Oregon

Residents make stand against raging wildfire

Using a fire hose to douse the grass beside his house, Bob Bell swore to stay until the bitter end as a massive wildfire loomed nearby.

“Twenty-five years ago, I had a home burn in the … Angeles National Forest, and I’m not going to have that happen again,” Bell said at his home in Cave Junction.

Bell and thousands of other residents in southwestern Oregon’s Illinois Valley have been on edge in recent days as they await word on a pair of wildfires covering 187,000 acres. The Josephine County Sheriff’s Department said only about 400 of the valley’s 17,000 residents had registered with the Red Cross as having left the area.

“We’re going to stay here until they tell us it’s time to get out,” high school principal Ron Brood said at his home outside Selma. “Then I’ll turn on the sprinklers on the perimeter and get out.”

Mexico City

Airport plans cancelled

In a surprise reversal, the government decided to yield to protests by machete-wielding farmers and radicals and cancel plans to build a new international airport on the eastern outskirts of Mexico City.

In what is likely to be seen as victory for often-violent protesters and a setback for President Vicente Fox’s ambitious development plans, the Communications and Transport Department announced late Thursday it would consider other sites for the new terminal.

Fox had pledged to go ahead with the airport project as recently as three weeks ago, when farmers protesting the airport clashed with police and seized more than a dozen hostages to win the release of jailed protesters.

Washington, D.C.

Bush signs measure aimed at reducing nursing shortage

President Bush signed a bill on Thursday intended to alleviate the nation’s severe nursing shortage by making it more attractive to train for and work in the profession.

Officials have said if current trends continue, the nation will face a shortage of half a million nurses by 2020. There are 125,000 vacancies now.

The new law allows the government to spend an unspecified amount of money to expand government loan repayment programs for nurses to provide scholarships for students. In exchange, the nurses must work at least two years in a health care facility with a critical shortage.

Washington, D.C.

Senate approves defense bill

The Senate voted lopsided approval Thursday for a $355.4 billion defense bill, heeding President Bush’s call for quick work on the Pentagon’s budget but ignoring his bid for a $10 billion war fund he would control.

The 95-3 margin reflected bipartisan support for giving added muscle to the military in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. When Congress returns from its August recess, senators will try writing a compromise bill with the House, which approved a similar package in June.

The bill, for next year, is $34.4 billion higher than this year’s total.

Voting against the bill were Sens. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and George Voinovich, R-Ohio.