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Nation in briefHouse chairman says NASA needs lawmaker oversightBy Times Wires© St. Petersburg Times published July 26, 2003 WASHINGTON - House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said Friday that NASA managers' arrogance and aloofness contributed to the Columbia disaster and that Congress intends to play a decisive role in determining whether the space agency is ready to resume flying the shuttle. Boehlert also announced that members of the board investigating the Feb. 1 accident have agreed to continue in an oversight capacity after they issue a final report next month. The board, whose members have been sharply critical of NASA's management culture in public statements, indicated that it might reconvene a year from now to assess NASA's progress. Boehlert stressed Friday that he and other key lawmakers, in consultation with the White House, should make the final determination of whether NASA has made the changes necessary to safely resume operation of the three remaining shuttles. The Science Committee has jurisdiction over NASA and works closely with the appropriating committees in setting spending policies.NASA NAMES NEW SPACE STATION CREW: NASA on Friday named veteran American and Russian astronauts to serve as the next caretaker crew for the international space station. They would begin their six-month stay in late October. Mike Foale, a 46-year-old astrophysicist, will command the trip. He will be joined by Alexander Kaleri, a 47-year-old flight test engineer employed by Russia's RSC Energiya Corp. Wildfires burn homes, parkland across the WestWEST GLACIER, Mont. - At least six houses burned in a blaze that blew up along the western edge of Glacier National Park, a crown jewel of the park system from which thousands of people have been evacuated because of wildfires. The houses were lost in a fire that has burned 14,000 acres west of the national park, Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont said. The National Interagency Fire Center said 42 large fires were burning in 12 Western states Friday. Tropical depression to soak Ga. coastBRUNSWICK, Ga. - The Georgia coast is bracing for more flooding from a tropical depression expected to hammer the coast this weekend. The depression is relatively mild - with top winds expected to hit about 30 mph - but meteorologists say 3 inches to 6 inches of rain could fall. Live in public housing, do community serviceWASHINGTON - Some 370,000 residents of public housing will have to perform eight hours of community service each month to stay in their apartments under rules revived by the Bush administration. Local public housing agencies have until Thursday to notify residents of the requirement, which they must enforce by Oct. 31. The rule essentially targets those who are neither working nor in school, although it exempts people in job training programs and the elderly and disabled. About 80 percent of the 2-million adults in public housing would be exempt, HUD estimates. Elsewhere . . .NUNS SENTENCED FOR PROTEST: Calling them "dangerously irresponsible," a federal judge in Denver sentenced three nuns to at least 21/2 years in prison Friday for vandalizing a nuclear missile silo during an antiwar protest last fall. Despite his strong words, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn gave the women less than the six-year minimum.  © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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