Carson City, Nev. – Relying on new leads from Air Force experts, crews looking for famed aviator Steve Fossett plan to comb a rugged area near Death Valley by air and on foot, authorities said Tuesday.
Gary Derks of the state Department of Public Safety said the Air Force analyzed images picked up by radar and satellite and “picked up what could be Mr. Fossett, his track.”
“It gives us an idea, if it’s him, what direction he was going,” Derks said of the wealthy adventurer, missing for more than three weeks. But “there’s nothing definite, nothing concrete.”
A private search effort by Fossett’s family and friends also continued Tuesday.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Ex-legislator found guilty of taking bribes
A former state legislator was convicted Tuesday of trading his legislative influence for bribes from a company that was seeking to profit from a proposed natural gas pipeline.
Former Rep. Pete Kott, a Republican who was House speaker for part of his 14-year tenure, was found guilty of accepting nearly $9,000, a political poll and the promise of a job from VECO Corp., an oil field services company.
The case has wide implications because the FBI is investigating whether Ted Stevens, the U.S. Senate’s longest-serving Republican, received illegal gifts from VECO. Stevens has denied the allegations.
MADISON, Wis.
Reports of gunman put university on alert
Police searched areas of the University of Wisconsin on Tuesday after receiving reports of a man with a gun who hoped to be killed by police.
Evening classes and a soccer game were canceled.
The first emergency caller reported a person who was apparently suicidal on top of the University of Wisconsin Hospital parking ramp. A later caller said shots were fired near the hospital, and a third reported a bomb threat.
Further details were not immediately available.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.
Equipment failure halts airline traffic
Communications equipment failed Tuesday at a regional air-traffic control center, shutting down all airline traffic within 250 miles of Memphis and causing a ripple effect across the country that grounded dozens of passenger and cargo flights.
The problem started when a major phone line to the Mem phis center went out. The Federal Aviation Administration said air-traffic control operations were back to normal about three hours later.
Air-traffic control centers in adjacent regions handled flights in the air, while high-altitude flights through the region were discontinued.
WASHINGTON
Bhutto says faith in Musharraf a mistake
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who’s pledged to end her 10-year exile next month in hopes of returning to power, said Tuesday that the Bush administration had made a mistake by believing that the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf was the best choice for fighting terrorism.
Bhutto said extremism had grown under Musharraf, whose government has received more than $10 billion in U.S. aid since 9/11 in return for help in fighting al-Qaeda.
Bhutto said she’d return to Pakistan on Oct. 18 to begin organizing for January parliamentary elections.
