Stem cell agency ruled legitimate

California’s novel, $3 billion stem cell research institute is a legitimate state agency and two lawsuits challenging its constitutionality have no merit, a state judge ruled Friday.

The ruling came a month after a four-day trial in which lawyers with connections to anti-abortion groups claimed the country’s most ambitious stem cell research agency violated California law because it wasn’t a true state agency and its managers had a host of conflicts of interest.

But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Lewman Sabraw handed the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine an unambiguous victory, writing that the lawsuits failed to show the voter-approved law that created the agency in 2004 “is clearly, positively and unmistakably unconstitutional.”

Proposition 71 was placed on the California ballot in November 2004 to counter President Bush’s stem cell research policy, which severely restricts the amount of federal funding that can be used for the work. Approved by 59 percent of the state’s voters, it will fund about $300 million annually in stem cell research that the federal government won’t.

Baltimore

Miss Kentucky named Miss USA

Miss Kentucky was crowned Miss USA in the 55th annual pageant Friday night.

Tara Elizabeth Conner, 20, of Russell Springs, was crowned by Chelsea Cooley of North Carolina, who is Miss USA 2005.

“I am an easygoing, down-to-earth girl,” Conner said.

“Throughout my life, hardships and different experiences have made me a very humbled, yet strong individual,” she said. “It is because of these life lessons that I have become the person I am today.”

The new titleholder will compete July 23 in the Miss Universe competition in Los Angeles.

Atlanta

Feds approve law requiring voter ID

The U.S. Justice Department gave its approval Friday to a Georgia law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls.

Groups challenging the law said they will seek an injunction to block it, making it unclear whether it would be in effect for elections this year.

Supporters – including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed the measure earlier this year – say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud. Opponents say it unfairly discriminates against minorities, the poor and the elderly, who are less likely to have a driver’s license.

Under the law, voters who do not have a license can get a state-issued photo ID for free.