NASA official who allegedly pressured scientists resigns
NASA public-affairs official George Deutsch, who has been accused of exerting political pressure on agency scientists, resigned his position late Tuesday, according to the space agency.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration press secretary Dean Acosta declined to say Wednesday why Deutsch left his job, but he said Deutsch claimed to be a journalism graduate from Texas A&M University, something the university denied. One NASA official, who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions, said Deutsch, 24, was a political appointee who had worked for the Bush campaign in Texas before being sent to NASA headquarters in Washington.
Deutsch became a controversial figure in recent days after one of NASA’s top climate scientists, James Hansen, told The New York Times that Bush administration officials had tried to get him to tone down his claims about the dangers of global warming. The Times reported that Deutsch had tried to prevent Hansen from giving an interview to National Public Radio, calling the network “the most liberal” media outlet in the country.
Deutsch also was linked to a headquarters advisory issued in October ordering that the word “theory” be added after every mention of the Big Bang, which proposes that the universe began with a gigantic explosion.
On Friday, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin issued a memo stating that NASA must not hinder the free flow of scientific information to the public.
CHICAGO
Nightclub settles in deadly stampede
The owners of a Chicago nightclub where 21 people died in a stampede have agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle dozens of lawsuits brought by victims and their families, attorneys said Wednesday.
Dozens of people were crushed in February 2003 in a narrow stairwell at the E2 nightclub when someone used pepper spray to break up a dance- floor fight and sent the crowd into a panic. Bodies jammed the door as people inside tried to push their way out.
The agreement by now-bankrupt club owner Dwain Kyles and business partner Calvin Hollins would settle 21 wrongful- death and 95 injury claims, said an attorney representing some of the more than 100 plaintiffs.
The grand-jury indictment said the two owners willfully packed the club with about 1,200 people that night, roughly five times its capacity of 240. They have pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
PRINCETON, N.J.
Grad-school exam pushed back a year
Students worried about planned changes to the GRE graduate-school entrance exam are getting a reprieve: The test’s makeover is being pushed back a year to October 2007.
A new, longer and more expensive version of the GRE General Test, taken annually by 500,000 students applying to graduate school, was supposed to be rolled out this October. But the Educational Testing Service, which writes and administers the exam, said Wednesday that date would be pushed back because of logistical problems.
Most students already take the GRE on a computer, but ETS is switching to a more secure Internet-based system. The change is designed to expand access, but the new version will still be taken only at assigned locations on any one of about 30 test days per year.
PHILADELPHIA
3 escape after landing burning UPS plane
A UPS plane with flames shooting from its rear cargo hold made an emergency landing early Wednesday in time for the pilot and two crew members to jump to safety on the runway.
The plane was carrying normal customer packages, a UPS spokesman said. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the fire.
Emergency crews surrounded the DC-8 when it touched down at Philadelphia International Airport shortly after midnight on a flight from Atlanta. Firefighters had the blaze under control about four hours later, keeping it from reaching the fuel tanks.
KATMANDU, Nepal
Candidates backed by king sweep elections
Candidates backed by Nepal’s king swept the country’s first election in seven years, officials said today, following balloting marked by rebel attacks, soldiers shooting protesters and a low turnout.
Six people were killed in violence Wednesday when Nepal held municipal elections that the United States called a “hollow attempt” by King Gyanendra to legitimize his power. One of the dead was a protester shot by soldiers.
Voters trickled into schools, Buddhist shrines and Hindu temples to cast ballots, but many said they were scared away by a rebel threat to kill anyone who took part and a government warning it would shoot anyone caught disrupting the polls.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Cancellation of debt to 3 nations hailed
Afghanistan on Wednesday hailed decisions to cancel the impoverished country’s debts to the United States, Russia and Germany, but the country is likely to remain dependent on foreign aid as it recovers from decades of war.
Afghanistan owed $108 million to the United States and $44 million to Germany from loans before the 1979 Soviet invasion.
Russia claimed it was owed about $10 billion from loans to a puppet communist government in the early 1990s.
The Bush administration said Tuesday that it will forgive the entire debt, following a similar pledge from Russia on Monday and from Germany at a donors’ conference last week.
