WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward Kennedy was released from the hospital and doing well Wednesday after suffering a seizure during an inaugural luncheon. Kennedy’s office confirmed that the senator left Washington Hospital Center, where he stayed overnight for observation, and was resting at home. Kennedy has been under treatment for a brain tumor since last spring.
Dems plan to seat Al Franken
Senate Democrats are moving toward letting comedian Al Franken join the chamber while Republican Norm Coleman’s election lawsuit is pending. “We’re going to try to seat Al Franken,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday, a few hours before he posed with Franken for photos just off the Senate floor. “There’s not a question in anyone’s mind, an assertion by anyone, that there’s been any fraud or wrongdoing in this election.” Coleman’s lawyers are challenging the results of the election and the re-count in a trial set to begin on Monday.
NTSB finds ‘material’ in engine
Investigators said Wednesday they have found the remains of what may be a bird in the engine of the US Airways jet that made a dramatic landing in New York’s Hudson River. The National Transportation Safety Board said an examination of the Airbus 320’s right engine revealed evidence of “soft body damage” and that “organic material” was found in the engine and on the wings and fuselage. Samples of the material have gone to the Agriculture Department for a complete DNA analysis, the board said.
New York: Inauguration ratings
Nearly 38 million Americans watched inauguration coverage of President Barack Obama on Tuesday, the most popular inauguration day on television since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Nielsen Media Research said Reagan’s 41.8 million remains the record. Obama more than doubled the 15.5 million viewers who watched George Bush’s second inauguration. The ratings figure was an average number of people watching at any point from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
Puerto Rico: Distress call rules
The U.S. Coast Guard says it will no longer respond to distress calls sent by analog signal starting on Feb. 1. The agency is switching to digital frequencies and says the new equipment cannot process signals transmitting on 121.5 or 243.0 MHz. The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the switch to digital will provide a more stable and powerful signal that could improve response times. The agency said mariners and aviators should upgrade their equipment to include a digital 406-MHz distress radio beacon and register it online.
Wyoming: Gay marriage campaign
A national conservative Christian group has begun a telephone lobbying campaign in Wyoming in support of a gay-marriage ban in the state Senate. Focus on the Family Action, of Colorado Springs, Colo., is pushing to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would stop the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. “We want to see marriages protected,” the director of issues response for Focus on the Family Action said.
Massachusetts: New applications
A record 29,000 people have applied for a spot in next fall’s freshman class at Harvard University. Harvard’s admissions office said Wednesday that the applications this year beat the nearly 27,500 people who applied last year. Each student is vying for one of just 1,700 spots. An admissions dean said Harvard’s generous financial aid packages have encouraged so many students to apply. The financial aid program requires no contribution from families with annual incomes below $60,000 and about 10 percent of income from families that make up to $180,000.
Russia: Space tourism to end
Russia won’t be sending tourists to the international space station after this year because of plans to double the station’s crew from three to six people, the head of Russia’s space agency said Wednesday. Roscosmos chief said U.S. software designer Charles Simonyi — who has already flown to the station — will be the last private tourist when he blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in March. Since 2001, the lucrative Russian space tourism program has flown six “private spaceflight participants” who paid $20 million and up for flights aboard Russian-built Soyuz crafts brokered by U.S.-based Space Adventures Ltd.
Madagascar: Cyclone hits island
A powerful cyclone hit the west coast of Madagascar on Wednesday, destroying buildings, flooding large areas and cutting off thousands of people, officials said. Cyclone Fanele made landfall on the African island nation at dawn, a disaster official said. She said there was heavy rain and winds of up to 130 miles per hour. The town of Morondava, a regional hub and home to about 30,000 people, was left without water or electricity, her office said. Damaged buildings included some emergency refuge centers.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
