WASHINGTON, D.C.

Senate votes on salmon settlement

A U.S. Senate committee voted Wednesday to implement a sweeping settlement to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River, moving the long-sought deal a step closer to reality.

Supporters hailed the advance as a piece of good news at a bleak time for salmon. Commercial salmon fishing has been halted off the California and Oregon coasts this year because of the collapse of Sacramento River chinook.

The Senate Energy Committee approved the bill 15-7.

The legislation, which still must pass the full House and Senate,would implement a legal settlement that would return water to a dry 60-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River by 2009 and bring back Chinook salmon three years later.

"Bottom line: This legislation can help resolve one of the oldest water disputes in the West," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Florida

Man opens fire at courthouse

ST. PETERSBURG — A man who was supposed to be returning divorce papers at a courthouse pulled out a gun there instead Wednesday, opening fire in the lobby before two bailiffs fatally shot him.

Several people were in the lobby at the time, but only one of the bailiffs was injured. He was treated and released from a hospital.

Glen Lee Powell, 30, entered the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. A deputy ordered him to remove his backpack and place it on a conveyor belt, but instead he threw it on the ground and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun, Pinellas County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said.

Deputies B.J. Lyons and Deputy Marvin Glover returned fire, seriously wounding Powell, who later died at a St. Petersburg hospital.

Michigan

Partners will not receive benefits

LANSING — A same-sex marriage ban prevents governments and universities in Michigan from providing health insurance to the partners of gay workers, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The 5-2 decision affects up to 20 universities, community colleges, school districts and governments in Michigan with policies covering at least 375 gay couples.

Gay rights advocates said the ruling was devastating but were confident that public-sector employers have successfully rewritten or will revise their benefit plans so same-sex partners can keep getting health care.

Oregon

Six sea lion deaths remain unsolved

PORTLAND — Federal officials investigating the deaths of six sea lions at a Columbia River dam did an about-face Wednesday, saying their initial assumption that the animals had been shot to death was wrong.

Officials have not ruled out human involvement, but the conclusion from preliminary necropsy results that shootings did not kill them reopened questions of how the animals died.

The necropsy results showed shallow puncture wounds in one animal consistent with sea lion bite marks, and X-rays found metal fragments in soft tissue near the neck of two animals, fisheries spokesman Brian Gorman said.

Mark Oswell, a wildlife enforcement officer for the service in Silver Spring, Md., said Wednesday that human involvement still cannot be ruled out and said dehydration, heat exhaustion or panic could have been factors.

—From wire reports