NEWS BRIEFS
LONDON
Conjoined newborn twins must be separated, doctors say
Associated Press
Twins born joined at the chest and sharing a heart and liver must undergo surgery that will kill one of them and may give the other only a small chance to live, doctors said yesterday.
Natasha and Courtney Smith were born by Caesarean section Monday, with their arms around one another.
ãWhen I saw them for the first time, they looked so beautiful that I melted with love for them,ä The Sun newspaper quoted their mother, Tina May, as saying. ãBut my happiness is tinged with the agony of knowing the ordeal that lies ahead for all of us.ä
Dr. Nicholas Fisk, who helped deliver the girls at Londonâs Queen Charlotteâs and Chelsea Hospital, said the twins were in stable condition.
Because their heart is too weak to support both babies, doctors will have to separate them, Fisk said. They will give the heart to Natasha because more of it is in her body, but that means Courtney will die, said perinatal cardiologist Dr. Helena Gardiner.
Natasha will face an uncertain future.
Gardiner said the heartâs structure was complicated and doctors would have to examine the girls extensively before surgery.
Springfield, Ill.
Illinois attorney general says governor should consider resigning
Associated Press
The stateâs attorney general says Gov. George Ryan should consider resigning because of an ãextraordinary erosion of trustä caused by the bribery scandal among his underlings.
Attorney General Jim Ryan, the GOP nominee for governor, is the most prominent Republican yet to suggest the governor should think about quitting.
His statement issued yesterday was in response to a poll suggesting that two-thirds of Illinoisans believe the Republican governor should quit because of the scandal. The governor, not related to Jim Ryan, already has decided not to seek a second term.
ãI said from the first day of my candidacy for governor that we must restore trust in government,ä Jim Ryan said in the statement issued yesterday.
The governor has not been accused in the four-year scandal in which 48 individuals have been charged and 42 convicted, many of them former secretary of stateâs employees and campaign workers under the governor.
ãThe decision to step down is one only Gov. George Ryan can make,ä Jim Ryan said. ãBut given the extraordinary erosion of trust in his office, unfortunately, itâs one he must consider.ä
Salt Lake City
Examiners say document blaming Brigham Young for murder is fake
Associated Press
A document discovered earlier this year that blamed Brigham Young for the 1857 massacre in southern Utah of 120 Arkansas emigrants is a fake, according to a forensics examiner.
The sheet of lead was engraved with words purportedly written by John D. Lee, the only man held accountable for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Its authenticity has been questioned ever since it was found inside Leeâs Fort on the Colorado River in January.
The document, dated 1872, says Lee and other Mormon leaders carried out the murders on orders from Brigham Young, head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
William Flynn, who runs a private forensics lab in Phoenix, and George Throckmorton, manager of the Salt Lake City police crime lab, were hired by the National Park Service earlier this month to determine the authenticity of the lead sheet.
