1st Indian-American governor takes office

BATON ROUGE, LA. --- Bobby Jindal, the 36-year-old son of Indian immigrants, was sworn in Monday as Louisiana's 55th governor and moved to make good on a campaign promise, saying he will call a February special legislative session on ethics to help cleanse the state's corrupt image.

Louisiana's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction, the nation's first elected Indian-American governor and the nation's youngest sitting governor, Mr. Jindal pledged to overcome the stereotype of the state as a haven for cronyism and self-serving politicians.

"We have the opportunity -- born of tragedy but embraced still the same -- to make right decades of failure in government," Mr. Jindal said, referencing hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Mr. Jindal, a second-term member of Congress when he was elected, took the oath from the state Supreme Court's chief justice, Pascal Calogero. Mr. Jindal's wife, Supriya, held the Bible.

ROANOKE, VA.--- Appeals have been dropped in the case of former Lynchburg Mayor Carl B. Hutcherson Jr., who was convicted in 2006 of raiding his church's charity and stealing from disabled Social Security recipients.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently granted a motion by the prosecution and defense to dismiss the case.

Mr. Hutcherson's attorneys said Monday that they dropped their appeal of his convictions of fraud, lying to federal and bank officials and obstruction of justice after being told prosecutors wouldn't appeal the sentence.

U.S. District Judge James Turk sentenced him to 36 months probation, six months of house arrest and 200 hours community service.

Federal prosecutors initially said they thought Mr. Hutcherson's sentence was too lenient. No one immediately returned a phone query to explain why the case was dropped.

-- Associated Press