National digest 1/24

Judge orders psychiatric evaluation for ex-priest

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A former Catholic priest who was convicted of indecent assault on a 10-year-old boy was ordered Wednesday to undergo 30 days of psychiatric evaluation before his sentencing.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Sandra Hamlin said the evaluation would serve "as an aid in sentencing." It was not requested by attorneys.

John J. Geoghan, who was defrocked in 1998, was convicted last week of inappropriately touching the boy in a swimming pool in 1991.

His sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Feb. 21 but that could change because of Geoghan's pending trial on sexual abuse charges in another case. The second of his three criminal trials is scheduled to begin Feb. 20.

Research balloon lands after Antarctic flight

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- A giant unmanned research balloon has been brought back to the ground in Antarctica after a record flight of nearly 32 days to study particles from space, researchers said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration brought the helium-filled balloon down Monday, ending a flight that studied atomic particles bombarding the Earth.

The balloon was launched from McMurdo Station, the main U.S. facility in Antarctica, by the National Scientific Balloon Facility, which New Mexico State University runs for NASA.

The balloon, which carried instruments for Washington University in St. Louis, took advantage of polar wind currents to make two circuits of Antarctica in the stratosphere, the region 12 to 30 miles above the ground, said Danny Ball, manager of the facility based in Palestine, Texas.

Kentucky lawmakers weigh ban on cloning

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill that would make human cloning a felony in Kentucky zipped through the state House without debate.

Cloning became a hot issue in Kentucky last year after a researcher in Lexington, Panayiotis Zavos, announced he was working with an Italian reproductive specialist to clone a human by 2003.

Zavos has said he sees cloning as a means of allowing infertile couple to have children.

Republican Rep. Joe Fischer told his colleagues in the House on Tuesday that human cloning "destroys individuality." The House passed the bill 91-0 without debate and sent it to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily. The governor has not publicly commented on it.

Girl ill with E. coli gets kidney from her father

PHILADELPHIA -- A girl who suffered severe kidney damage after contracting E. coli at a petting zoo received a new kidney from her father.

Erin Jacobs, 4, and her father were reported in stable condition Wednesday after Tuesday's operation.

Erin was one of 16 children sickened in the fall of 2000 by E. coli traced to cattle at Merrymead Farm in Worcester.

The disease so badly damaged Erin's kidneys that she needed dialysis. Just before Christmas, surgeons removed her damaged kidneys.

The girl's parents have sued the owners of the petting zoo.

Nuclear plant cited for poor handling of waste

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Comanche Peak nuclear power plant has been cited by federal regulators for repeated, improper handling of low-level radioactive waste, authorities said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said contaminated clothing and maintenance equipment were left outside a controlled area 11 times between Jan. 24, 2000, and May 24, 2001.

The alleged violations were the first at Comanche Peak, one of Texas' two nuclear plants, since 1993.

"The contaminated materials weren't dealt with properly," NRC spokesman Breck Henderson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Wednesday's editions.

TXU Energy, owner of the plant 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, said the infractions posed no risk to the public or employees.

-- From wire reports