Attorney General Becomes First Candidate for Kennedy SeatMartha Coakley became the first candidate to seek election to the late Edward M. Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate on Tuesday. Coakley, currently the Attorney General, must now get 10,000 signatures by October 20th in order to participate in the primary on December 8th. Though she has not officially announced candidacy, she has long been considered a possibility for an open Senate seat. The special election will be held January 19.

Mayor Urges Boston High School to Be Renamed in Honor of Senator KennedyA Boston public high school wants to be renamed to honor the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to Health Careers Academy, a Horace Mann Charter School, suggesting a name change to the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers: A Horace Mann Charter School. Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson will recommend the name change to the School Committee.

United States Does Poorly in Child Welfare SurveyAccording to a new survey by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), America has some of the industrial world’s worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy, and child poverty. The U.S. spends an average of $140,000 per child, over the OECD average of $125,000, but spending on children under six is far behind other countries–only $20,000 per child as compared to the $30,000 per child average. The OECD, a watchdog of industrialized nations, suggested shifting more public spending towards children under the age of six.

Cash for Clunkers Program Boosts Sales For Some The Cash for Clunkers program, a program which offered up to $4,500 toward new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, boosted sales at Ford, Toyota, and Honda in August, but Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. had continually falling sales. The program, which ended on August 24, resulted in 690,114 new sales at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion.

Georgetown “Cuddler” May Be BackA man in Washington, DC is breaking into young women’s apartments while they sleep. On Tuesday morning, a female Georgetown University student woke up in her home to find a man touching her while she was in bed, an attack coming two days after a man entered a student’s home through an unlocked front door and laid down in a bed with the victim. The same man may be responsible for a series of break-ins during in the year in early June and in March. Students are calling him the “Cuddler” because he will climb into the bed where the student is sleeping.