Lady Bird Johnson leaves hospital

TEXAS
HOUSTON -- Lady Bird Johnson, 94, left an Austin hospital yesterday following six days of tests and observation, a Johnson family spokesman said. "Because of her stroke in 2002, her family and physicians always operate with caution," spokesman Neal Spelce said in a statement. "Everyone, especially Mrs. Johnson, is so pleased that she is home." The widow of President Lyndon Johnson had a low-grade fever when she was admitted June 22 to Seton Medical Center. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Senate yesterday confirmed Lieutenant General Douglas Lute as the president's personal war adviser by a 94-to-4 vote. President Bush in May nominated Lute to fill the newly created position, which is intended to reach across agency bureaucracies and better execute the president's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP)

The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Texas should not execute a severely mentally ill man because he could not comprehend why he was going to be put to death. The 5-to-4 ruling spared the life of Scott Louis Panetti, 49, who murdered his former in-laws in 1992 after battling mental health problems for years. Panetti has been on death row in Texas since 1995 and has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. (Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES -- Friendly felines first cozied up to humans in the Fertile Crescent at least 9,500 years ago, not in Egypt as commonly thought, an international team of researchers reported yesterday. While archeological evidence had previously suggested the date for the taming of wildcats, the new study, published in the online edition of the journal Science, provides genetic evidence that confirms the Near Eastern origin of domestic cats. It said farmers in Saudi Arabia and Israel were probably happy to have the cats around to protect stored grain from vermin. (Los Angeles Times)