Florida

Columbia astronauts honored with memorial

Remembered as seven brave explorers, the Columbia astronauts were honored Tuesday with the unveiling of their names carved into the national Space Mirror Memorial at Cape Canaveral, just six miles from where they rocketed into orbit nine months ago.

Covering two panels on the monument, which resembles a giant mirror, their names joined those of 17 other astronauts who died doing their jobs.

Filling the front row of chairs were the immediate families of Rick Husband, William McCool, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon.

Washington, D.C.

Utah Gov. Leavitt confirmed as EPA chief

The Senate confirmed Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, filling a four-month vacancy with a lopsided vote that did not reflect the efforts by some Democrats to turn his nomination into a referendum on President Bush’s environmental policies.

By a vote of 88-8, senators backed Bush’s choice of the Utah Republican to head the nation’s lead agency for enforcing environmental rules. Leavitt said he would start Nov. 6, a day after he resigns as governor.