Washington, D.C.

Tires show greater resistance to wear

Tires are better at resisting wear than they were in 2000, when Firestone recalled millions of tires that were prone to lose their tread and blow out, according to federal data released Thursday.

But tire ratings for traction performance and heat resistance have seen little change since 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Six percent of tires rated between 500 and 600 on resisting wear this year, meaning they can last four to six times longer than a basic tire, and at least 25 tires had a rating of 700 or higher.

NHTSA has been rating tires since 1980, but made its Web site easier to search this year in response to a call from Congress to make tire information readily available to consumers. There are ratings for more than 2,200 tires.

To see the NHTSA ratings, go to www.safercar.gov.

Phoenix

Inmate faces charge for sexual assault

One of two inmates who held a pair of prison guards hostage in a watchtower during a 15-day standoff was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting the female officer and a kitchen worker.

Steven Coy was also charged with kidnapping and assault, as was his accomplice, Ricky Wassenaar. In addition, Wassenaar was charged with attempted murder for allegedly firing a rifle at the start of the standoff. He is also accused of beating the male hostage with a ladle.

The ordeal was one of the longest hostage standoffs at a U.S. prison in decades.

Wassenaar and Coy took the two guards hostage Jan. 18. A male guard was released Jan. 24. The female guard was released Feb. 1 when the inmates surrendered.

The inmates are accused of assaulting officers with homemade knives and later threatening them with other weapons they obtained in the tower.

Washington, D.C.

Screener shortages vex large airports

Airport screening jobs are turning over faster than expected at some of the busiest airports and the government isn’t moving fast enough to fill them, a congressional investigator and airport officials told lawmakers Thursday.

The staffing shortages are creating security vulnerabilities and longer waits for passengers, they told the House aviation subcommittee.

The turnover of Transportation Security Administration screeners averages 14 percent a year but is as high as 36 percent at large airports, according to Cathleen Berrick, director of Homeland Security and Justice at the General Accounting Office. She testified that recent interviews revealed 11 of the 15 busiest airports didn’t have enough screeners.

Berrick said the TSA was trying to improve its work force planning. Among the changes: hiring part-time workers to fill in during the busiest shifts.

New York

Groups protest demands for abortion records

Under fire from abortion-rights groups, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft insisted Thursday that doctor-patient privacy is not threatened by a government attempt to subpoena medical records in a lawsuit over the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

At stake are records documenting certain late-term abortions performed by doctors who have joined in a legal challenge of the disputed ban. President Bush signed the act into law last year.

Critics of the subpoenas accuse the Justice Department of trying to intimidate doctors and patients involved in the contested type of abortion.

At least six hospitals have been targeted by subpoenas, including facilities in New York and Michigan that said they were weighing how to respond.