CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has delayed next month’s space shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope by two days. Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna have held up operations at Kennedy Space Center. So on Friday — one day after moving shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad — NASA announced the postponement. Atlantis is now scheduled to blast off Oct. 10 on the space agency’s last visit to Hubble. The next shuttle mission to the international space station also has been delayed by two days. Space shuttle Endeavour is now looking at a Nov. 12 liftoff. Boeing is a prime contractor for the space shuttle.
Hawaii: Coast Guard flier missing
Rescuers on Friday searched for a missing crew member from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that crashed in ocean waters off Oahu, killing the three others on board. The Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter went down Thursday night while conducting search and rescue drills with a 47-foot motor lifeboat. Warm waters, low surf and clear visibility created ideal conditions for the search, a spokeswoman said.
New York: Convention TV draw
As a television draw, John McCain was every bit the equal of Barack Obama. The GOP presidential candidate attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech Thursday as Obama did before the Democrats last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. It marked the end of an astonishing run where more than 40 million people watched political speeches on three nights by Obama, McCain and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Alaska: Palin probe speeds up
The Alaska Legislature is hastening its ethics investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner, making it far more likely it will be completed before November’s election. Lawmakers said they have put the investigation on a fast track now that Palin is Republican John McCain’s running mate. The investigation previously was expected to end on Oct. 31. State Sen. Hollis French said the new target date for investigator Stephen Branchflower to complete the report is Oct. 10.
D.C.: Obamas called ‘uppity’
Democrats are calling on a Republican congressman from Georgia to apologize for referring to Barack and Michelle Obama as “uppity,” but the lawmaker stood by his comments and said he meant no offense. On Thursday, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Ga., described the Obamas as members of an “elitist-class … that thinks that they’re uppity,” according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. Asked to clarify whether he intended to use the word, he said, “Yeah, uppity.”
New Jersey: Dentist faces charges
A Pennsylvania dentist has been charged with the Jersey Shore’s most serious beach-dumping case in two decades, medical waste that sullied the coast in a popular area and forced beach closures at the height of vacation season. Authorities said Friday that Thomas McFarland took his motorboat to Townsend Inlet near Avalon on Aug. 22 and dumped a bag full of some 300 dental-type needles, along with 180 cotton swabs and other materials from his Wynnewood, Pa., medical office. According to police affidavits, McFarland, 59, admitted tossing the materials from his boat.
Argentina: Airline nationalized
Argentina’s nationalization of a struggling, Spanish-owned airline brings costly responsibilities that could drain public resources and force fare hikes unless oil prices fall, analysts said Friday. Argentina’s Senate this week voted to “proceed in the rescue” of Aerolineas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral — returning the carrier to state hands in a bid to stabilize the country’s troubled airline industry. Argentina’s lower house approved the bill in August.
Canada: Early elections called
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to dissolve Parliament on Sunday and call early elections in hopes of strengthening his minority government’s hold on power. Harper’s Conservatives need to win an additional 28 seats to have a majority in Parliament, and although he has played down that possibility, polls in recent days indicate the right-of-center party has a chance to do so.
Libya: Rice meets with Gadhafi
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to his high-security personal compound on Friday, in symbolic recognition that after nearly three decades of animosity, the U.S.-Libyan relationship is officially normal – if not entirely friendly. Gadhafi, once called a “mad dog” by President Reagan, shared a Ramadan meal with Rice and inquired politely about her health and the recent U.S. hurricanes. “We have a lot to talk about,” Rice told him as they met in a plush reception room of the Bab al-Azizia complex that U.S. warplanes bombed in 1986.
From Herald news services
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