Nation digest 12/10/02

NASA security tight for launch of Israeli

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA moved space shuttle Columbia from its hangar to an open seaside pad Monday for next month's liftoff under extraordinarily tight security of the first Israeli astronaut.

Security was tightened at Kennedy Space Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But it is expected to reach an all-time high for the Jan. 16 launch of Ilan Ramon, a colonel in Israel's air force and a former fighter pilot.

Columbia's 16-day science research mission had been scheduled for July, after more than a year of delay. But the shuttle fleet was grounded by fuel-line cracks in June, and two space station delivery trips with higher priority were moved ahead of Columbia's mission.

Aircraft carrier named after first president Bush

WASHINGTON -- The Navy named a new aircraft carrier Monday for former President Bush.

The current president's father, who created the international coalition that defeated Iraq and liberated Kuwait in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, said at a Pentagon ceremony he was "overwhelmed by this and very grateful."

The former president and Navy Secretary Gordon England said it was England's decision to name the carrier.

The former president was a Navy torpedo bomber pilot during World War II and at 18 became the youngest decorated bomber pilot in that war. He flew 58 combat missions and was shot down in September 1944 near Chichi Jima.

"I don't believe in the hero stuff," Bush said. "How'd I get to be a hero? They knocked my plane out of the sky."

Completion of the vessel is scheduled for 2009.

Spilled screws cause dozens of flat tires

LEBANON JUNCTION, Ky. -- Scores of cars and trucks got flat tires Monday along a 15-mile stretch of highway after an estimated 50,000 screws spilled onto the pavement. Police said no accidents or injuries were reported.

There were no witnesses to identify the source of the one-inch-long screws spilled along Interstate 65, said State Police spokesman Steve Pavey.

"A box may have burst on a truck and they rolled out the back, but we don't know for sure," he said. "There was no box or anything."

They were first noticed at 4:45 a.m. and tires were still going flat by 7 a.m., he said. Authorities estimate there were about 50,000 screws dumped on the interstate.

Gore, Kerry even in New Hampshire primary poll

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry are running about even among potential voters for the 2004 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, an independent poll reported Monday.

The poll, from Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion, had Gore, the party's unsuccessful nominee in 2000, favored by 31 percent of Democrats and independents who say they may vote in the primary, traditionally the first in the nation.

Kerry, from neighboring Massachusetts, had the support of 28 percent of the potential primary voters.

Among other potential Democratic contenders, only Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Gore's runningmate two years ago, was in double digits in the poll, with 10 percent.

High court won't hear case on free legal help

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide whether poor death-row inmates can get more free legal help at the expense of taxpayers.

The case, filed on behalf of three Texas men who already have been executed, questioned whether the federal government should pay for an inmate's legal bills during state clemency proceedings and some last-minute court appeals.

States must provide attorneys for indigent death-row inmates to file state-level appeals. The federal government pays for some appeals in federal courts.

But clemency appeals, filed to governors or state clemency boards, aren't covered by taxpayers. Poor inmates often get free clemency help from legal aid groups.

-- From wire reports