NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Court Approves Worker Furloughs

The nation’s capital prepared to shut its schools, health clinics, employment offices and nonessential services for one day after an appeals court approved the furlough of 43,000 city workers to save money. Twelve one-day-a-month furloughs of city workers are scheduled. The furloughs are designed to save $36 million in a budget projected to have a $490-million deficit this fiscal year. Only employees whose jobs were deemed essential to public health and safety were exempt from the one-day layoffs. City Council Chairman John A. Wilson, the architect of the plan, had predicted 4,000 city workers would have to be fired if the furloughs were canceled. City unions said the furloughs violated collective bargaining agreements.