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NASA details plan for March shuttle launch

WASHINGTON - Seven months after the Columbia disaster, NASA has come up with a "return to flight" plan for future shuttle missions, one that envisions a resumption of flights as early as March.

The 78-page report offers acomprehensive look at the steps the space agency has been taking, and plans to take, after the Feb. 1 accident to comply with the recommendations from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

The NASA plan, which will be released today, lists a improvements being made - including ways to better facilitate communication and encourage employees to "express dissenting views."

To address safety questions, the report said NASA is reviewing ways to harden the shuttle against damage caused by debris impacts.

A return to flight schedule lists a March 11 "launch date," but NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said the date is a planning date and not a foregone conclusion.

FRESNO, Calif. - The leading Democrat and Republican vying to replace Gov. Gray Davis are both taking aim at another issue on the Oct. 7 recall ballot: Proposition 54, which seeks to limit what racial data the government can collect.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is transferring $3.8-million in questioned contributions from Indian tribes and unions to a committee to fight the measure, his campaign consultant said Sunday. And Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Saturday for the first time that he also opposes the measure.

"There is no way we can match that," Proposition 54's backer, Ward Connerly, said in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. The University of California regent said the measure would likely be defeated.

Opponents say the initiative would undermine civil rights enforcement because it would stop the collection of statistics that could show discrimination. Connerly has said statistics can't prove discrimination, and that it's time to stop being so race conscious.

EDWARDS WON'T SEEK SENATE SEAT: Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., announced Sunday that he will not seek re-election to a second term in the Senate next year to devote his efforts to winning the Democratic presidential nomination.