California: Air-show crash claims lives of military crewmen
A low-flying F-4 crashed Saturday during an air show at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons station, killing its two crew members, Navy officials said.
One of the crew members ejected from the jet as it flew less than 200 feet above the ground before crashing. The jet burst into an enormous ball of flame when it smashed into the ground on the west side of the base, about 50 miles southwest of Los Angeles.
Navy officials identified the crew members as 39-year-old Navy Cmdr. Michael Norman, the pilot, and 31-year-old Marine Corps Capt. Andrew Muhs, a radar intercept officer. Their hometowns were not released.
New Jersey: Black scholar discusses push, pull of job change
Harvard black scholar Cornel West said the university's president was largely responsible for his move to Princeton but that too much has been made of their dispute.
After giving a lecture Saturday at Ramapo College in Mahwah, West spoke to reporters about "the push of Harvard and pull of Princeton" and said Harvard President Lawrence Summers was the push. But the author of "Race Matters" said Harvard's tradition was bigger than any one faculty member or disagreement.
"Thirty years from now, when we're dead and gone, Harvard will still be there," West said. "I'm leaving Harvard with a tear, arriving at Princeton with a smile."
Summers reportedly rebuked West for recording a spoken-word CD and leading a political committee for the Rev. Al Sharpton's possible presidential campaign.
California: Judge tells Nixon daughters to end fight over library gift
A probate judge urged the daughters of the late President Richard M. Nixon and his presidential library to end a legal fight over how to spend a $20 million bequest.
The Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda in January sued a trust created in the will of longtime Nixon friend, banker Charles "Bebe" Rebozo of Key Biscayne, Fla., who died in 1998.
The will gave 65 percent of Rebozo's estate to the library, but required that expenditures be approved by Tricia Nixon Cox, Julie Nixon Eisenhower and another longtime Nixon friend, Robert Abplanalp.
Orange County Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. on Friday said it would be a mistake for the parties to battle over the bequest and offered to mediate.
All sides welcomed the offer.
Tennessee: Japan computer is fastest
A new Japanese supercomputer has taken the title of world's fastest away from an American computer, zipping along nearly five times faster than its closest competitor, a University of Tennessee researcher said.
The NEC Earth Simulator which creates a "virtual planet Earth" to predict climate patterns tops the 2002 list of fastest supercomputers released Saturday.
The NEC Earth Simulator, as large as four tennis courts, works at a speed of 35,600 gigaflops. A gigaflop equals a billion mathematical operations per second.
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