WASHINGTON — Former vice president Dick Cheney was hospitalized after experiencing chest pains Monday, an aide said. A Cheney assistant said the 69-year-old Cheney was resting comfortably and his doctors were evaluating the situation. Cheney has a history of heart problems and has a pacemaker. Cheney has had four heart attacks, starting when he was 37. He has had quadruple bypass surgery and two artery-clearing angioplasties. In 2001, he had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest. The pacemaker’s battery was replaced last year, and then the entire device was replaced.
Sen. Bob Dole recuperating
Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a bout with pneumonia, his spokesman said Monday. Dole, 86, was admitted to the military hospital about three weeks ago with a respiratory condition, the spokesman said. Dole soon recovered but has remained at the hospital to undergo physical therapy for knee surgery he underwent late last year. “Thanks to the great doctors and nurses at Walter Reed, I am making great strides, working between (therapy) sessions and hope to be fully recovered and back at the office in a few weeks,” Dole said.
Nevada: Landing on freeway
A deputy fire chief found an opening in traffic and slipped his single-engine plane into the gap after engine trouble forced him to land Monday on Interstate 80 near Reno. The Cessna 172 suffered tail damage, but pilot Joe DuRousseau and two passengers were unhurt, a Nevada State trooper said. “He apparently suffered some mechanical difficulties and essentially made an emergency landing on westbound I-80,” the trooper said after the plane touched down about 10:15 a.m. a few miles north of Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
California: Bike-phone fines
Bicycle riders, get ready to hang up your cell phone — or get ticketed. A state senator who famously authored California’s hands-free driving law, now has his sights on bicycles. Cell-phone legislation introduced by the Palo Alto Democrat on Monday not only beefs up penalties for automobile drivers who continue to flaunt their phone behind the wheel but extends the higher fines to bicyclists who talk or text behind the handle bars.
Florida: It’s python season
State wildlife officials have created a special python hunting season to try to stop the spread of the nonnative snakes throughout the Everglades. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said anyone with a hunting license who pays a $26 permit fee can kill the reptiles from March 8 to April 17 on state-managed lands around the Everglades in South Florida. The season is open for Burmese and Indian pythons, African rock pythons, green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.
Somalia: Navy nabs pirates
The U.S. Navy said the crew of a Tanzanian-flagged ship successfully fought off a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden before a U.S. warship arrived and apprehended the pirates. The Navy said Monday the MV Barakaale 1 signaled for help after pirates tried to board the vessel from a skiff. The Navy said the American destroyer USS Farragut dispatched a helicopter that gave chase to the pirate skiff, firing warning shots across its bow that brought it to a halt. Sailors detained the eight men on board.
Iran: ‘Persian Gulf’ dispute
Airlines not referring to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the Persian Gulf will be banned from Iranian airspace, the transport minister said Monday. The warning was directed specifically toward the airlines of neighboring Gulf Arab countries who have a history of referring to the body of water as the “Arabian Gulf.” “The airlines of the southern Persian gulf countries flying to Iran must use ‘Persian Gulf’ on their flight monitors,” the minister said.
Peru: 38 die as buses collide
Two buses crashed head-on along a remote stretch of highway in northeast Peru Monday, killing at least 38 people and injuring 58, police said. Rescuers used cutting equipment to reach the injured trapped inside the twisted wreckage of the buses, which collided shortly before dawn on the Panamerican Highway between Rio Hondo and Viru, 290 miles northeast of Lima. A newspaper reported that lanes on the highway are not marked. From Herald news services
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