News briefs

SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; Voters in the San Francisco Bay area
applied their non-conformist sensibilities Tuesday to votes on a
crop of social experiments, from decriminalizing prostitution to
condemning the war in Iraq to allowing non-citizens to choose
school board members.

After very early returns were counted, some trends were
evident.

Berkeley’s prostitution measure, which sparked fierce
debate in a city known for its live-and-let-live values, was losing
66 percent to 34 percent with 13 percent of precincts reporting.
Measure Q was opposed by city leaders who argued that ordering
police to go easy on prostitutes would cause them to proliferate on
Berkeley streets.

GOP retains Senate majority

WASHINGTON “”mdash; Republicans tightened their grip on the
Senate early Wednesday, capturing a string of Democratic seats
across the South. Democratic leader Tom Daschle struggled for
political survival in South Dakota.

Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic political star in
the making, easily won a seat formerly in Republican hands in
Illinois, and will be the only black among 100 senators when the
new Congress convenes in January.

The GOP did most of the celebrating by far, taking Democratic
open seats in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and
Louisiana. Rep. David Vitter triumphed there, the first Republican
since Reconstruction to win a term in the Senate.

“The nation spoke that we’re on the right course,
and we’ll stay on that course and hopefully accelerate
it,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.
Supreme Court nominees.

Briefs compiled from Bruin wire services.