Cross Country

Posted 11/5/06

A Closely Watched Immigration Fight

The country's immigration battle took another turn last week when a federal judge blocked two landmark immigration ordinances in Hazleton, Pa., from being enforced just hours before they were to go into effect. The measures, now on hold until November 14, would have allowed city officials to fine landlords housing illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that hire them. Judge James Munley said enforcement would cause "irreparable harm" to businesses catering to Hispanics. His decision was in response to a suit filed by Hispanic groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The case is being watched, because towns like Valley Park, Mo., and Riverside, N.J., have copycat measures in place; others have considered them. Hazleton was the first city to try a landlord-fine approach, which supporters hoped was more defensible than other attempts to limit immigrant benefits. Said Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, "We have only begun to fight."

Harsh Report on a Fatal Blast

Budget cuts and negligence helped ignite the worst industrial accident in 10 years, according to a federal report released last week. The March 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City, Texas, refinery killed 15 people, injured 180, and left the London-based oil company mired in lawsuits. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has no legal power, but its conclusions that "aging infrastructure, overzealous cost-cutting, inadequate design, and risk blindness" contributed to the explosion will no doubt be cited in pending cases.

BP has acknowledged some safety problems at the refinery. But BP places blame on a few low-ranking employees, arguing that if proper "procedure had been followed ... this incident would not have happened."

The Texas City blast isn't the firm's only problem. BP is also under investigation for failing to fix a corroded pipeline that burst in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay earlier this year.

Tragic Score Card Underground

It has been a horrific year in the nation's mines. In January, 12 workers perished at West Virginia's Sago Mine, one of the worst disasters on record. Last week, one miner was killed and another seriously wounded in Pineville, W.Va., when a shuttle car they were trying to repair unexpectedly began to move, striking one miner and pinning the second against a wall. The accident raised this year's death toll to 43 nationwide, the highest level in more than a decade; the dangerous winter season still looms. Twenty-two of those deaths have occurred in West Virginia-the most there in 25 years. Tests by the state's mine safety office recently found that some of the air packs miners carry to provide an extra hour of oxygen have suffered heat damage; Randal McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of the Sago Mine tragedy, has sued the packs' maker. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is pushing for legislation next year that would improve safety.

It's a Sort-of South Florida Story

Sports agent Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez was thrown, well, a curveball last week. A federal grand jury in Miami indicted the California-based agent for allegedly smuggling professional baseball prospects to the United States from Cuba. The indictment alleges Dominguez traveled by boat to the island in July 2004, picking up 22 Cuban nationals-baseball players among them-before being intercepted by American law enforcement on the return trip; the nationals were returned to Cuba. The next month, Dominguez allegedly tried again, this time successfully bringing 19 Cubans stateside, including several ballplayers. Attorney Susan Dmitrovsky, who represents Dominguez, expressed confidence he will prevail. She called the United States a "vanguard for those seeking freedom" and said her client had merely "advance[d] that American heritage" lawfully. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said the case boiled down to human smuggling: "The ringleaders put the lives of illegal immigrants at risk and sought to profit from their labor."

Tattoo Taboo Lifted by Sooner State

Oklahoma is famous outlaw country. But until last week, it didn't take much to be branded a fugitive. Like creating an "I love Mom" tattoo. After decades of tumult over the morality of body art, Oklahoma bowed to public pressure last Wednesday by becoming the last state to legalize a ritual commonly shared by sorority girls and Hells Angels. The new law comes as a relief to the state's underground tattoo artists, some of whom have done time for their illicit activities.

In Oklahoma City, lawmakers did the about-face after persistent arguments that prohibition had put needles in the hands of unlicensed ink slingers. Now tattoo artists will be forced to abide by public-health standards and learn proper technique. However, no tax dollars will be spent on inspecting and licensing tattoo parlors. Rather, the funds will come from fees paid by the business owners.

With Angie C. Marek, Bret Schulte, Will Sullivan, Silla Brush and Associated Press