Recall of Chinese-Made Tires Faces Complications

Morning Edition, June 27, 2007 · A Chinese tire maker accused of exporting faulty tires to the United States denied the claims Wednesday.

U.S. regulators have ordered tire importer Foreign Tire Sales, based in Union, N.J., to recall as many as 450,000 tires after the company reported that the treads on light-truck radials manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. in Hangzhou, China, might separate.

Hangzhou Zhongce replied in a written statement that it has not found fault in the tires. It said the tires met U.S. safety standards and the importer’s specifications.

But Foreign Tire Sales said many of the tires are missing a safety feature called a gum strip, which helps bind the belts of the tire to each other. The gum strip prevents tread separation, which can cause a tire to blow, possibly making a driver lose control of the vehicle and crash.

The Chinese-made tires were sold under at least four brand names: Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS. The tires, which were sold for use on vans, sport utility vehicles and pickups, have been linked to at least two deaths after tread separation.
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Police Seek Help Picking Killers from a Texas Crowd

by Deborah Tedford and Kayla Webley
NPR.org

June 21, 2007 · Austin, Texas, police and minority leaders appealed for community help in finding three to four people who beat a Hispanic man to death following an accident in a crowded parking lot.

David Rivas Morales, 40, died Tuesday night after being beaten outside the housing project where he lived, police said. The murder has sparked outrage because it was witnessed by more than a dozen people, none of whom has come forward to identify the killers.

Police said the incident happened shortly before 9:30 p.m., when a co-worker gave Morales a ride home after work. The co-worker was leaving the parking lot when his car “bumped” a 2-year-old child, a city official said.

Assistant Police Chief David Carter said the child was not seriously injured, but the incident enraged three or four people, who started beating the driver. When Morales tried to intervene, the men started beating him. Carter said Morales’ co-worker drove away without knowing that his friend was being beaten. Police said there were 15 to 20 witnesses to the attack.

Carter urged the witnesses to come forward. “We need the public’s help,” Carter said. “We want to bring justice to the Morales family, as (well as) to the community.”
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Investigation Launched in Dolphin Deaths

Morning Edition, June 19, 2007 ·

Four dolphins with fatal gun shot wounds have washed ashore in the San Diego area in recent weeks, and federal investigators are offering a reward for information about the deaths.

The long-beaked, common dolphins were all discovered between May 29 and June 5 between Carlsbad State Beach and Oceanside Harbor. Their normally sleek, gray skin was mottled and stained with blood from the bullet wounds.

A fifth carcass was found without bullet wounds, but there were lacerations on its pectoral fin.

“It’s a horrendous thing that happened,” said Mark Oswell, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. “That someone would go out there and shoot four dolphins.”

Necropsies, autopsies performed on animals, revealed that the dolphins were all healthy with fish in their bellies. They may have been shot at the same time with the same gun. Four had between one and three bullets of the same caliber in the same part of their heads.
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Test Scheduled for Space Station Computers

NPR.org, June 18, 2007 ·

The international space station’s recently repaired computers face a final test Monday to determine if the station can function on its own, which would allow the shuttle Atlantis to return to Earth.

Monday’s test will determine if the two Russian computers can control the station’s orientation in orbit, which allow the station’s solar array to point toward the sun and generate power for oxygen generators and other vital equipment.

If the test goes smoothly, Atlantis will decouple from the station Tuesday and return to Earth on Thursday.

After all six of the space station’s computers crashed last week, Atlantis’ thrusters were used to help the station maintain its position.

During the test, Atlantis’ thrusters will take control of the joined craft so it can change positions to dump waste and water. Then, the Russian thrusters onboard the space station will take over. During the second part of the test, U.S. computers will send commands to the Russian thrusters.
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NASA Eases Heat Shield, Computer Worries

NPR.org, June 15, 2007 ·

NASA astronauts ventured out to fold down a loose flap of a thermal cloth on the space shuttle Atlantis, using a medical stapler to secure the fold in place. The shuttle is docked to the International Space Station, which is showing signs of recovering from a massive computer failure.

Two Russian cosmonauts began to get crucial computers up and running Friday, four days after they crashed at the International Space Station and curbed the outpost’s ability to orient itself and produce oxygen.

The progress came after days of frustrating effort and, for the time being, removed a set of troubling options lying ahead for NASA and the Russian space agency if the computers continued to fail.

“They’re up and operational and this is good news for all,” said Lynette Madison, a NASA spokeswoman in Houston.

The space agency is still trying to find the cause of the failure. The leading theory is that a newly installed power-conducting truss caused the glitch — the Russian computers blinked out at about the same time the connector went on line.
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Former U.N. Chief Kurt Waldheim Dies at 88

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, who hid his Nazi past while leading the world body for nine years, died Thursday at age 88.

Waldheim died of heart failure at his home in Austria, just weeks after being hospitalized for an infection, according to the Austrian broadcasting service ORF.

In a written statement, Austrian President Heinz Fischer expressed his “deepest condolences” and had the flag lowered outside his office to half-staff.

“We have lost a great Austrian,” Austrian Vice Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer said.

Waldheim served as U.N. secretary-general from 1972-81, but it was not until he ran for president of Austria in 1986 that his military service in Nazi Germany came to light.
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Famed medical examiner tends to Va. Tech victims

Submitted on April 19, 2007 - 2:35pm.

Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard

Her office handled victims of the sniper who terrorized the Washington area in 2002. She is an acclaimed expert on “mass fatality events” and the model for the heroine of a best-selling string of crime novels.

Now, Dr. Marcella Fierro is the last doctor to tend to the victims of Monday’s carnage at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

As chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Fierro’s job is to deliver medical findings to family members, the campus community and the world - all waiting anxiously.

Fierro is charged with directing a staff in four regional offices on how to proceed with autopsies amid tragedy. Currently, she has more than 30 families desperately seeking details of how the last minutes of their loved ones’ lives played out.

“We still see them as patients. We’re their last doctor, the last one to care for them,” said Dr. Kim A. Collins, a forensic pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She has worked closely with Fierro in national pathology organizations over the years. “Dr. Fierro has always conveyed that when I’ve worked with her.”
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Europe on a dime, or a bit more

This boat serves as a traveling fruit market, delivering fruit from mainland Greece to the island of Aigina. Markets are an economical source of fresh ingredients for preparing your own meals. SHNS photo by Kayla Webley

By KAYLA WEBLEY
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
2007-04-17

In decades past, Europe was a bargain for Americans travelers. The euro did not exist. The dollar was worth more than most European currencies, and the true age of backpacking from country to country with pocket change was at its height.

Even with worse exchange rates, it is still possible to take in the history, food and culture of European countries without breaking your budget.

As you plan your summer trip, here are some things to consider, whether you are a college student booking hostels and living on bread and cheese or a family trying to pinch a few euro cents.

How far to hop?

To stay within budget, choose places that are relatively close together. Your trip’s cost will greatly increase if you want to hop around the whole of Europe in a short time. If you have less than a month, pick a region and hit all the places in that area. For your next trip, choose a different area. If you try to do too much, you’ll end up broke and exhausted.
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Tips for your summer trip to Europe

Travelers along the harbor area of Chania a small town on Crete, a Greek island. Tourists browse shops and stop to eat at waterfront restaurants, or just sit back and take in the view.
Photo by Kayla Webley

By KAYLA WEBLEY
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
2007-04-17

Planning a trip to Europe can be hard if you don’t know an experienced traveler to ask for advice.

I recently spent five months living and traveling in Europe. As my friends gear up for summer trips, these are some of their most common questions.

How long to stay?

For most places I would suggest three nights. Of course you can stay longer, but I would not advise staying less than two nights - it just gets too hectic. Traveling from place to place generally takes a whole day. Even if your flight or train ride is short, traveling takes a bit more energy than other days and you won’t feel like doing much sightseeing when you first arrive. Don’t plan to do much else on travel days. That way if you end up doing something, it’s a bonus. You could spend a week in some places. I easily spent a week in Barcelona, Spain, but a week in other places, such as a beach resort out of season, could be too long.
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Kitsap’s Heavy Hitter: Finally, It’s Norm’s Time

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairs a recent session of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

Decades of patiently biding his time until a leadership opportunity presented itself has finally paid off for the 6th District congressman.

Story by Kayla Webley, For the Kitsap Sun
April 8, 2007

WASHINGTON

For 30 years, Rep. Norm Dicks waited for his opportunity to be in the spotlight.

He sat on Republican-controlled committees for half that time, voted on budgets written by conservatives and spoke up when leaders gave him the opportunity — all the while waiting, planning and preparing to take the lead.

“The only reason I stayed is because I really wanted, at some point, to have a chance to get good things done for my state,” Dicks, D-Belfair, said. “Now is my chance.”

Since the November mid-term elections put the Democrats in charge of Congress and elevated Dicks to a powerful Appropriations subcommittee chairmanship, others have noticed his high spirits.

“What, the big smile on his face?” Sen. Patty Murray, a fellow Washington Democrat, said, noticing Dicks’ outermost reaction to his newly gained power.
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