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Newsdepth - The Iditarod; New Russian President
Newsdepth
 
 
 
Ohio played an important role in helping to decide who will be the next president of the United States. Tuesday was the Primary Election day for Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. In Ohio, they results were fairly clear. Hillary Clinton took the lead by only 10%, so it was a close one. But John McCain was the clear winner for the Republicans. Susan Roesgen is in Columbus, with more on this week's primary election results.

Russia has already chosen a new president. And it won't be much of a change for this country. Dmitry Medvedev, a former aide hand picked by current president Vladamir Putin, won by more than seventy percent of the vote. Despite claims of pressure tactics, the Kremlin says the balloting was fair. One of Medvedev's first acts was choosing Putin as the prime minister. Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than an eighth of the earth's land. It expands across northern Asia and forty percent of Europe. But not that far away! One of Russia's islands is only about 2.5 miles from an Alaskan island!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spent two days in Iraq last week. He met with their president and prime minister to sign memorandums of understanding. Basically, they agreed on border and economic terms, and pledged peace. While there he visited a holy shrine in the Shiite district of Baghdad.

Have you ever been to a courtroom? They're usually big and fancy, with high wooden benches and black-robed judges who handle case after case after case. That's the way it is in the U.S., but there's nothing in America quite like the court they've just started over in India. Sara Sidner reports on India's "mobile courts." Instead of dealing with an overwhelming backlog of cases back in the city, the courtroom is going out to small villages and setting up in the streets.

Last weekend was ceremonial start for the Iditarod in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, with thousands of race fans lining the streets in freezing weather, cheering on the mushers as they traveled through the streets. For 2008, a record 96 dog teams will travel through harsh weather and cold - 11-hundred miles - from Willow, Alaska to Nome, Alaska, retracing the route of a life-saving dog sled trip carrying medicine in 1925.

Dozens of utility companies across the state are considering joining one big project--a proposed coal-fired power plant to be built by American Municipal Power-Ohio in southern Ohio. Backers say it will be the cleanest coal plant ever built, but critics are calling for more attention to more environmentally friendly alternatives. While a new plant would bring new jobs, some folks living in Meigs county don't want to live next door to yet another coal-fired plant. The city of Cleveland would be the biggest customer, and recently agreed to a fifty-year deal.
March 6, 2008