Nation in brief

The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Andrea, formed Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico. Andrea had maximum sustained winds near 40 miles per hour Wednesday evening and was forecast to reach 45 mph over the next day. A tropical storm watch was issued for most of northeast Florida up to North Carolina. The center of Andrea was expected to reach Florida’s coast this afternoon, then travel northeast over land and bring foul weather to parts of Georgia and the Carolinas by Friday. A forecast map predicts the storm will continue along the East Coast through the weekend before heading out to sea again.

NEW JERSEY

Lautenberg recalled as tenacious fighter

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey was remembered at his funeral at a New York City synagogue by admirers including Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and several of Lautenberg’s children and grandchildren, who spoke of his drive to fight for what he believed, up until his death Monday at 89 of complications from viral pneumonia. After the service, Lautenberg’s casket was sent to Washington via the Northeast Corridor rail tracks he fought for years to upgrade. His body will lie in repose in the Senate chamber today and he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

VIRGINA

Holder praises slain black activist Medgar Evers

Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday praised slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, saying that the black activist’s vision and leadership helped make it possible for Holder and President Barack Obama to rise to the positions they now hold. During a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Evers’ death, Holder said that Evers should be remembered as a pioneer who helped to lay the foundation for much of the nation’s racial progress over the last five decades. Former President Bill Clinton and Evers’ widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, joined Holder for a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, where Evers was buried.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

First lady takes on heckler before crowd

First lady Michelle Obama got into a confrontation with a protester Tuesday night after the gay rights activist interrupted her remarks at a fundraiser held in the home of two former Chicagoans. Obama was speaking to about 200 people when a woman in the front began calling for broader federal protections for gays in the workplace. Obama stopped speaking, left the lectern and approached the woman. “One of the things I don’t do well is this,” Obama said. She told the crowd that the woman could “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.” The crowd cheered for the first lady to stay, and she finished her remarks.

CALIFORNIA

Huge mako shark could be record

A huge mako shark caught off the coast of California could set a record, but a critic said it should have been released because sharks are threatened worldwide. Jason Johnston caught the 1,323-pound shark Monday after a 2 1/2-hour battle, the Orange County Register reported. If the catch is confirmed and meets conditions, it would exceed the record mako catch made in 2001 off Massachusetts, said Jack Vitek, world records coordinator for the International Game Fish Association. The shark was being kept on ice and will be donated to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association for research.

NEVADA

Fertility drugs, nature better than horse roundups

A scathing independent scientific review of wild horse roundups in the West concludes the U.S. government would be better off investing in widespread fertility control of the mustangs and let nature cull any excess herds instead of spending millions to house them in overflowing holding pens. A 14-member panel assembled by the National Science Academy’s National Research Council, at the request of the Bureau of Land Management, concluded BLM’s removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.