***AAS: NOTE TEXAS CONNECTION IN MANHUNT BRIEF. CHECK METRO LINEUP***
***BUSINESS DUPLICATION ALERT: AIRLINE BRIEF ON PAYING BY WEIGHT***
SOUTH CAROLINA
Sanford wins GOP nomination
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has cleared another hurdle in his bid for a political comeback, defeating a former county council member to win the GOP nomination for a vacant U.S. House seat. With 78 percent of precincts reporting, Sanford had about 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent for Curtis Bostic, a former Charleston County Council member. The candidates were vying Tuesday in a GOP runoff in the 1st Congressional District, which covers the south coast. Sanford’s political career was derailed four years ago by his admission of an extramarital affair.
CHICAGO
GOP lawmaker backs gay marriage
Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois on Tuesday became the second sitting Republican U. S. senator to endorse gay marriage — a move that also could shift the political debate over legalizing gay marriage in Kirk’s home state. Kirk, who has opposed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, said in a post on his blog that “same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage.” Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio last month became the first Republican senator to announce his support for gay marriage in states that choose to allow such unions, and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said her position is “evolving.”
TEXAS
Manhunt on after two flee jail
Two inmates with long criminal histories — including one awaiting trial for capital murder — escaped an East Texas jail, dumped their black-and-white scrubs and were fleeing a manhunt Tuesday, authorities said. Brian Allen Tucker of Sulphur Springs and John Marlin King of Cumby slipped past a fence around a recreation yard at the Hopkins County Jail about 8 a.m., officials with the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office said. Tucker was being held on $1 million bond in a 2011 slaying. King was being held on several charges, including evading arrest, burglary and possession of a controlled substance.
FRANCE
Doctor kills self after ‘Survivor’ death
A well-known TV doctor overseeing the French “Survivor” reality show “Koh-Lanta” committed suicide Monday following the sudden death of a 25-year-old contestant he had treated, France’s biggest TV station says. Dr. Thierry Costa killed himself on location on an island in Cambodia, the TF1 station said. Costa, 38, blamed the media for damaging his professional reputation in a handwritten suicide note that TF1 published on its website. Gerald Babin died March 22 during the first day of filming for the show’s 2013 season. Babin went to Costa to get treated for mysterious cramps he had during the season’s first tropical challenge but died at a hospital soon after of a heart attack, according to TF1.
IRAQ
Gunmen raid 4 newspaper offices in Baghdad
Gunmen suspected of being Shiite militiamen burst into the offices of four independent newspapers in Baghdad, smashing their equipment, stabbing and beating employees, and even hurling one reporter from a roof in the most brazen attack against journalists in Iraq this year, said staff and officials on Tuesday. Two editors said they believed their assailants were members of a Shiite militia, saying the raids came after their newspapers published stories criticizing their hard-line cleric-leader. The reporter tossed off the roof suffered two broken legs.
UTAH
Thieves take record amount of copper
The biggest copper heist in Utah memory has stripped more than six miles of wire from a stretch of Salt Lake City highway. The Utah Department of Transportation first noticed the theft Thursday, officials said, but they don’t know when exactly thieves snatched the wire. The thieves either disguised themselves as a construction crew or worked in the middle of the night on multiple occasions to yank wire from the median of Interstate 15, said roadway lighting engineer Richard Hibbard.
AMERICAN SAMOA
Airline introduces pay-by-weight pricing
A tiny Samoa airline is giving a new reason to drop extra weight before your next trip: tickets sold by the kilogram, not the seat. Samoa Air planned to start its first international flights today with a pricing model that charges based on how much passengers and their bags weigh. There are no base fares — each kilogram (2.2 pounds) costs 93 cents to $1.06, depending on the flight. For example, an average adult man weighing 195 pounds with a 35 pound bag would pay $97 to go one-way from Apia, Samoa to Pago Pago, American Samoa.
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