Nation briefs 11/8/05

Wilma-damaged schools re-open in Florida

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- Jaime Chehova spent two weeks getting supplies and decorations for her fourth-graders' first day of school in a new classroom -- for the second time this year. The teacher welcomed her students Monday to a new portable classroom. Their other classroom at Park Trails Elementary in Parkland was damaged when Hurricane Wilma rushed across Florida two weeks ago. Public schools in Broward and Palm Beach counties reopened Monday for the first time since Wilma hit Florida on Oct. 24, causing billions of dollars in damage across the state and making many schools temporarily unusable. The state's largest school district, Miami-Dade County, reopened last week. Children missed more than two full weeks of classes, and educators worried about how they would make up for lost time.

Spacewalking crew installs new camera

SPACE CENTER, Houston -- Two spacewalkers installed a camera on the outside of the international space station Monday and tossed overboard a surplus data-collecting device, sending it spinning off into the void like a spiraling football. William McArthur Jr. and his Russian crewmate aboard the space station, Valery Tokarev, left the orbiting outpost unmanned during the nearly 5 1/2-hour spacewalk. The new camera will help space station astronauts add new segments onto the orbiting station. The device thrown overboard was once used to collect data on electrical activity around the space station. It was designed to work for only a few months and was no longer needed.

-- From wire reports