The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Arizona’s quarter, 4 others unveiled

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Grand Canyon at sunrise, a grizzly bear clutching a salmon, and a scissortail flycatcher in flight. Those striking images will be on the final batch of state quarters as the most successful coin program in history draws to a close.

The U.S. Mint on Tuesday unveiled the final five designs for the state quarters with the first one, honoring Oklahoma, to be put into circulation in late January with the other four following at 10-week intervals after that.

The states have been honored in the order they were admitted to the union, starting with Delaware. It was honored with a quarter in 1999. The effort kicked off a collecting craze unlike anything ever seen before in the coin world.

Based on a 2005 survey, Mint officials estimate 147 million people have gotten involved in collecting the quarters with their constantly changing designs.

“The American people have made the 50 state quarters the most successful coins in United States history,” said Mint Director Ed Moy.

The final five coins will start with Oklahoma, which entered the union in 1907. It will feature the state bird, the scissortail flycatcher, and the state wildflower, the Indian blanket.

That will be followed by a Zia sun symbol for New Mexico, which entered the union on Jan. 6, 1912. Arizona, admitted on Feb. 14, 1912, will be represented by the Grand Canyon and a saguaro cactus.

Alaska’s coin will feature a grizzly bear wading in a stream with a salmon in its mouth while the Hawaii coin depicts King Kamehameha. Alaska and Hawaii were the last states to join the union in 1959.

Through the first eight years of the program, the Mint produced 31.2 billion quarters. Moy said about 20 billion of those quarters were due to the popularity of the changing designs which attracted collectors in record numbers.

The quarters are scheduled to revert back to their pre-1999 designs after next year. George Washington will remain on the “heads” side of the coin, but the “tails” side where the state designs had been placed will once again feature an American eagle.

“Keep watching your change,” Moy advises.

Immigrant sentenced in shopping mall plot

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Somali immigrant to 10 years in prison for plotting to blow up an Ohio shopping mall with a man later convicted of being an al-Qaida terrorist.

Nuradin Abdi, a cell phone salesman before his arrest, will be deported to Somalia after serving the sentence. U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley imposed the sentence as part of a plea deal Abdi agreed to in July.

In a 20-minute statement to the court, Abdi’s attorney Mahir Sherif said his client apologized to the people of the United States, the people of Ohio and the Muslim community.

The alleged plot was never carried out and Sherif long maintained Abdi was guilty at most of ranting about the United States’ handling of the war in Afghanistan.

Critics of Clean Elections refile court challenge

PHOENIX?—Critics of Arizona’s system of public campaign funding are going back to court.

The critics are refiling a challenge to key elements of the so-called “Clean Elections” system. An appellate court overturned a trial judge’s decision to dismiss the case.

The challenge contends that providing matching funds to publicly financed candidates chills free-speech rights of groups that make independent expenditures and coerces candidates into running with public financing.

The lawsuit also targets restrictions on private contributions and asks that the whole system be overturned if it can’t stand without the challenged parts.

Clean Elections supporters disagree, saying matching funds are essential to provide an equal playing field.

Abu Dhabi to invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup

NEW YORK—The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup, offering the nation’s largest bank needed capital to offset big losses from mortgages and other investments.

The cash from the sovereign investment fund of the Gulf Arab state, which has benefited from this year’s surge in oil prices, will be convertible into no more than 4.9 percent of Citigroup Inc.’s equity. Citigroup characterized the investment as passive and said the fund will not be able to name any board members to the bank.

The purchase would make the Investment Authority one of Citi’s largest shareholders.

Red Cross president ousted over relationship

NEW YORK?—The American Red Cross ousted its president, Mark Everson, on Tuesday after learning that he had engaged in a “personal relationship” with a subordinate employee.

Everson, the former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, took the Red Cross job last May as the charity sought to restructure itself after sharp criticism of its response to Hurricane Katrina.

In a statement, the Red Cross said its board of governors asked for and received Everson’s resignation, effective immediately, after learning within the past two weeks of the relationship with a woman on the Red Cross staff. The woman was not identified.

The Red Cross also released a statement from Everson, who is married and has two children.

“I am resigning for personal and family reasons, and deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue a job so recently undertaken,” he said. “I leave with extraordinary admiration for the American Red Cross.”

The charity’s board appointed Mary S. Elcano, its general counsel for the past five years, as interim president and CEO. Elcano’s past experience includes a stint as executive vice president of human resources with the U.S. Postal Service.

Astor’s son indicted in plundering of estate

NEW YORK—The son of philanthropist Brooke Astor was accused Tuesday of plundering his mother’s $198 million estate and conspiring to have the Alzheimer’s-stricken socialite sign a new will leaving her fortune to him.

Astor, known for decades as the grande dame of New York society and philanthropy, gave away nearly $200 million to institutions such as the New York Public Library, Carnegie Hall and other causes.

Anthony Marshall, an 83-year-old Broadway producer, was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment. His former attorney, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., was indicted on similar allegations.

Marshall and Morrissey “took advantage of Mrs. Astor’s diminished mental capacity in a scheme to defraud her and others out of millions of dollars,” District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.

As early as 2001, Astor’s doctors had told Marshall that his mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, that her ability to understand complex issues was limited, and that her condition would worsen, Morgenthau said.

Three years later, the prosecutor said, Marshall and Morrissey conspired to have Astor’s attorney fired, and to have her sign an updated will that left Marshall virtually everything.