Cargo ship from St-Pierre-Miquelon sinks off N.L., four crew missing

MARYSTOWN, N.L. — A cargo ship carrying a load of road salt to the French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon capsized and sank off Newfoundland on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a search for four crew members.

The 37-metre Cap Blanc went down 16 kilometres south of Marystown, N.L., at about 1:30 p.m. AT. Bruno Arantzabe, an official at the St-Pierre Port Authority, said the ship left Argentia, N.L., in the middle of the night for a 12-hour voyage home.

It later sank in about 130 metres of water, but it remains unclear what caused the ship to capsize.

Arantzabe said everyone in the French-owned islands was concerned for the safety of the four men.

“They are all friends. It is a small community here,” he said by phone from St-Pierre.

“We are only 5,000 inhabitants. It is a big disaster for us.”

The ship, owned by Alliances SP, is a small general cargo vessel that makes regular runs between the tiny islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland.

Mike Bonin, another search-and-rescue spokesman, said an empty lifeboat was found in the search area off Marystown.

Two Cormorant helicopters from Gander, N.L., a Hercules aircraft from Greenwood, N.S., and two coast guard vessels and an RCMP patrol boat were involved in the search.

The crew aboard the coast guard icebreaker George R. Pearkes took over search duties as darkness fell.

Another coast guard vessel, the W. Jackman, was to join the search Wednesday morning, according to the rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax.

The RCMP was also expected to dispatch the Murray, an RCMP patrol vessel, and the Defence Department was to send a Cormorant helicopter from Gander.

Bonin said winds in the area at the time the vessel capsized were about 50 kilometres per hour.

Arantzabe said there was no radio contact between the ship’s crew and the port before the ship ran into trouble.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i4i8s4sjtphXOokqA1hPR1SMXn1Q

Military chiefs urge raid inside Pakistan

PAKISTAN was bracing last night for a retaliatory airstrike by India against the sprawling headquarters of the al-Qa’ida-linked Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist organisation near Lahore.

As Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned the LET militants “had the power to precipitate war in the region”, India demanded that Islamabad hand over a list of about 20 people, including India’s most-wanted man Dawood Ibrahim.

India’s military chiefs were exerting strong pressure on the country’s political leaders to give permission to attack the headquarters, an 80ha site at Muridke, close to the Punjab capital of Lahore, just across the border from India.

The reports came as the Indian Government summoned the Pakistani high commissioner in New Delhi yesterday to demand “strong action” against the Pakistani militants who it says were responsible for last week’s attacks on Mumbai.

New Delhi warned Shahid Malik that India expected Islamabad to take “swift action” to deal with the evidence of involvement by LET operating from bases inside Pakistan.

India demanded that Islamabad extradite Ibrahim, a fugitive Mumbai mafia don who it believes has links to LET, the terrorist group long allied to Pakistan’s ISI spy agency.

India also asked for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the LET founder, and Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, who was freed in exchange for passengers on a hijacked Indian Airlines flight in 1999.

Ibrahim, Mumbai’s most notorious underworld don, is the head of D-Company, a feared crime syndicate, and one of the world’s five most wanted men. He is widely believed to have worked closely with al-Qa’ida. He is also thought to have masterminded the 1993 Mumbai bombings, a series of 13 explosions that claimed 250 lives.

New Delhi issued its demands after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan to co-operate with India as she prepared to visit New Delhi to mediate between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The heavily guarded LET complex near Lahore, known as the Markaz-e-Taiba (Holy Centre), includes mosques and madrassas with more than 3000 students. Theoretically it is the headquarters of the Jamaat-ul-Dawah Muslim welfare organisation that is closely identified with LET.

Saeed, the LET founder and spiritual leader, lives in the complex.

Reports yesterday said that if India attacked the complex — possibly to kill Saeed — an attempt would be made to justify the action by pointing to the way in which the US was launching pre-emptive strikes inside Pakistani territory using unmanned drones to kill al-Qa’ida and Taliban targets.

Indian sources have confirmed that investigators have established strong links between the group of terrorists who attacked Mumbai and the LET leadership inside Pakistan.

Intercepts of calls made on a satellite telephone used by the group before they disembarked from the “mother ship” that brought them from Karachi shows a series of calls made to Muridke.

Indian officials said that all the militants were from Pakistan and that the only one captured alive had admitted to being part of LET.

Yesterday, the surviving terrorist, Ajmal Amin Kamal, in a new interrogation by Indian investigators, again linked the Mumbai attack to LET, saying he had joined the organisation at the behest of his father to raise money for his family.

He named an LET commander who, he said, paid his father for his services.

Pakistan reluctantly announced a formal ban on LET in 2002 after coming under strong international pressure to clamp down on the organisation. This followed a spectacular attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001, launched by LET together with the Kashmir-based JEM.

Although still technically outlawed in Pakistan, LET has managed to expand its membership and activities and has also established itself in other countries.

To get around the formal ban on its activities, LET renamed itself Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which gained considerable influence across Pakistan as a result of the “welfare” work it did after the devastating 2005 earthquake in Kashmir. The US Government has also classified Jamaat-ud-Dawah as a terrorist organisation and said it is no more than an “alias” of LET.

Indian investigators are convinced there is no doubt of LET’s involvement in the Mumbai outrage.

Mr Zardari insisted the militants who attacked Mumbai were “non-state actors” with no links to any government.

Reports yesterday said India received warnings in October from US intelligence of a possible terrorist attack “from the sea” on targets in Mumbai.

Unnamed American intelligence officials told US television news service ABC that they had warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack “from the sea against hotels and business centres in Mumbai”.

One intelligence official even mentioned specific targets, including the Taj Mahal hotel, ABC said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24743163-2703,00.html

PM may suspend Parliament

OTTAWA – To save his job and his government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to suspend Parliament this week while his party blitzes the country with a public-relations campaign aimed at discrediting the notion of a Liberal-led coalition government propped up by the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The Conservative party began airing radio ads Tuesday while ministers and other Tory representatives were appearing on as many all-news television channels and talk-radio programs as they could to push their party’s message that they will not, in the words of one of Harper’s senior advisers, “allow a new radical government without the people’s consent.”

The key attack line from the Tories is that the Liberals are betraying their federalist principles by agreeing to demands from the Bloc Quebecois.

“This deal that the leader of the Liberal party has made with the separatists is a betrayal of the voters of this country, a betrayal of the best interests of our economy, a betrayal of the best interests of our country, and we will fight it with every means we have,” Harper said in the House of Commons. “The highest principle of Canadian democracy is that if one wants to be prime minister, one gets one’s mandate from the Canadian people and not from Quebec separatists.”

But NDP Leader Jack Layton shot back that Harper himself was prepared to align himself with Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois in 2004 when he was the opposition leader trying to bring down the government of Paul Martin.

“I didn’t hear any of this high and mighty language and moral indignation from the prime minister when he signed a document along with myself and Mr. (Bloc Leader Gilles) Duceppe a few years ago,” Layton said.

The Liberals challenged Harper to call a confidence vote.

“Every member of the House has received a mandate from the Canadian people to deliver a government that will face the economic crisis. The prime minister has failed. The prime minister does not have the support of the House any more,” Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said. “Will he allow a vote to test if he has really the confidence of the House as it must be in a parliamentary democracy?”

Dion and Harper engaged in a heated, even explosive, exchange. At one point, Harper accused Dion of removing the Canadian flags from the room before signing the deal with Layton and Duceppe. News organizations, including Canwest News Service, took several photographs which clearly showed there were two Canadian flags, as well as the flags from all the provinces, directly behind the leaders as they read their statements – along with a third separate Canadian flag behind the table where they signed the agreement.

Harper’s defiant demeanour in the House on Tuesday was in marked contrast to the previous day, when he and many other Conservative MPs seemed resigned to losing power.

But sources in the Prime Minister’s Office say he regained his fight while watching the signing Monday of the tri-partite accord. They say Harper was particularly incensed at Layton’s comments at the news conference that followed, during which he called on Harper to accept his fate with dignity and accept his new role as leader of the opposition. According to those close to the prime minister, Harper said he felt Layton and the other leaders failed to show him any respect.

During question period Tuesday, the Conservatives leaped to their feet on several occasions to give the prime minister standing ovations. Insults flew from both sides of the Commons, with the Tories labeling Dion a “traitor” and the Liberals shouting at Harper, “You are not the president.” After question period, the Conservatives showered the prime minister with chants of “Harper! Harper!” in the government lobby before breaking out into the national anthem.

The bare-knuckles politicking followed the unveiling Monday of the historic accord between the Liberals and the NDP to unseat Harper’s minority government and replace it with a coalition supported by the Bloc Quebecois. The new coalition government would be led by Dion until May 2, his previously announced resignation date, when the new leader of the Liberal party would take over as prime minister. Layton and five of his NDP MPs would get seats in the 24-person coalition cabinet.

But several Liberal MPs, asking for anonymity, said that while the deal had the unanimous support of caucus, it was the best of a bad set of choices facing their party, and they privately hoped another way out of this political showdown might be found.

For Harper, it’s the fight of his political career. Many in his caucus are already grumbling that he’s responsible for goading the opposition with unnecessary and incendiary initiatives in last week’s economic and fiscal statement. In that document, the government proposed eliminating taxpayer subsidies for political parties and rolling back wages for public-sector unions while taking away their right to strike. Both those measures were hastily withdrawn over the weekend, but not before they had galvanized the opposition to begin the talks that would eventually lead to the coalition accord.

The Conservative party also launched a new website at canadians4democracy.ca and was trying to organize various anti-coalition rallies across the country. Conservative activists are also being encouraged to call Liberal and NDP MPs to convince them to reconsider.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gen Michaelle Jean, who will play a key role in breaking the parliamentary logjam, is cutting short a state visit to Europe to return to Canada on Wednesday.

The government has the authority to suspend Parliament indefinitely, a process known as “proroguing.” However, the prime minister must ask the Governor General for approval before doing so.

Typically, the Governor General grants the request as a matter of course at the end of a long Parliament, but Jean will be facing unprecedented circumstances, namely, the prospect of a government trying to suspend Parliament in the face of certain defeat.

If Parliament is prorogued, it would most likely reconvene just before the Conservatives table a budget on Jan. 27, giving the Tories nearly two months to conduct their anti-coalition campaign for nearly two months.

Many Liberal and NDP MPs said Tuesday they fully expect Harper to prorogue. Conservative officials were non-committal when asked, saying only the prime minister would use “any legal means necessary” to secure his position. The prime minister is expected to make a televised address if and when he decides to prorogue.

Prorogation could happen as early as Wednesday, although Liberals and Conservatives are betting Harper will wait until the end of the week while his party’s public-relations campaign builds some steam.

If Harper does seek a prorogation – or suspension of the current session of Parliament – and if the Governor General refuses his request, the government would face its first and likely last confidence vote in the House of Commons on Monday. Although Jean could choose to call a new general election, should the government lose a confidence motion, constitutional experts and many Conservatives themselves believe that, given how little time has elapsed since the Oct. 14 general election, she would simply invite Dion to form a government and become the country’s 23rd prime minister.

Jean said in a TV interview in Prague that she has received the letter Dion sent Monday on behalf of the coalition that has formed to replace the Conservatives.

“I received his letter, and the message in the letter is clear,” Jean said. “I think that my presence is required in the country, so I will be leaving tomorrow.”

Asked what she would do if Harper asks for a prorogation, Jean replied that her door is open when she returns.

“Before I can answer this question, I have to see what the prime minister has to say to me, and what he is actually thinking of doing. I don’t know exactly anything about his intentions yet.”

http://www.montrealgazette.com/suspend+Parliament+avoid+confidence/1021160/story.html

High tide wallops Venice for 2nd straight day

VENICE, Italy (AP) – Strong southern winds pushed the Adriatic Sea into Venice again Tuesday, submerging parts of the lagoon city a day after an unusually high tide caused the worst flooding in 20 years.

Tuesday’s tidal surge peaked at 3 feet, 4 inches (102 centimeters), well below Monday’s 5 foot, 1-inch level (156 centimeters), which marked the fourth highest tide in the city’s recorded history and the worst since 1986.

Still, the water Tuesday was high enough to flood the city’s landmark St. Mark’s Square and other low-lying areas.

Tourists and locals waded through the historic piazza with high boots as alarms warned of the latest bout of “acqua alta.” At least one person decided to enjoy the flooded square, zipping about with a kite-surf until police stepped in to end his fun.

Most locals were not amused by the sea’s return.

“Today is going a little bit better, but yesterday it was a disaster,” said jeweler Adriano Cavassoni as he checked the water flowing in front of his shop’s doorstep.

On Monday, the knee-high water invaded shops, damaged merchandise, idled transportation including the city’s public water buses and led to some power cuts. Most Venetians were surprised because authorities didn’t initially forecast such a high tide level, but no damage to the city’s artistic treasures was reported.

The ANSA news agency reported that Venice was planning to spend euro1 million ($1.27 million) to pay for the damages left by the flood. City officials said authorities and shopkeepers would discuss the issue at a meeting Thursday.

Strong southern winds have been driving the sea into Venice’s lagoon, causing the unusually high tides. Forecasters said the tides are expected to subside in the next few days as the weather improves.

While many tourists gladly splashed around the city, some hoteliers feared that the images of Monday’s high tide would scare away visitors.

“We’ve been flooded with calls from people who want to cancel their reservation because they think Venice is under water,” said Giuseppe Mazzarella, a receptionist at the Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal. “We reassured them that it’s all over … and even if it happens again, it’s quite fun for tourists.”

Venice is building a system of movable barriers that would rise from the seabed to ease the effect of high tides, but the $5.5 billion project won’t be completed until 2010 at the earliest.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081202/D94QNEN81.html

City To Cut Back On Plowing Snow On Side Streets

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Your neighborhood could look very different this winter. Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday that city crews will cut back on plowing side streets this winter in an effort to save money. The mayor said the city will only plow side streets during weekday union business hours this winter, rather than during overtime hours. But as CBS 2′s Derrick Blakley reports if there’s one city service Chicagoans demand, it’s outstanding snow removal.

“I expect for the streets to be cleaned for my tax money,” said Chicago resident Sarah Lockhart.

“That’s the kind of spending we need to maintain,” said Chicago resident Madeline Norris.

During the snowstorm on Monday, the city Department of Streets and Sanitation was tested for the first time this season under extremely tight budgetary constraints.

City Department of Streets & Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi, according to the release from Streets & San, pointed out that Monday’s moderate snow, which brought 2 1/2 inches to the North Side and 1 1/2 inches to the South Side, still cost $490,000 to clear because of high costs for equipment ($143,000), salt ($295,000) and workers ($51,000).

“Our full route system covers 9,456 lane miles and during a full snow program is patrolled by 274 snow-fighting trucks which use gasoline, spread salt and are operated by salaried drivers, so costs will naturally mount whenever we go out,” Picardi said. “Our challenge is to find as many ways to provide this important service while still working to reduce costs.”

“That was only 1.5 inches, 2.5 inches of snow. It’s almost half a million dollars just like that,” Mayor Daley said.

So cutbacks are necessary and the side streets will feel it first. They’ll still be cleared, but not using Streets & San workers on overtime.

“Let’s say we’re on the main streets till 9, 10 at night. We’re gonna wait until 7:00 the following morning to attack the side streets,” Picardi said. “So there’ll be a period when the side streets will be covered with snow.”

On Monday, Snow Command helped cut costs by using state-of-the-art technology to track the storm and coordinate deployment of the snow-fighting fleet to just before the actual storm system arrived. They also avoided extra overtime charges by promptly pulling the fleet off duty at 3 p.m. once side streets were cleared.

“We have literally become victims of our own success,” Picardi said, “because residents always expect to see main streets fully cleared and grow impatient when side streets aren’t cleared immediately, but everyone needs to know that this high standard of snow removal comes at a very high cost. We ask our residents to be patient during snow clearing operations and to drive with caution on our side streets until we get to them.”

“While safety remains our number one concern,” Picardi said in a release, “cost containment is also very important in this age of shrinking revenues and increasing costs.”

“That’s not an area I’d like to see services get cut in because it would affect a lot of people,” said Chicago resident Howard Williams.

It was voters’ anger over the city’s inept reaction to the snowstorm of 1979 that swept Michael Bilandic out and Jayne Byrne into the mayor’s office.

Ever since, snow removal has been a budgetary sacred cow with mayors spending whatever it takes. And voters’ attitudes haven’t changed.

“It could be a little dangerous, politically speaking,” said Chicago resident Angie Shansky. “The people of Chicago want their streets cleared.”

The city is also asking your help regarding side streets: keep your sidewalks shoveled, dig your car out and throw the snow on the parkway, not into the street.

There is one area where the city’s saving big-time on snow removal costs: salt. Suburbs are paying $140 a ton for salt. The city’s only paying $40 a ton, because it signed a two-year contract before prices skyrocketed.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/snow.removal.costs.2.877966.html

Harkin demands Postville explanation

*I can tell you that there will never be an explanation, for a certain lobby will never allow such questions to be answered.*

Washington, D.C. – Sen. Tom Harkin wants the Bush administration to explain why the Agriprocessors slaughter plant in Postville was allowed to operate when it couldn’t pay for the livestock it was buying.

Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says it was clear by the middle of October that Agriprocessors was not fully paying cattle and poultry sellers.

The plant was processing poultry up to two weeks ago, Harkin said in a letter Monday to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.

“Companies that are insolvent or in breach of their obligation to pay promptly are not to continue operating,” Harkin wrote.

The USDA enforces a federal law that’s meant to protect farmers in the event that a packer gets in financial trouble. The law requires packers to hold livestock and proceeds from meat sales in trust until their cash suppliers are paid. But Harkin said unpaid claims against Agriprocessors “evidently far exceed” the amount in trust.

USDA spokesman Keith Williams disputed that statement, saying that the company has a bond as well as trust assets to cover claims and that the value of the claims is yet to be determined.

Williams also said it would be up to the courts to decide whether the plant was operating while it was unable to pay its suppliers.

The plant, which was once the nation’s largest supplier of kosher meat, went into decline after an immigration raid in May and then filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped operations in November.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081202/BUSINESS01/812020366/-1/ENT05

L’humiliation pour Harper “la terreur”

Les conservateurs canadiens devaient former un nouveau gouvernement minoritaire après les législatives anticipées du 14 octobre. Mais les méthodes de leur chef, Stephen Harper, ont convaincu les partis d’opposition de s’entendre pour prendre le pouvoir.

Que se passe-t-il au Canada ? La presse est frappée de stupeur face aux événements qui se déroulent à Ottawa depuis une semaine. “Quel choix amer doivent maintenant faire les Canadiens : un gouvernement dirigé par Stephen Harper, dont les méthodes en ont déçu plusieurs ; ou un gouvernement emmené par Stéphane Dion, le chef du Parti libéral, massivement rejeté par le pays il y a six semaines [lors des législatives anticipées qui se sont déroulées le 14 octobre] ? Que le gagnant puisse devenir le perdant et que le perdant puisse devenir le gagnant est un scénario que personne n’aurait pu imaginer il y a une semaine. L’auteur de ce scénario est Stephen Harper, dont les erreurs de jugement ont permis la signature, le 1er décembre, d’une entente de coalition – bonne pour dix-huit mois – entre Stéphane Dion, Jack Layton, le chef des néodémocrates [NPD, gauche], et le séparatiste Gilles Duceppe à la tête du Bloc québécois”, note Jeffrey Simpson dans le Globe and Mail.

L’énoncé économique présenté par le ministre des Finances Jim Flaherty, le 27 novembre, a mis le feu aux poudres. Son bilan avant le dépôt du budget fédéral en janvier 2009 devait fixer les orientations du nouveau gouvernement. Perçu comme une attaque profondément partisane, il a provoqué la colère des partis d’opposition alors que leur appui est nécessaire aux conservateurs minoritaires au Parlement canadien. Stephen Harper, qui croyait pouvoir passer en force, fait désormais machine arrière. Mais il est trop tard pour son gouvernement, car une motion de censure pourrait être votée et de nouvelles élections convoquées. Pour éviter ce scénario, les trois partis d’opposition ont donc préféré s’entendre entre eux et former un projet de coalition gouvernementale. Les libéraux et les néodémocrates formeraient le nouveau cabinet que les indépendantistes du Bloc québécois appuieraient au Parlement sans y prendre part. Cette situation inédite dans l’histoire du pays ne finit pas d’étonner. Stéphane Dion, chef démissionnaire du Parti libéral après les résultats calamiteux des dernières élections, deviendrait Premier ministre du Canada d’ici à ce que sa formation se choisisse un nouveau chef, en mai prochain !

Jeffrey Simpson note que “si cette coalition prend le pouvoir, le Canada aura un dirigeant intérimaire que presque tous les députés libéraux préféreraient ne pas voir à leur tête”. Certains commentateurs estiment que les libéraux sont excités par l’odeur du sang et qu’ils sont prêts à tout pour prendre le pouvoir. La presse est cependant unanime pour désigner Stephen Harper comme responsable de ce climat délétère. Le quotidien de gauche The Toronto Star affirme que “la coalition entre libéraux et néodémocrates est aujourd’hui préférable au régime conservateur dirigé par Harper. Celui-ci a démontré que pour lui l’idéologie et la logique partisane étaient plus importantes que de former un bon gouvernement.” Plus à l’ouest, Don Martin, du Calgary Herald, estime que “ce qui est en train de se passer marque la fin de Harper le téméraire. Il a été réduit au statut de simple mortel, bataillant pour sauver sa peau comme une terreur soudainement vulnérable aux attaques de ses rivaux et de certains membres de son propre parti.”

Au Québec, Michel David du Devoir s’inquiète des effets du bras de fer qui se déroule à Ottawa sur la campagne électorale en cours dans la province. “Quelle qu’en soit l’issue, la crise politique qui ébranle le Canada aura inévitablement un impact sur l’élection québécoise du 8 décembre, ne serait-ce qu’en réduisant encore davantage le peu d’intérêt que la population y a prêté jusqu’à présent.”

http://www.courrierinternational.com/article.asp?obj_id=92200

Pakistan getting ready for war – India plans to strike terrorists training camps deep inside Pakistan with commandos, missiles, and air force

*The script is writing itself, isn’t it?????*

India is ready to take the Pakistani terrorists out within the Pakistani territory. Pakistan is in the process to relocate around 100,000 military personnel from its restive border area with Afghanistan to Indian border areas. India has hinted at the involvement of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai carnage, a media report said today.

Private channel Geo News reported that Pakistan’s military and intelligence sources told a select group of journalists today that NATO and American command had been told that Islamabad would be forced to relocate its military from the borders with Afghanistan if there is escalation in tension with India, where nearly 200 people were killed in the multiple terror attacks on the Indian financial capital.

“These sources have said NATO and the US command have been told that Pakistan would not be able to concentrate on the war on terror and against militants around the Afghanistan border as defending its borders with India was far more important,” Geo News quoted senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir as saying.

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/20316.asp

I am mad as hell, as usual

It hurts. It really fucking hurts…we have the money to bailout these corrupt corporations, these trickster bankers, but there is NO MONEY to keep open historic sites that have made America what it is today.

Let these people suffer…let the bankers, the politicians, anyone that even thought about a stupid bailout find out what it really means to hurt.

But they won’t, because the world doesn’t operate that way. The world isn’t fair. I am jaded, I am bitter, I am cynical…because there is no justice. There rarely is. Perhaps in the afterlife there will be. As of right now, these idiots continue raping our planet in the name of profit.

People suffer, the earth suffers, the animals are suffering…but few actually care.

Time to go to the mall, gotta buy an iPod. Good night and good luck, because destiny will eventually catch up to ALL of us.

Illinois parks/historic sites closing

PARKS AND HISTORIC SITES CLOSING SUNDAY

A dozen Illinois state historic sites and seven state parks will close Sunday as part of budget cuts made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to help close a $2 billion budget deficit.

PARKS CLOSING:

—Castle Rock State Park, Oregon

—Lowden State Park, Oregon

—Illini State Park, Marseilles

—Hidden Springs State Forrest, Strasburg

—Moraine View State Park, Leroy

—Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton

—Wolf Creek State Park, Windsor

HISTORIC SITES CLOSING:

—Dana-Thomas House, Springfield

—Lincoln log cabin near Charleston

—Fort de Chartres, Randolph County

—Vandalia statehouse

—State center at Bishop Hill, Henry County

—Carl Sandburg birthplace, Galesburg

—Cahokia courthouse

—Hauberg Indian Museum in Black Hawk State Historic Site, Rock Island County, but the adjacent natural area will stay open.

—Jubilee College, near Peoria

—Apple River Fort, Elizabeth

—Fort Kaskaskia, Randolph County

—Pierre Menard home, Randolph County

Local funds and volunteers will keep open at least temporarily:

—Bryant cottage, Bement

—David Davis mansion, Bloomington