Washington, D.C.

Military releases photos of soldiers’ coffins

The Pentagon, under pressure from open-government advocates, released hundreds of images Thursday of flag-draped coffins of American soldiers.

The Pentagon previously had refused to release such images, which were taken by military photographers. Nor has it allowed the news media to photograph ceremonies of soldiers’ coffins arriving in the United States, saying it is enforcing a policy installed in 1991 to respect the privacy of families of dead soldiers.

The Pentagon provided the images without context, so it was unclear where and when most of them were taken and whom they portrayed. The military also obscured the faces and identifying badges of many of the soldiers pictured in the ceremonies. A Pentagon spokesman said the pictures were edited out of privacy concerns.

In the photo above, soldiers drape U.S. flags over the caskets of members of a Black Hawk helicopter crew before loading at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany.

Florida

NASA managers may delay shuttle launch

Top NASA officials debated Thursday whether to hold to a May liftoff for the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster, based on the latest launch-debris analyses and the possible need for extra repairs.

Launch preparations for Discovery were put on hold for at least a day because of the deliberations.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said May 22 remained the official target launch date for Discovery’s 12-day mission. But he said shuttle managers wanted to decide whether they could accomplish everything they needed to do in time for a liftoff then.

If Discovery is not flying by early June, it will have to remain grounded until mid-July because of NASA’s desire for a daylight launch.

Beutel said the space agency would have no comment on the outcome of the meeting until today.

Washington, D.C.

Recalled kids’ chairs can cause finger injuries

A Florida company is recalling about 1.5 million children’s folding chairs that can collapse suddenly and have caused fingertip amputations of four youngsters.

Seven other children suffered finger lacerations, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which planned to announce today the recall by Atico International USA Inc. of Fort Lauderdale.

Defective safety locks can cause the chairs, made in China, to unexpectedly collapse or fold, trapping a child’s fingers in the hinges.

With metal tubing and padded seats, the chairs are red, blue, yellow and green and stand about 22 inches high. A label beneath some chairs bears the company name.

Hardware, discount department, toy, grocery and drug stores nationwide sold the chairs from September 2002 through this April for about $10 each or $30 for a set of four with a table.

Consumers are urged to stop using the chairs and contact Atico for a refund by visiting www.aticousa.com or calling (877) 546-4835, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. CDT weekdays.

Atlanta

CDC endorses new mosquito repellents

After years of promoting the chemical DEET as the best defense against West Nile-bearing mosquitoes, the government for the first time is recommending the use of two other insect repellents.

Repellents containing the chemical picaridin or the oil of lemon eucalyptus offer “long-lasting protection against mosquito bites,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that repellents with DEET remain on the agency’s recommendation list.

Both products have been available elsewhere in the world, including Europe and Australia, since the 1980s. Repellent makers have been eager to introduce them to U.S. markets but it was hard to compete with DEET, the only chemical touted as effective by health officials.

California

Schwarzenegger’s popularity tumbles

What once seemed unthinkable has now become a reality: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings have plummeted to Gray Davis levels, and the cornerstone of his “Year For Reform” agenda is on shaky ground.

In 90 days, Schwarzenegger’s popularity has tumbled by 20 points and potential voters now are voicing doubt about the state spending restrictions the Republican governor wants them to approve in a special election this fall.

Just 40 percent of Californians think Schwarzenegger is doing a good job and half say he’s faring poorly, according to the nonpartisan survey by the Public Policy Institute of California released Thursday.

Georgia

Hundreds search for missing bride-to-be

A 32-year-old woman disappeared just days before she was to be married, and authorities said Thursday they were expanding their search for her.

Jennifer Wilbanks’ fiance told authorities she left their Duluth home Tuesday night to go jogging. When she did not return in a couple of hours, he began looking for her, then notified police.

On Wednesday, more than 250 people searched for Wilbanks, including volunteers and police using helicopters and tracking dogs. Authorities called off the volunteer search but continued canvassing door-to-door for clues in the northeastern Atlanta suburb. They were treating the disappearance as a criminal investigation but did not elaborate.

On Thursday, about 100 police officers expanded their search a quarter-mile deeper into woods near her home. Police had not asked anyone to take a polygraph test, but her fiance has volunteered to do so, Belcher said.

Friends and relatives have told police Wilbanks seemed happy and was looking forward to her wedding Saturday.

Maryland

Arson suspect pleads guilty to conspiracy

One of five men charged in an arson spree at a suburban Washington, D.C., housing development pleaded guilty Thursday to taking part in what prosecutors said was a crime aimed at black families moving into the neighborhood.

Jeremy D. Parady, 21, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit arson. Prosecutors planned to ask for nearly 10 years in prison and restitution of $4.18 million. Sentencing was set for June 14.

All five men arrested are white.

Prosecutors think the men drove to the development Dec. 6, poured chemicals in homes that were under construction and torched them. Ten houses were destroyed and 16 were damaged. The fires did an estimated $10 million in damage. No one was hurt.

All five men were charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson and aiding and abetting; none was charged with a hate crime.

Washington, D.C.

Report seeks updates to crash test program

The government’s crash test program for vehicles needs an upgrade to remain relevant as automobiles and safety risks change, congressional investigators said Thursday.

The usefulness of the crash test program — which includes a star-rating system — has diminished with the growing popularity of sport utility vehicles and other light trucks, creating different safety risks not fully addressed by the tests, the General Accountability Office said.

The report said the tests need to better account for SUVs, which have been more susceptible to rollovers, and the damage caused when the popular vehicles strike passenger cars. Rollovers account for about 30 percent of fatalities.

California

Jury convicts suspect in 5-year-old’s death

A jury convicted a factory worker Thursday of kidnapping and murdering 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, an Orange County girl whose 2002 death prompted widespread heartbreak, outrage and stronger efforts to rescue abducted children.

After deliberating for less than nine hours over two days, jurors convicted Alejandro Avila, 30, of kidnapping, murder and sexual assault. In the penalty phase, set to begin Wednesday, the jury will decide whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison without parole.

Samantha’s mother, Erin Runnion, cried silently in the front row of the courtroom as verdicts were read. She hugged prosecutor David Brent as the jury left.

Samantha was abducted, kicking and screaming, on July 15, 2002, from outside her home in Stanton. Her body was found the following day in mountains some 50 miles away, left on the ground as if it had been posed.

Washington, D.C.

Official says N. Korea has nuclear missile

The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency testified Thursday that North Korea now has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, marking the first time a U.S. intelligence official has publicly said Pyongyang had crossed that critical technological threshold.

But other U.S. intelligence officials said they could not confirm Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby’s remarks, and the agency subsequently issued a statement saying Jacoby was merely “reiterating” previous testimony.

Jacoby’s remarks came during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

U.S. spy agencies have long suspected that North Korea was working to miniaturize a nuclear device so that it could function as a payload on one of its missile systems, which may be capable of reaching the United States’ West Coast. But congressional officials and North Korea experts said no U.S. official has ever said North Korea had succeeded in that task.

California

Study links middle-age obesity, dementia

The most convincing research so far suggests that being fat in your 40s might raise your risk of developing dementia later in life.

In a study that followed more than 10,000 Californians for almost 30 years, researchers found that the fatter people were, the greater their risk for Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The results were published online today by the British Medical Journal.

The study data showed that roughly seven out of 100 normal-weight people developed dementia. Among overweight people, the risk was almost eight out of 100; and for obese people, it was nine out of 100.

The effect was more profound for women than men. Obese women were twice as likely as women of normal weight to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, while for men the risk increased by 30 percent.

New York City

Researchers find signs of global warming

Climate scientists armed with new data from deep in the ocean and far into space have found that Earth is absorbing much more heat than it is giving off, a conclusion they say validates projections of global warming.

Lead scientist James Hansen, a NASA climatologist, described the findings on the planet’s out-of-balance energy exchange as a “smoking gun” that should dispel doubts about forecasts of climate change.

Hansen’s team, reporting Thursday in the journal Science, said they also determined global temperatures would rise 1 degree Fahrenheit this century even if greenhouse gases were capped tomorrow.

If carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping emissions instead continue to grow, as expected, things could spin “out of our control,” especially as ocean levels rise from melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the researchers said. International experts predict a 10-degree leap in Fahrenheit readings in such a worst-case scenario.