National News Briefs 10-8-08

California gay marriages surpass Massachusetts – During the first three months since legalization of gay marriages in California, a study found that nearly 11,000 couples have wed, compared to 10,385 in Massachusetts. The research was released Oct. 6 by the Williams Institute at UCLA.

However, this November, Californians will vote to decide what constitutes marriage in Proposition 8, which could amend the California State Constitution to define marriage as being a union between a man and a woman.

10-year-old driver flips van – A 10-year-old Tennessee boy driving two intoxicated adults and two other children flipped the van he was driving while traveling at 90 mph.

Inside the crashed van was a 38-year-old woman, who was trying to swallow as many pills as she could, and a 48-year-old man who had admitted to drinking at least 15 beers. The three children in the van were related to the adults, but authorities were not sure how.

The adults and children were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The intoxicated man was charged with seven violations, including a DUI and felony reckless endangerment, and the three children were placed in state care.

MySpace and Hewlett Packard announce new web printing deal- The new web printing deal involves both companies agreeing to place a “click and print” button on MySpace pages.

The button will allow MySpace users to customize how they print images and preview what they look like and will allow users to design posters from MySpace images.

The integration will roll out in November and will cover MySpace communities in the United States, Australia, Canada and Western Europe.

Cervical cancer and AIDS research win Nobel Prize for 2008 – A German scientist who found that the human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer and two French researchers who discovered the human AIDS virus received the Nobel Prize in medicine on Sept. 7. The prize money totaled $1.4 million dollars shared between the three winners.