Nation in brief

NASA shuffles managers

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA shook up its space shuttle program Wednesday, creating new positions and reassigning managers five months after space shuttle Columbia disintegrated.

Bill Parsons, space shuttle program manager, said the personnel changes will help him lead the program as it prepares to return the three remaining space shuttles to flight.

"I think some of these new people coming in have a new perspective on the program," Parsons said. "One thing we will ask is, "How we can prevent this from happening again?' '

NASA officials have said they plan to have the space shuttle fleet flying again by December or early next year.

The changes announced:

- Wayne Hale becomes acting deputy manager of the shuttle program, a new position. Since February, he has been manager of launch integration at Kennedy Space Center.

- Steve Poulos was named acting manager of the orbiter project office, moving from the engineering directorate.

- Edward Mango becomes deputy manager of the orbiter project office. He had been the technical assistant to the shuttle program manager.

- John Shannon was named acting manager of flight operations and integration. After the Columbia accident, he was deputy director of the task force working with the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

- John Muratore, previously assistant to the director of engineering, becomes manager of the systems integration office.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A factory worker was close to being fired for missing work too much before he pulled a gun in the middle of the plant floor and killed three co-workers, authorities said.

Jonathon Russell, 25, later committed suicide in a gun battle with police outside the police station, investigators said.

Investigators said he may have targeted certain people in the rampage, which followed a shift change at the industrial-radiator factory late Tuesday.

DENVER - An Air Force Academy sophomore will be the first to face a court-martial on rape charges since a sexual assault scandal broke at the academy earlier this year, officials announced.

Douglas Meester, 20, is charged with rape, sodomy, indecent assault and providing alcohol to minors. If convicted at a military trial, he could face life in prison and dismissal from the Air Force.

CHICAGO - The city sued owners and managers of the apartment building where 13 people died in a porch collapse, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties for allegedly building the deck without a permit.

The city alleged the porch was too large and did not have the proper support beams, causing its top floor to crash onto two lower floors during a party Sunday in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. About 50 people were on top floor when it fell.

The city asked for a court order requiring immediate replacement of the porch and is seeking up to $500 a day for each violation. That would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, considering the porch was built in 1998.

PHOENIX BISHOP: Prosecutors said there was no evidence that Bishop Thomas O'Brien was drunk during the fatal hit-and-run accident that led to his resignation as head of the Phoenix Diocese, and he probably will not face charges beyond leaving the scene.

SAME-SEX REGISTRY: The Cook County (Ill.) Board agreed to create a registry for same-sex couples, a system advocates said would help companies that extend benefits to domestic partners. Registrants must sign an affidavit saying they live together, neither is registered to another partner and they "are in a committed relationship of mutual financial and emotional support and intend to remain in such a relationship."

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