CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA managers on Wednesday unanimously picked Aug. 27 for the first attempt to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to resume construction of the international space station – but two precariously attached bolts securing a crucial antenna could delay those plans. Engineers suspect that two of the bolts are too short on the KU-band antenna, which transmits images and other essential data between the space shuttle and Mission Control. They want to make sure the bolts are secure enough so that the antenna doesn’t fly off while in the payload bay during a launch, which could cause catastrophic damage.
D.C.: New rules for passenger lists
Airlines will soon be required to give the government passenger lists for all U.S.-bound international flights before takeoff, the nation’s homeland security chief said Wednesday. The new regulations, which could be in place by early next year, would make permanent a counterterror measure taken after last week’s foiled plot to bomb trans-Atlantic flights. “This is part of our border authority,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.
States flunk teacher requirement
Having missed one deadline already, states still face a big challenge in putting qualified teachers in all major classes, a federal review says. Some states are in much better shape than others, the Education Department said Wednesday. Most meet only some criteria in required new plans. Four fail altogether. Under the No Child Left Behind law, states were supposed to have highly qualified teachers in every core academic class by the end of the last school year. None made it. Washington is among states that face the loss of federal aid if they don’t improve their compliance.
N. Carolina: Man slips onto tarmac
A man who was barred from boarding his flight because authorities said he was drunk was arrested a few hours later after he turned up on the airport tarmac. Christopher Beyerbach, 42, was denied permission to board a flight leaving Charlotte-Douglas International Airport at 10 p.m. Monday, the aviation director said. “He came back and was disruptive and went away and appeared on the ramp around 12:30 a.m.,” he said. He declined to say how Beyerbach eluded security.
Indiana: Sniper stalks highway
For weeks, drivers along a busy highway that cuts through northwestern Indiana’s cluster of steel mills and refinery tanks have been living under the gun, threatened by a sniper who has been firing into traffic. So far, no one has been killed or wounded, but the daytime shootings have shattered windows in 10 vehicles since July 25 on or near a five-mile stretch of Indiana 912 connecting Hammond, Gary and East Chicago. The first person whose vehicle was damaged reported seeing a man wearing a long trench coat shoot at his vehicle.
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