The week at a glance...United States

San Diego

Mayor accused: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner this week defiantly rejected calls for his resignation despite a growing scandal over allegations that he sexually harassed his staff members and constituents. In the past few weeks, a number of city officials have accused the Democratic mayor of forcibly kissing two constituents, and grabbing the breasts and buttocks of a staff member. The 70-year-old’s advances were apparently so common that City Hall employees had coined the term “the Filner dance” to describe how he allegedly moves in on women. Filner himself last week released a video in which he apologized for his “reprehensible” behavior toward women, before announcing that he and his staff would take a sexual harassment course. “I need help,” said Filner. He has refused to resign, however, arguing that he was innocent of sexual harassment. “I’m a hugger, with both men and women,” explained Filner.

Cheyenne, Wyo.

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Cheney challenge: The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has announced that she will challenge fellow Republican Sen. Mike Enzi for his seat in next year’s primary election, in an intraparty challenge not seen in the state for decades. Liz Cheney formally announced her Senate bid this week at a press conference, where she described her conservative agenda and her opposition to President Obama, who she claims has launched a war on “religious freedom,” freedom of speech, and Wyoming’s ranchers and farmers. A day earlier, Enzi launched his bid for a fourth term. Republicans in Wyoming have rarely challenged incumbents in national office, and Cheney herself has not commented on why she decided to run against a fellow conservative.

Fort Dodge, Iowa

Fired for beauty: The Iowa Supreme Court ruled last week that getting fired for being “too attractive” did not qualify as gender discrimination. In 2010, Dr. James Knight fired his dental hygienist, Melissa Nelson, after more than a decade of service because he found her too attractive and his wife considered her a threat to their marriage. In its second decision on the case, the all-male court refused to reverse a lower court’s ruling that an employee “may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.” Prior to firing Nelson, Knight repeatedly told her that he found her clothes too revealing and distracting, but she denies having worn anything inappropriate. “A decision like this is possible only when the decision-makers have been sheltered from the day-to-day reality of what it is like to be a woman working outside the home in America,” said Nelson’s lawyer, Paige Fiedler.

Peabody, Mass.

Boston Strangler: Investigators have exhumed the remains of a man who confessed to being the Boston Strangler, in a bid to conclusively link him to the notorious serial killer’s last victim. Law enforcement officials last week dug up the remains of Albert DeSalvo from his grave in Peabody to subject them to forensic testing. DeSalvo admitted killing the victim in question, Mary Sullivan, and 12 other women in the Boston area between 1962 and 1964, but recanted the confession in 1973. He died in prison, where he was serving a life sentence for other crimes, but was never convicted of the Strangler murders. This year police secretly followed DeSalvo’s nephew to collect DNA from a discarded water bottle. They are hoping the forensic evidence will now let them establish that DNA found at the scene of Sullivan’s rape and murder was that of DeSalvo.

Washington, D.C.

Farm bill: The House of Representatives finally passed its version of a farm bill last week, but only after stripping out a food stamp program that has historically constituted about 80 percent of the measure’s funding. The bill—passed in a 216 to 208 vote without the support of a single House Democrat—makes changes to federal agricultural policy, including ending direct subsidy payments for farmers. But the measure fails to include funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which has been part of the farm bill since 1973 and forms the centerpiece of Senate legislation passed in June. Conservative lawmakers had delivered an embarrassing blow to Speaker John Boehner three weeks earlier by blocking the original version of the bill, arguing that food stamp reductions didn’t go far enough. President Obama has said he will veto any farm bill that fails to “reauthorize” the food stamp program.

Fulton County, Ga.

Execution delayed: A death-row inmate said to be mentally disabled was granted a stay of execution by a state court judge this week, just hours before he was due to die by lethal injection. Warren Hill was sentenced to death for the killing of fellow inmate Joseph Handspike in 1990, while Hill was serving a life sentence for the 1985 killing of his girlfriend. The Supreme Court barred the execution of mentally disabled offenders in America in 2002, but three doctors had assessed Hill in 2000 and deemed him mentally fit. Those same doctors have since changed their opinion and now say that Hill’s IQ is too low for him to qualify for execution. Hill’s lawyers have regularly called for his death sentence to be lifted, and won two previous temporary reprieves on procedural grounds. The court’s stay this week allows a further hearing on Hill’s fate.