USA
In a congressionally ordered power-grid congestion report released Tuesday, the Energy Department identified four areas of serious concern in shoring up the national network. According to the study, new lines are needed in Arizona's Phoenix-Tucson corridor; New England; the Seattle-Portland corridor in the Pacific Northwest, and the San Francisco Bay area.
The driver of a Chevy Suburban carrying 21 people flipped the vehicle Monday while trying to elude federal agents in Yuma, Ariz., killing nine people and critically injuring five others. The unidentified driver was transporting Mexicans suspected of being illegal immigrants.
The Supreme Court turned aside Republican Party efforts in Texas to have the name of former House majority leader Tom DeLay removed from the November ballot. Although DeLay won a March primary election, he later resigned from Congress after being indicted on money-laundering charges. Democrats have sued to keep DeLay on the ballot; Republicans want to replace his name. If forced to stay on the ballot, DeLay has hinted he would run.
Google, the Internet's leading search engine, signed a $900 million, multiyear deal with News Corp., the owner of MySpace.com, the popular social-networking website. Allowing MySpace users to conduct Google searches directly on the site lets it retain visitors longer and boost its potential for shared advertising revenue.
Since 2001, Americans have increased their use of prescription drugs as sleeping pills nearly 50 percent, according to a Consumers Union study summarized in the Los Angeles Times. Marvin Lipman, a CU medical adviser, says high-powered advertising "in a sense" has helped to "create the disease."
An equipment failure at Los Angeles International Airport Monday caused flight delays across the nation and followed a July 18 power outage at LAX that backed up flights in the western US and Canada. The latest malfunction involved a computer system used to guide arriving planes onto runways. Fog contributed to the tie-up . The faulty system was quickly repaired.
