FDR speech, Stones join sound registry

Twenty-five culturally important recordings -- including an episode of "The Lone Ranger," President Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to Congress the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, and one of the Rolling Stones' most famous songs -- were selected yesterday for preservation in a special sound archive. Every year the Librarian of Congress chooses a variety of sound recordings to include in the National Recording Registry. The recordings are nominated by members of the public and a panel of music, sound, and preservation specialists, the library's National Recording Preservation Board. Among the 2006 additions to the collection are "You're the Top," Cole Porter (1934); "Blue Suede Shoes," Carl Perkins (1955); "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," Bob Newhart (1960); "Howl," Allen Ginsberg (1959); "We Shall Overcome," Pete Seeger (1963); and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," Rolling Stones (1965). (AP)

The Pentagon said yesterday that it will bar news coverage of hearings for the 14 terror suspects who were transferred to Guantanamo Bay last fall from secret CIA prisons abroad, including an alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. The hearings, which begin Friday, are meant to determine whether a prisoner is an "enemy combatant." If the prisoner is deemed to be an enemy combatant, President Bush can designate him as eligible for a military trial, the first of which are expected to begin this summer. News coverage of previous combatant status hearings was not prohibited, though there were restrictions on some information. There were more than 550 hearings between July 2004 and March 2005. (AP)

california

SACRAMENTO -- Seeking to give voters in the most populous state a greater voice in choosing the next president, California's state assembly agreed in a 46-to-28 vote yesterday to move its presidential primary to February 2008. In recent years, California has had little impact in choosing presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties as smaller states such as New Hampshire and Iowa with much earlier contests have taken a leading role. This year, more than a dozen US states are also considering moving their primaries to Feb. 5. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said he would sign the legislation. (Reuters)

maryland

ANNAPOLIS -- The state Senate voted yesterday to add homeless people to the list of groups protected under hate-crime laws. The bill, which passed 38 to 9, now moves to the House. Maryland law already calls for extra penalties for violent crimes against victims singled out because of race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. If the new measure is added, Maryland would be the first state to include the homeless in its hate crime law protections, said the measure's sponsor, Senator Alex Mooney. (AP)