New York City: Mayor: Party like a patriot

Heavily armed police will patrol New York City’s July 4 celebration, so revelers should relax and “let our law enforcement professionals do the worrying,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.

During a news conference to outline the city’s holiday security plan, Bloomberg said officers will be in helicopters, boats, street checkpoints and unmarked vehicles.

Celebrating July 4 is “the best way to stick it to the terrorists,” Bloomberg said. “It will show them that we are not afraid and that they have not succeeded.”

St. Louis: Balloonist should set global record today

After five failed attempts, it looks as if Steve Fossett the tycoon adventurer will finally realize his goal today to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone in a balloon.

On this attempt, Fossett, a 58-year-old Chicago millionaire, already has broken his old records for distance and duration on solo balloon flights not to mention the record for number of attempts to fly around the world in a balloon.

Now he just needs to cross the east 117th meridian the longitude from which he left Northam, Australia, on June 19 and safely land his balloon. Mission control predicts that he will complete the circumnavigation late this morning, Central Daylight Time. They expect him to land later this evening in southwestern Australia.

Washington, D.C.: Fire causes evacuation of House office building

Workers evacuated a House office building Monday because of a small fire involving the ventilation system, three days after the Capitol was cleared for a similar reason.

Firefighters were called and the Longworth House Office Building was evacuated after a Capitol Police officer smelled smoke on Monday.

First reports indicated a fire could have been sparked by workers using welding torches near insulation inside one of the building’s air handling units. Investigators also want to determine whether problems with the ventilation system itself may have been a factor.

Washington, D.C.: Bush increases debt limit

The White House announced in a one-sentence statement Monday that President Bush had signed into law a nearly half-trillion-dollar increase in the government’s ability to borrow money.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer put the news out on paper: “On Friday, June 28, 2002, the president signed into law S. 2578, increases the public debt limit from $5.95 trillion to $6.4 trillion.”

The $450 billion increase would provide enough money for the government to pay its bills at least until December. That means Congress should not have to revisit the always politically painful issue until after November’s elections for control of the Senate and House.