Nation briefs 3/25/04

Aircraft, dogs used in search for Ozark fugitives

ALREAD, Ark. -- Police focused on a relatively small area of heavily wooded mountains Wednesday in their search for two suspects in the shooting of a state trooper who also were wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a couple who lived nearby. State police put search dogs on the same trail where the animals picked up a scent the day before. Deep in the 50-acre search zone, officers found an all-terrain vehicle belonging to the missing couple. The Alread School District canceled classes for a second day because of the fugitive search.

Prosecutors to link phone calls to Nichols, McVeigh

McALESTER, Okla. -- A telecommunications consultant testified Wednesday that a prepaid calling card linked to Terry Nichols was used to call the agency where the Ryder truck used in the Oklahoma City bombing was leased. FBI agents found the card, bearing the name of Daryl Bridges, at Nichols' Herington, Kan., home three days after the blast. The name is one of several aliases prosecutors have tied to Nichols, who is being tried on state murder charges.

House panel approves slimmed-down highway bill

WASHINGTON -- After protesting the administration's limits, the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday approved a slimmed-down spending bill that would funnel $275 billion into highway and mass transit projects over the next six years. The legislation sent to the full House by voice vote was $100 billion under what committee chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and most on the panel said was needed to deal with the nation's congested, unsafe and deteriorating transit systems. The White House, citing the need for belt-tightening in an age of rising budget deficits, has proposed a highway budget of $256 billion through 2009.

Searchers find wreckage of plane in Ky. mountains

HARLAN, Ky. -- Searchers found the wreckage of a single-engine plane Wednesday that crashed into a mountain while carrying three Illinois couples home from a NASCAR race in South Carolina. FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said there were no survivors. Kentucky State Police Trooper Walt Meachum said the airplane crashed into the side of Little Black Mountain in the Cumberland range. Ground crews had been searching a heavily wooded area near where the plane was last spotted on radar Sunday night.

House approves funding to promote organ donations

WASHINGTON -- The House, hoping to spur more lifesaving organ donations, voted Wednesday to reimburse organ donors for travel and other nonmedical expenses involved in transplant surgery. The legislation is an "important move to ensure that those who want to give the gift of life are not swayed by financial constraints," said Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. It would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to spend $5 million a year, beginning Oct. 1, to reimburse qualified donors.

Rip currents blamed in four Florida deaths

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Treacherous rip currents along the Florida coast in the past week have killed at least four beachgoers, led to dozens of rescues and forced lifeguards to issue an unpopular warning in the middle of spring break: Stay out of the water. One current was so overpowering that an 83-year-old woman, Madeline Roberts, was dragged away north of Palm Beach after a wave knocked her down as she took a stroll along the water's edge Sunday.

-- From wire reports