New WTC plans promise to be more distinctive

NEW YORK -- Seven architecture teams are putting finishing touches on innovative, distinct proposals for the World Trade Center site, the agency charged with rebuilding lower Manhattan said Friday.

The plans will be formally submitted to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. in early December and unveiled later that month. Six earlier plans for the site were widely criticized as unimaginative.

Drafts of the new proposals are "very creative, very different from one another," said Matthew Higgins, spokesman for the development agency. "We're very enthusiastic about the process."

The New York Times reported Friday that the teams' proposals include creating the tallest building in the world and constructing memorials atop buildings and underground.

Film of JFK assassination to be digitally restored

One of the three primary films of the assassination of President Kennedy is being restored, its owners said Friday, the 39th anniversary of his death.

The "Muchmore film," as it is known, will be remastered with digital technology that will stabilize it and restore scratched and damaged images, Associated Press Television News said in London.

Separately, the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas said it has acquired new photographs and film, including footage of the presidential motorcade not previously shown to the public.

The APTN film was taken by Marie Muchmore as the president's motorcade turned onto Houston Street in Dallas.

It shows the last, fatal shot to the head and a woman who came to be known as the "babushka lady" filming near the president's car.

Exploding oxygen tanks rattle Nebraska town

SIDNEY, Neb. -- More than 700 oxygen tanks exploded in a fire early Friday, destroying two businesses, shattering storefront windows and blasting debris for several blocks in this small southwest Nebraska town.

One volunteer firefighter suffered minor injuries, but no one was seriously hurt.

A passer-by spotted smoke coming from a wood engraving shop just after midnight and called the fire department. The flames soon spread to Apria Health Care, a medical supply store that sells oxygen tanks, City Manager Gary Person said.

More than 700 tanks exploded in the heat. The medical supply store and engraving shop were leveled and some of the tanks were hurtled through nearby windows and doors. The booming explosions spread debris for 20 blocks, Person said.

Judge rules man can let wife in coma die

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The husband of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for 12 years can disconnect her feeding tube and let her die, a judge ruled Friday in a long-running case that pitted the man against his in-laws.

Circuit Judge George W. Greer said the tube supplying nourishment to 38-year-old Terri Schiavo would be removed on Jan. 3. The judge said the evidence "overwhelmingly supports the view that Terri Schiavo remains in a persistent vegetative state."

Doctors said she could survive up to two weeks without the feeding tube.

"This is about Terri's wishes," said her husband, Michael Schiavo.

Ex-Salvation Army worker charged with toy theft

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A former Salvation Army worker was arrested Friday and charged with stealing about $30,000 worth of Christmas toys for needy children from the charity's warehouse.

Orville S. Walters Jr., 51, was arrested at the public defender's office after he apparently turned himself in, police said.

Officials discovered some 2,000 toys had been stolen from a Louisville warehouse Wednesday. Police said a number of people called, saying Walters had sold them toys.

A man later identified as Walters returned black plastic garbage bags containing about $1,500 worth of the toys Thursday. Police said more toys and a stolen handgun were recovered when they searched an apartment.

--From wire reports