Sotomayor Breaks Ankle in New York

Dad cut from slide after water park mishap

(NEWSER) - It would be funny if it didn't sound so utterly painful: A British man in his thirties had to be cut from a fiberglass water slide after he flew into a concrete step at the end of the tube. "There was a small gap about an inch wide between the base of the flume and the plastic steps,' a rescue worker told the Daily Mail . "Due to the speed the man was traveling, his leg became wedged." More»

Secretary of state will undergo surgery next week.

(AP) - Hillary Clinton fractured her right elbow during a fall yesterday, and will undergo surgery to repair it in the coming week. The accident happened while the secretary of state was on her way to the White House, and she was taken to a university hospital for treatment before being released. Today Clinton had been scheduled to join Angelina Jolie for an event marking World Refugee Day, but the engagement has been removed from her schedule. More»

Or at least, with parts of it

(NEWSER) - Today the Supreme Court heard the final arguments in the case over Arizona's controversial immigration law, and it's not looking good for the Obama administration. Justices seemed decidedly skeptical about the Justice Department's central argument that the law impinged on the federal government's power to control immigration, the Washington Post reports. "What could possibly be wrong," John Roberts asked, with having police check detainees' immigration status, and pass the information to the federal government? More»

Most seem inclined to let parts of it stand

(NEWSER) - If the individual mandate is deemed unconstitutional , should the rest of President Obama's health care reform die with it? Supreme Court justices wrestled with that question today in the third and final day of arguments, with the challengers' lead attorney stating his case simply: “If the individual mandate is unconstitutional, then the rest of the act cannot stand," said Paul D. Clement. That got a mixed reaction, reports the Washington Post and New York Times :

• Antonin Scalia: He sounded sympathetic. “My approach would be to say that if you take the heart out of this statute, the statute’s gone.”
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg: She disagreed. “There are so many things in this act that are unquestionably OK,” she said. If the choice is between "a wrecking operation and a salvage job, a more conservative approach would be a salvage job."

Grab a bike helmet if one is coming, say Alabama researchers

(NEWSER) - A cheap, practical, and easy way exists to reduce injuries during a tornado, say researchers at the University of Alabama: Wear a helmet. Strapping on a motorcycle, bicycle, or football helmet in a pinch could provide crucial protection, especially considering that head injuries are such a common cause of tornado deaths, the researchers write at the UAB website . They want the CDC to begin incorporating the advice into its preparedness warnings, reports the Birmingham News . More»