USA

Seeking a nominee with the judicial experience that derailed candidate Harriet Miers did not have, President Bush named federal judge Samuel Alito as his choice to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Bush said Alito, who has served on the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia since 1990, has "more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in 70 years." Senate Democrats, however, expressed concerns about Alito's conservative leanings and suggested that in the confirmation process they'd raise his views on abortion as a sticking point.

Former seamstress and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died last week, became the first woman to lie in state beneath the Capitol Rotunda. Parks's refusal in 1955 to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., is credited with starting a 381-day boycott that initiated the modern civil rights movement. Bush was among the dignitaries present at a memorial ceremony.

The trial of Houston-born Ahmed Abu Ali, who is charged with conspiring to kill Bush, was set to begin in Alexandria, Va., as the Monitor went to press. Lawyers for the defendant were unsuccessful in getting his confession thrown out because of claims that Saudi government officials, who captured him, had coerced it.

Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the National Football League, assured fans Sunday that the New Orleans Saints, who have been forced out of the city temporarily by hurricane Katrina, will return. The announcement was intended to squash speculation that the team might move to San Antonio or Los Angeles.

More than 400 Halloween revelers were arrested over the weekend in Madison, Wis., mostly on alcohol-related offenses during what has become an annual gathering of college students from across the Midwest. In the future, said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (D), the city may have to temporarily close a street near the University of Wisconsin campus where things have gotten out of hand in recent years.

Florida Power & Light said it's making better progress than expected and should be able to restore power by Nov. 8 to 95 percent of the 3.2 million cus- tomers who lost it after hurricane Wilma struck Oct. 24. Damage to Florida's citrus crop, meanwhile, was estimated at $180 million. Nearly half the grapefruit harvest is lost.