on a foreign conspiracy during his first comments since the protests began.
MADISON, Wis.
Gov. will heed judge ruling
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s top aide said Thursday the administration will abide by a judge’s order to stop preparation to implement a divisive collective bargaining law.
Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said Thursday the Republican governor’s administration still believes the law took effect when a state office posted online last week. But he says Walker will abide by Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi’s ruling earlier Thursday that the law hadn’t taken effect.
Sumi’s ruling came after Walker’s administration ignored a restraining order she issued earlier this week saying work on the law should stop while she considers a lawsuit challenging the statute’s legitimacy.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
Extra jobless aid dropped
Thousands of people in Missouri who have been unemployed for more than a year soon will lose their jobless benefits, marking a significant victory for Republican fiscal hawks who are crusading against government spending.
When eligibility ends Saturday, Missouri will become the only state to voluntarily quit a federal stimulus program that offers extended benefits. Michigan, Arkansas and Florida also recently took steps to cut back on money going to the unemployed, although they targeted state benefits instead.
As a result, more than 34,000 unemployed residents in Missouri could miss out on $105 million in benefits over the next nine months. Unlike some other stimulus programs, Missouri’s unclaimed money would not be redistributed by the federal government to other states. It simply would remain unspent.
NEW YORK
Oil highest since 2008
The price of oil rose to a 30-month high on Thursday as fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi pushed back rebels from key areas in eastern Libya.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.45, more than 2 percent, to settle at $106.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At one point it hit $106.83, the highest it’s been since September, 2008. In London, Brent crude rose $2.25 to settle at $117.20 per barrel.
Energy traders worry that unrest will spread across the region to disrupt shipments from OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Gasoline prices continue to rise along with the price of oil. The national average on Thursday hit $3.606 for a gallon of regular, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.