WASHINGTON – Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates yesterday as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.
Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, including Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter. The developments left the former first lady with 272.5 superdelegates to 271 for Obama.
In the overall race for the nomination, Obama leads with 1,859.5 delegates; Clinton has 1,698. Obama is 165.5 delegates short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
Associated Press
Power outage halts
oil field's output
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Oil production at Prudhoe Bay, the nation's most prolific oil field, halted yesterday when a vehicle clearing snowdrifts damaged the power supply to processing centers.
Prudhoe Bay had been sending about 380,000 barrels of crude oil each day down the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, a spokesman for field operator BP PLC said. Production yesterday was “way down” and would ramp back up over the next several days, the spokesman said. BP's Northstar field also went offline as a result of the power outage. The power supply was re-energized, with all plants back online by today.
Associated Press
Man says police
ripped out catheter
HARTFORD, Conn. – A man alleges that police entered his home illegally and ripped a catheter from his body during a child pornography investigation that led to the arrest of two neighbors.
Andrew Glover, 60, of New Britain filed a notice with the city Thursday that he intends to pursue a federal civil rights lawsuit. He accused the officers of inflicting severe injuries as he was recovering from intestinal surgery in February.
Glover's lawyer, Paul Spinella, said police entered Glover's apartment Jan. 30 and Feb. 28. Glover wasn't involved in child pornography, has not been charged and has no criminal record, Spinella said. A police spokesman said the department hadn't received the notice and wouldn't comment. Glover's neighbors were later charged with sexual assault and other crimes.
Associated Press
