NATION IN BRIEF

Army sets date for execution

The Army has set a date for its first execution in nearly 50 years. The military said Thursday that former North Carolina soldier Ronald Gray will be executed Dec. 10 at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. The former cook, who was convicted in a spree of four murders and eight rapes in North Carolina in 1986-87 while stationed at Fort Bragg, will die by lethal injection. The last military execution was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged for raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl.

Transportation costs could rise

The cost of public transit in New York City would skyrocket next year —- even as bus and subway service is reduced —- under a plan unveiled Thursday by the nation’s largest public transit system. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it needs to raise fare revenue by 23 percent by June to plug a yawning budget gap worsened by the global financial crisis. The details of just which fares will rise, and by how much, are still being worked out, but if applied across the board that could raise the cost of a single bus or subway ride to nearly $2.50. A monthly pass would cost nearly $100.

Restaurant can reopen after scare

Oklahoma health officials and a restaurant at the center of this summer’s deadly E. coli outbreak have signed an agreement to reopen the eatery, even though officials have never pinpointed the source of the contamination. Under the deal, the Country Cottage restaurant in the small town of Locust Grove must disconnect a private well on the property, allow repeat environmental testing in the restaurant upon request and implement a monitoring system for employee hand-washing. The August outbreak became the largest in the nation’s history for the rare E. coli strain O111, killing one man and sickening more than 300 adults and children.

Legislative aide pleads guilty

A former legislative aide to Missouri Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington on Thursday to hiding thousands of dollars of gifts from lobbyists, the latest political figure to go down in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Trevor Blackann, 34, pleaded guilty to not reporting more than $4,100 in illegal gifts from lobbyists on his 2003 tax forms, including tickets to the World Series, concerts and sporting events, free airfare and transportation, free meals and gifts and entertainment at a “gentleman’s club.” Abramoff, serving time for corrupting Capitol Hill lawmakers, is now helping prosecutors go after the people he corrupted.

Court: Parents can’t force districts

A federal appeals court on Thursday said parents cannot sue school districts to force them to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act. The ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia came in a case filed against the low-performing Newark School District in New Jersey. Parents said the district failed to notify them of the right to transfer out of failing schools and of other provisions required under the law. The court said enforcement of the act is up to state educational agencies.

Window blinds, shades recalled

About 677,300 Ikea and Green Mountain Vista window blinds and shades were recalled Thursday after a young child choked to death. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said a 1-year-old girl from Greenwich, Conn., died in April when she got caught in the inner cord of a set of Ikea Roman blinds over her playpen. The agency also said a 2-year-old girl from Bristol, Conn., nearly died in June on the beaded-chain loop hanging from a set of Green Mountain Vista shades The recall includes about 670,000 IRIS and ALVINE Roman blinds that were sold at Ikea stores nationwide between July 2005 and June 2008. The blinds can be returned to any Ikea store for a full refund.

Deadly blaze

A pre-dawn blaze raced through a barn at a former race track in western Kentucky on Thursday, killing 27 horses. It was the second deadly fire in less than a year at Riverside Downs outside Henderson, near the Indiana border. Investigators did not know the cause. Among the horses that died were Kept Lady, a winner at Churchill Downs on Sunday, and one that survived the blaze but had to be euthanized. Four horses in the barn at the time survived.