Home | World and National News
Home
| World and National News
In the Nation
Jul 24, 2008
Billionaires join forces vs. tobacco NEW YORK - Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are pooling their piles of money to pour $375 million into a global effort to cut smoking. The money will help efforts in developing countries where tobacco use is highest, said the billionaire philanthropists, who have a combined worth of more than $70 billion. There are more than one billion smokers worldwide.
The $250 million from Bloomberg, an ex-smoker, and $125 million from Gates will support projects that raise tobacco taxes, help smokers quit, ban tobacco advertising, and protect nonsmokers from exposure to smoke. - AP
NTSB to review latest near-crash WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that it was investigating a near-collision of airborne planes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport - the third such incident at a major airport this month.
The board said the latest incident occurred at 1:47 p.m. Monday as American Eagle Flight 4298 was taking off on one runway and a private Learjet was arriving on another. When air traffic controllers realized the jets were about to collide, they ordered the Learjet to abort its landing and fly around the airport again. The American Eagle ERJ-145 was instructed to stay low on departure.
The board is also investigating two similar near-collisions this month at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. - AP
FEMA asks for lawsuit immunity NEW ORLEANS - The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked a federal judge yesterday for immunity from lawsuits over potentially dangerous fumes in government-issued trailers that have housed tens of thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims.
Lawyers for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita accuse FEMA of negligence for sheltering them in trailers with elevated levels of formaldehyde, a preservative that can cause health problems.
But a government attorney told U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt that FEMA's decisions in responding to a disaster, including its use of travel trailers after Katrina, were legally protected from "judicial second-guessing." Engelhardt did not indicate how soon he would rule. - AP
Elsewhere:
A stretch of highway near Buffalo, U.S. Route 20a, will be renamed in honor of the late NBC journalist Tim Russert under a bill signed by President Bush. Buffalo was Russert's hometown.
Copyright 2008
Powered By Zebra Mobile