Chicago – Italian-Americans upset over a suburban middle-school play titled “Fuggedaboutit – A Little Mobster Comedy,” performed by “The Bada Bing Players,” lost their federal court bid Wednesday to halt this weekend’s production.
The decision came a day after a mother and son filed a civil- rights lawsuit claiming that the play, written by a teacher, promoted hurtful stereotypes in its portrayal of old mobsters who look and sound like characters from “The Sopranos.”
But a judge ruled that the show at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia can go on.
“Public interest cries out for free expression in our schools,” U.S. District Judge John Grady said.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
CUMBERLAND, Md.
Abramoff begins 6-year prison term
Hours before entering federal prison Wednesday, lobbyist Jack Abramoff sent friends an e-mail lamenting “this nightmare” political scandal and thanking them for standing by him.
Abramoff, who parlayed campaign donations and expensive gifts into political influence from Congress to the White House, reported to a Maryland prison where he will earn no more than 40 cents an hour for assigned jobs.
He will serve a six-year sentence for a fraudulent Florida casino deal.
He is awaiting sentencing in a Capitol Hill public-corruption case in which he also is the star witness.
HONOLULU
Small tsunamis hit Hawaii, Calif.; 1 hurt
Small tsunami waves, some measuring several feet high, crashed into Hawaii on Wednesday, slightly injuring one swimmer, as ocean surges buffeted California.
The waves hit Hawaii about six hours after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck north of Japan, triggering tsunami warnings as far away as Alaska. No one was evacuated.
Thousands of people living along northern Japan’s Pacific coast fled to higher ground, but Japan’s meteorological agency withdrew its tsunami warning after about three hours.
A woman swimming at Waikiki Beach suffered cuts when she was sucked through an opening in a seawall as the water receded just before the swells arrived.
In California, ocean surges from 1 to 6 feet were reported.
KINSHASA, Congo
Kabila declared presidential winner
Incumbent President Joseph Kabila was declared the winner Wednesday of Congo’s tense runoff election, defeating his rival and ex-rebel leader, Jean- Pierre Bemba, in the country’s first multiparty contest in more than four decades.
Kabila, 35, won with about 58 percent of the vote, compared with nearly 42 percent for Bemba, said Apollinaire Malu Malu, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.
Bemba has disputed results from the Oct. 29 vote, and his forces fought police and troops loyal to Kabila on Saturday in the capital, leaving three civilians and one soldier dead.
