Teen accused of racial offense at Walmart

New Jersey

Teen accused of racial OFFENSE at walmart

A 16-year-old boy who police said made an announcement at Walmart ordering all black people in the Washington Township, N.J., store to leave was charged with harassment and bias intimidation, authorities said Saturday. The boy, whose name was not being released because he is a juvenile, grabbed one of the courtesy phones at Walmart's Washington Township store on March 14 and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now," police said. The teen was arrested Friday and released to the custody of his parents; police did not know whether he had a lawyer.

new Mexico

Ex-Interior Secretary Udall dies at 90

Stewart Udall, who sowed the seeds of the modern environmental movement as secretary of the interior during the 1960s and later became a crusader for victims of radiation exposure from the government's Cold War nuclear programs, died Saturday (March 20, 2010). He was 90. A statement from his family, released through the office of his son, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, surrounded by his children and their families. He served six years in Congress as a Democrat from Arizona and then headed the Interior Department for eight years under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Texas

Ex-press secretary to first lady dies

Liz Carpenter, an author and former press secretary to first lady Lady Bird Johnson, died Saturday (March 20, 2010) at an Austin, Texas, hospital after contracting pneumonia earlier in the week, said her daughter, Christy Carpenter. She was 89. On Nov. 22, 1963, she scribbled the 58 words that Lyndon Johnson delivered to the nation when he returned to Washington from Dallas after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy: "This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help and God's."

Elsewhere

Thailand: A crimson tide of as many as 100,000 protesters snaked its way through Bangkok on Saturday, with thousands of cars, trucks and motorbikes tangling up traffic as demonstrators sought to drum up support for ousting a government they call illegitimate.

Nepal: Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepal's former prime minister who led mass protests that ended the king's authoritarian rule and helped deliver a peace deal to end 10 years of communist revolt, died Saturday (March 20, 2010). He was 86.

Times wires