n.y. democrat confident of primary win
NEW YORK — With Primary Day just days away, longtime congressman Charles Rangel said Saturday he’s not overconfident he’ll prevail over his closest rival — but insisted that voters would stick with a veteran lawmaker.
“If you had a racehorse that won 43 races, brings in the money, but the horse is old and experienced and knows the track — what would you do?” asked Rangel, 84, a 22-term New York Democrat.
A NY1/Siena College poll released Thursday put Rangel up 13 points over his closest challenger, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat.
Mass graves of immigrants found in Texas •FALFURRIAS, texas — Volunteer researchers have uncovered mass graves in a South Texas cemetery that they think contain the bodies of immigrants who died crossing into the U.S. illegally, according to published reports Saturday.
The discovery at Sacred Heart Burial Park in Falfurrias came in the last two weeks. Teams unearthed remains in trash bags, shopping bags, body bags or without a container at all, according to the Corpus Christi Caller Times.
Transgender priest to preach at National Cathedral•WASHINGTON — An openly transgender Episcopal priest is set to preach at Washington National Cathedral. The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal chaplain at Boston University, will be a guest preacher Sunday. He’ll be the first openly transgender priest to preach from Canterbury Pulpit at the cathedral.
N.H. police: Driver sheds stun gun barbs, flees •SALEM, n.h. — An unruly driver zapped with a stun gun during a traffic stop yanked out the barbs, assaulted the officer and fled early Saturday, prompting a two-state pursuit that also led him to steal a police cruiser and threaten to shoot officers, authorities said. Robert Zygarowski, 52, of Ellwood City, Pa., was finally arrested and charged with assault, resisting arrest and other offenses.
Off-the-book adoptees hope to find family. About 30 people showed up at a Tennessee motel Saturday to give cheek-swab DNA samples as people adopted through a nearby Georgia clinic hope to identify biological relatives before time for reconnecting runs out.
With no records of their birth parents, DNA testing might be the only way to confirm biological links for some of the 200-plus infants handed off to new parents in the 1950s and ’60s through the late Dr. Thomas Hicks’ clinic in McCaysville, near the Tennessee-North Carolina line.
Melinda Elkins Dawson, an organizer and one of the adoptees, estimated about 70 percent of those who participated could be potential relatives.
Gubernatorial candidate leads pride parade•PORTLAND, maine — A Democratic candidate who reluctantly came out of the closet last year found himself serving as the grand marshal of Maine’s biggest gay pride parade and festival Saturday and urged activists to continue to fight discrimination and promote equality.
Mike Michaud would become the nation’s first openly gay person to be elected governor if he unseats Republican Paul LePage in November. Denver Post wire services
