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By The Associated Press – 11 hours ago
DALLAS (AP) — James A. Baker. a former Texas Supreme Court Justice known as a devoted scholar of appellate law, died Sunday. He was 77.
He died in his sleep, the Texas Supreme Court said. Baker was diagnosed last year with cancer, which spread through his lungs, legs and spine.
Before serving on the Supreme Court, Baker served from 1986 to 1995 on the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas. Then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed Baker to the Texas Supreme Court in 1995. Baker was elected to a full six-year term the next year.
He retired in August 2002, partly because he would have reached mandatory retirement age midway through an additional term.
Baker then became a partner at Hughes & Luce LLP, now called K&L Gates. He worked on appellate matters, arbitration and mediation at the Dallas law firm.
Baker continued to work despite his illness. His last day in the office was Friday, the high court said.
Baker earned his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Southern Methodist University.
LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — Bryan Baptiste, the mayor of Kauai who championed affordable housing and opposed gated communities, died Sunday. He was 52.
Baptiste suffered cardiac arrest at home, the mayor’s office said in a statement. Paramedics tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital.
A former county councilman, Baptiste was first elected mayor in 2002 when he edged rival Ron Kouchi in a runoff. The Republican was elected to a second four-year term in 2006.
Baptiste’s father served as Kauai’s mayor about 50 years ago.
As mayor, the younger Baptiste championed the building of more affordable housing, put together programs to fight drug abuse and supported legislation to protect public beach access.

ap.google.com

It has been 40 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. King was there to support striking sanitation workers, African-American men who endured horrible working conditions for poverty wages. While King’s staff was opposed to him going, as they were scrambling to organize King’s new initiative, the Poor People’s Campaign, King himself knew that the sanitation workers were at the front lines of fighting poverty.
We just passed the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the invasion five years ago. Still, the death toll climbs. Tomas Young was one of those injured, on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City. Young is the subject of a new feature documentary by legendary TV talk-show host Phil Donahue and filmmaker Ellen Spiro, called “Body of War.”
In Burma, a powerful tropical cyclone has killed nearly 4,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless. Aid groups say the toll could climb much higher. The top American diplomat in Rangoon said the storm had caused major devastation throughout the city. Dissident groups are urging Burma’s military junta to allow aid groups to enter the country and operate freely, but the UN says the government has not responded to its offer to help. Meanwhile, Burma’s military junta has announced it plans to proceed with a controversial referendum on Sunday on a new constitution.
In campaign news, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spent the weekend campaigning in North Carolina and Indiana ahead of Tuesday’s primary. On Sunday, the candidates appeared simultaneously on competing news shows. On ABC’s This Week, Clinton was asked if she had any regrets over her recent threat to “totally obliterate” Iran if it attacks Israel with nuclear weapons.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “Why would I have any regrets? I’m asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for, for all kinds of reasons. And, yes, we would have massive retaliation against Iran.”

democracynow.org

DETROIT — Buddhists strive for the middle way, between indulgence and self-torment. Taoists seek to balance yin and yang, so as not to block “chi,” the vital energy that flows through the body. Similarly, Hindus try to balance their chakras to maintain peace of mind, body and spirit.
Bob McKillop, coach of the Davidson basketball team, tends more toward the Confucian and Aristotelian concept of balance. He teaches the “Doctrine of the Mean,” or “Golden Mean” — which dictates that the correct course of action is always at the middle point of two extremes, excess and deficiency.
Tonight in Ford Field, Kansas meets Davidson in Midwest Regional final of the NCAA Tournament, with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Kansas has a basketball history that goes back to the inventor of the game. Davidson is a tiny school on a remote hill somewhere outside Charlotte, N.C., and is known for rigorous academics and free laundry services. Excess is on one side, deficiency on the other, and it’s a scrap for the middle.
In a strict sense, it’s a game like any other for Davidson. That is how McKillop presents it, without denigrating the magnitude of the event.
Asked about his system, McKillop said, “It’s a work in progress. I’m on a quest for the perfect game, the perfect performance, the perfect season. That’s my objective as a coach, and we certainly haven’t reached the point yet. I think the Brazilian soccer team, they called it ‘The Beautiful Game.’ That is what our system is all about, the quest for that. It’s based on balance, and so few people understand balance. You look (at our players). There’s a tremendous balance between humility and confidence. (Star guard) Steph Curry has a tremendous balance between fearlessness and patience. And I think our system has a balance between freedom and discipline. I think that’s something that can be a great example for the world because we need some balance in the world we live in today.”

columbusdispatch.com