Washington, D.C.

Rumsfeld certifies need for new base closures

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld certified to Congress on Tuesday that a new round of military base closures was needed in 2005 and could yield billions of dollars in savings by 2011.

Rumsfeld also for the first time provided Congress with statistical evidence to support his estimate that the military has about 24 percent more base capacity than it needs.

His certification is contained in a report submitted Tuesday to Congress, required by the 2003 law that authorized a new round of base closings and realignments in 2005.

The report says the Army has the greatest amount of excess base capacity — 29 percent. The Air Force has 24 percent more than it needs, and the Navy and Marine Corps combined have 21 percent excess. These figures are based on a Pentagon forecast of the military’s “force structure” — the number of Army divisions, Navy ships, Air Force strike aircraft wings and so on — in 2009.

New York City

Report cites disparities between blacks, whites

Black Americans are less likely than white Americans to own homes, don’t earn as much as whites, don’t live as long, and don’t do as well in school, according to a report by the National Urban League.

The report, released today, is a collection of survey data and essays by experts in race, social justice, health, psychology and civil rights.

The most conspicuous differences it found were in the areas of home ownership and economic parity, with black earning power about 73 percent that of whites.

About 68 percent of Americans own their homes, but the Census Bureau has reported that ownership among blacks and Hispanics is about 48 percent. Nearly 54 percent of Asian-Americans own their homes, compared with 75 percent of whites.

The report also found that 50 years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling found segregated public schools unconstitutional, the performance of black students continues to trail that of their white counterparts.