USA
A day after taking over responsibility for airline safety, the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) faced a pair of tests. At Los Angeles International Airport, a man identified as an off-duty national guardsman was arrested after an explosive resembling a large firecracker was found in his carry-on luggage. A police spokesman said the device was not functional. On the east coast, a flight bound for Cleveland was forced to return to New York's La Guardia Airport because one of the passengers had not been screened properly. The TSA was created to oversee screening in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Opening arguments in the trial of Andrea Yates, charged with drowning her five children in the bathtub of their home, were to begin in Houston as the Monitor went to press. Defense lawyers were expected to argue that Yates was innocent by reason of insanity, but the prosecution has said it will use her 911 call to police to show that she knew her actions were wrong. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death.
A jet fighter crash during a training exercise in California killed one Marine and injured another. It was the state's third deadly training accident in 12 days. The F/A-18 Hornet crashed Sunday while trying to land at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center about 135 miles east of Los Angeles, a spokeswoman said. The Marines were members of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing, which is based in Beaufort, S.C.
Authorities in Noble, Ga., were searching for hundreds of human remains at the Tri-State Crematory and nearby woods. So far, reports said, they've recovered 97, and expect to find at least as many more. The operator of the facility, Ray Brent Marsh, has been charged with theft by deception for failing to dispose of the remains.
In hopes of ending a scandal over judging in pairs figure skating, Olympic officials in Salt Lake City belatedly awarded a second set of gold medals to Canadians David Pelletier and Jamie Salé, making them co-champions with Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia. Meanwhile, American speedskater Chris Witty (below, taking a victory lap) set a world record in the 1,000-meter event with a time of 1 minute, 13.83 seconds. Sabine Voelker of Germany won the silver and another American, Jennifer Rodriguez, took bronze. (Related story, page 1; editorial, page 10.)
Howard K. Smith, who died Friday in Bethesda, Md., was a pioneer in television news. In 1960, he was moderator for the Nixon-Kennedy debate, the first of its kind between presidential candidates. A CBS news correspondent during World War II, Smith quit the network in 1961 in a dispute over civil rights coverage. He then became an anchorman and commentator for ABC news. Smith retired in 1979.
