Across the southeast

Marine in Iraq watches girl's birth via satellite

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Marine Cpl. Terrence Lambert will have to wait until his return to Alabama in the fall to hold his first child, but a satellite linkup in Iraq allowed him to witness her birth on Father's Day.

Cpl. Lambert, 21, watched from a room at Alisade Air Base, near the Syrian border in Iraq, while his wife, Jodilynn, gave birth early Sunday at Jacksonville Medical Center.

Twenty-year-old Jodilynn Lambert could see her husband on a 50-inch television screen as they talked and waited until their daughter, Katherine Annalee Lambert, arrived.

"It usually takes two months for us to get a letter. So this is a big improvement," he said.

Mayor keeps shorts on to help his city

BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS. - Like many of his constituents, Eddie Favre, the mayor of Bay St. Louis, lost everything but the clothes he was wearing when Hurricane Katrina flattened Mississippi's Gulf Coast. So Mr. Favre turned his misfortune into a vow: He's not shedding his Bermuda shorts until his city is back on its feet.

President Bush joked about Mr. Favre's attire when they shared a stage.

Mr. Favre, 52, welcomes the ribbing as long as it keeps a spotlight on his city, which before Katrina was known for beachfront summer homes, quaint shops and a thriving art colony. Now the city is littered with bare concrete slabs where homes used to be, boarded-up businesses and government-issued trailer homes.

"Make us whole," pleads the mayor.

"Until you make us whole, I'm wearing short pants. Somebody is going to get stuck with these ugly legs."

Motorcycle deaths rose after helmet law ended

MELBOURNE, FLA. - Motorcycle fatalities involving riders without helmets have soared in the nearly six years since Gov. Jeb Bush repealed the state's mandatory helmet law, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A Florida Today analysis of federal motorcycle crash statistics found "unhelmeted" deaths in Florida rose from 22 in 1998 and 1999, the years before the helmet law repeal, to 250 in 2004, the most recent year of available data.

Total motorcycle deaths in the state have risen 67 percent, from 259 in 2000 to 432 in 2004, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics.