Nation digest 01/08/03

United pilots OK pay cut to help bankrupt airline

CHICAGO -- Pilots for United Airlines said Tuesday they have agreed to slash their pay by 29 percent, giving the world's No. 2 airline a boost is it struggles to shed costs and reorganize in bankruptcy court.

Two small unions representing United dispatchers and meteorologists also ratified 13 percent wage cuts, leaving the airline needing approval from its flight attendants and machinists.

Flight attendants have been voting since last week on whether to accept a 9 percent wage reduction. The result of their vote is expected to be announced today.

The airline has until Feb. 15 to cut costs or it could lose the remainder of the $1.5 billion in interim financing a group of banks extended the carrier to allow it to restructure.

False sniper witness gets six months in jail

FAIRFAX, Va. -- A man accused of falsely telling police that he witnessed one of the sniper shootings last October pleaded no contest to an obstruction of justice charge Tuesday.

Matthew Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, Va., was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000 on the misdemeanor count. He has been jailed since Oct. 18 on $75,000 bond.

"He told bald-faced lies in a major felony investigation, and we'd be remiss if we didn't prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," said Raymond Morrogh, deputy commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County.

Dowdy was charged after the Oct. 14 shooting of Linda Franklin in the parking garage outside a Home Depot store. Dowdy told police he witnessed the shooting but store security cameras showed he was inside the store at the time, prosecutors said.

Sen. Daschle decides not to run for president

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Tuesday he will not run for president, announcing his surprise decision even as his staff was preparing for a weekend announcement that he would enter the White House race.

"After careful reflection, I've concluded that at this moment in our history, with so many important decisions to be made about our nation's future ... my passion lies here in the Senate," the South Dakotan said in a statement released by his Capitol Hill office.

Political aides had scheduled an event Saturday in Aberdeen, S.D. to announce a Daschle run for the presidency and had scheduled trips to key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

Graffiti vandal turns over car, will pay restitution

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- There'll be no more fun, fun, fun for one of Albuquerque's biggest graffiti vandals now that the mayor's taken his T-bird away.

Noah Aime, blamed by city officials for graffiti at 250 sites across New Mexico's largest city, handed over his keys and title to his 1987 Ford Thunderbird to Mayor Martin Chavez during a news conference Monday.

Aime also gave the mayor a check for $1,500 and will make monthly payments for a year as part of a restitution agreement with the city. Aime agreed to pay a total of $4,500 plus the car.

Albuquerque has collected about $31,000 from 57 people, including about 15 parents of young people blamed for graffiti, said Pete Dinelli, deputy city attorney. He called Aime the biggest graffiti vandal caught in the crackdown.

No DNA test on claimed human clone for now

NEW YORK -- The company that claims to have produced the first human clone said Tuesday the baby's parents will not allow any DNA tests unless they are guaranteed the child will not be taken from them.

The statement by Clonaid, which has ties to the Raelian sect that believes space aliens created life on Earth, comes amid intense skepticism about its unverified claim. Experts have demanded independent DNA testing to show whether the baby really is a clone of her mother.

The identity and location of the parents have not been revealed. The company has said only that the mother is a 31-year-old American.

-- From wire reports