Nation in brief

Judge overturns law against junk e-mail

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A judge has ruled that Maryland's anti-spam law, the first state law to penalize senders of junk e-mail, is unconstitutional because it seeks to regulate commerce outside the state's borders.

Last week's ruling, which threw out a lawsuit against a New York e-mail marketer, effectively overturns Maryland's 2002 Commercial Electronic Mail Act.

Eric Menhart, the George Washington University law student who brought the case in Maryland against Joseph Frevola, promised to appeal.

Congress and more than three dozen state legislatures have passed laws to corral spam, the popular term for junk e-mail advertising. An appeals court in California and the Washington state Supreme Court have upheld state laws that had been declared unconstitutional by lower courts on grounds similar to the Dec. 9 ruling in Maryland.

Maryland's law allows residents who receive e-mail with certain false information to sue for damages. A separate criminal statute enacted in October adds criminal penalties of up to $25,000 and 10 years in prison.

WASHINGTON - First daughter Jenna Bush, who put her career plans on hold while campaigning to re-elect her father, has decided to live in Washington and plans to teach at a Washington public school that serves low-income children. The White House would not release details Tuesday, but the Washington Post reports she has applied to teach at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School.

The school's founder and executive director, Linda Moore, wouldn't confirm Bush's employment, saying: "We don't discuss the relationship between a prospective employee and the school until we have a formal agreement."

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for first lady Laura Bush, Tuesday would say only that Jenna "will live in Washington and will go to work at a public school."

The Elsie Whitlow Stokes school has 250 pupils enrolled in kindergarten through Grade 6, features immersion classes in Spanish and French, and emphasizes community service. Its children, who are largely Hispanic and black, visit soup kitchens and participate in an annual walk for the homeless.

Jenna, 22, holds a degree in English from the University of Texas. She has talked of her desire to teach at a charter school, while sister Barbara wants to work with children who have AIDS in Eastern Europe and Africa.

CHICAGO - For three or four years, a homeless man achieved the impossible: He found a cheap place to live on pricey Lake Shore Drive.

Actually, Richard Dorsay lived under Lake Shore Drive, in a wooden shack built into the beams and girders of the drawbridge that crosses the Chicago River.

Dorsay was recently evicted after an arrested man told police about the home under the bridge.

When authorities went inside, they found an elaborate setup that tapped into the bridge's electricity to power a television, microwave, space heater and PlayStation video game system. There, Dorsay could relax, turn on a Chicago Bears game, invite friends over and pop open some beers.

The home had it quirks. Whenever Dorsay heard the bells that signal the arms of the bridge would soon rise to let boats through, he held on as the bridge slowly pitched him forward.

"The first time it was scary," he said. "After that, it was almost like riding a Ferris wheel."

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