USA

President Bush commemorated hurricane Katrina's devastation on Wednesday with a moment of silence. Bush and his wife, Laura, are spending Wednesday's anniversary of the storm in New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Miss., in order to celebrate the lives of those he says have "dedicated their lives to the renewal of New Orleans."

Missouri lawmakers are poised to approve a massive bridge repair project that could serve as a national model following the Minneapolis bridge collapse. The plan would award a single 30-year contract to fix and maintain 802 of the state's bridges most in need of repair.

In his first public appearance since experiencing a brainhemorrhage in December, Sen. Tim Johnson, (D) of South Dakota., spoke for about 15 minutes Tuesday to a cheering crowd at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Aides say he is expected to return to work Sept. 5. "Hard work is something in which I take great pride. So, let me say this tonight going forward: I am back," he said to loud applause.

Fewer Americans plan to travel by car this Labor Day weekend despite gasoline prices that are about 10 cents lower than they were a year ago, according to AAA's annual Labor Day survey. The survey found that 28.9 million people will travel by car over the long weekend, down slightly from 29 million last year.

President Bush is preparing to ask Congress for as much as $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The request signals increasing administration confidence that it can fend off growing congressional pressure to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq, said the Post.

An ambitious plan to cover Chicago with ubiquitous wireless broadband Internet will be shelved. Chicago leaders had hoped to make the city one of the largest to offer all-over access to the Web. This makes Chicago the latest in a string of municipalities to have problems with their municipal broadband initiatives.