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NAACP chief quits after short tenure

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 5, 2007

NEW YORK

After just 19 months at the helm, NAACP president Bruce Gordon is quitting the civil rights organization, he said Sunday. He cited a disagreement with the group's 64-member board over how to steward the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.

"I believe that any organization that's going to be effective will only be effective if the board and the CEO are aligned, and I don't think we are aligned," said Gordon, a former telecom executive.

Julian Bond, chairman of the board of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Sunday that Gordon tried to quit just six weeks after taking the job in August 2005, but Bond convinced him to stay.

"There were occasions where it seemed just not to be a perfect fit," Bond said. "But he had many, many great qualities, and he exhibited those qualities when he worked for us. I'm disappointed that it came to this."

WASHINGTON

Sen. Domenici denies U.S. attorney threat

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., acknowledged Sunday that he contacted the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., last year to ask about an ongoing corruption investigation of Democrats, but said he "never pressured him nor threatened him in any way."

Domenici also said in a statement that he told the Justice Department it should replace U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, but said the recommendation came before his call to Iglesias about the criminal investigation.

"In retrospect, I regret making that call and I apologize," Domenici said of talking to Iglesias. "However, at no time in that conversation or any other conversation with Mr. Iglesias did I ever tell him what course of action I thought he should take on any legal matter."

Legal experts say it violates congressional ethics rules for a senator or House member to communicate with a federal prosecutor regarding an ongoing criminal investigation.

HARBOR SPRINGS, MICH.

Suspect in wife's death arrested in state park

Wearing neither coat nor shoes, a fugitive suspected of killing and dismembering his wife was found hiding under a fallen tree Sunday in a snowbound state park after a bitterly cold night on the run, authorities said.

Police tracked down Stephen Grant about 225 miles north of the suburban Detroit community where body parts believed to be those of his wife were discovered. He was in stable condition and was being treated for frostbite and hypothermia under police guard at a hospital.

Grant was wearing only slacks, a shirt and socks when he was captured nearly 10 hours after he abandoned a truck and set out on foot in Wilderness State Park, Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin said. He had no weapons and did not resist.

"I don't think he probably could have made it much longer in those kind of conditions," Wallin said.

CAPE CANAVERAL

Seven-hour trek takes shuttle to square one

Space shuttle Atlantis was moved Sunday from the launch pad back to a hangar so technicians can inspect damage caused by a hail storm and determine what kind of repairs should be made. The 3.4-mile journey aboard the massive crawler-transporter took about seven hours.

It was the 17th time in the 26-year-old shuttle program that one of the vehicles had to be moved back to the Vehicle Assembly Building from the launch pad. Last week's hailstorm caused thousands of dings in the insulating foam covering Atlantis' external fuel tank and forced NASA to postpone the space shuttle's launch from March 15 to at least late April.

In the hangar, technicians will assess whether repairs to the tank can be made at Kennedy Space Center or if the tank needs to be shipped back to its manufacturer near New Orleans, which likely would push the launch to June.

[Last modified March 5, 2007, 01:39:21]