Amid intense jockeying by two military communities, the Navy said Wednesday its newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, will be based in San Diego when it is completed in 2004.
But Bremerton, which lost its bid for the Reagan, will still get a carrier. The USS John C. Stennis will be shifted in 2004 from San Diego to Bremerton, the Navy said.
The $4 billion USS Ronald Reagan, which is under construction in Newport News, Va., will be able to carry 80 aircraft and a crew of 6,000.
Pearl Harbor survivor dies: Howard Silberstein, a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor whose 25-year Navy career ranged from flying biplane fighters to designing guided missiles, died Oct. 22 at age 82. Silberstein also helped plan the cordon around Cuba during the missile crisis in 1962. He was a New York native who moved to Mill Creek in retirement. In the 1950s, he worked with German missile experts at the Bureau of Weapons on the design of forerunners of the Sidewinder air-to-air missile and the Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missile.
Hanford cleanup funding: Members of Congress have negotiated a budget deal that includes $1.8 billion for Hanford nuclear reservation cleanup in the coming year, but the U.S. Department of Energy won’t say yet whether that’s enough to meet its legal obligations for cleanup in 2002. The $1.8 billion in the 2002 Energy and Water Development conference report, which still must be passed by both houses, is $383 million more than requested by the Bush administration for Hanford cleanup. The money is sufficient for the Office of River Protection to proceed with work on a plant to turn radioactive wastes into a glasslike substance for long-term storage, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
WTO protest clampdown upheld: A no-protest zone and curfews imposed after violent disorders erupted amid World Trade Organization protests in late 1999 have been upheld by federal judge. The decision issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein upset protesters and civil libertarians who hoped for a ruling that would prevent future clampdowns. Rothstein ruled that Mayor Paul Schell was legally entitled to closed 25 blocks in the downtown area to protesters during the WTO meetings Nov. 30 through Dec. 4, 1999.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
