Worldandnation: Back to class, but not to normalcy

World & Nation

Special report

Last mission to repair the Hubble telescope
Hubble space telescope discoveries have enriched our understanding of the cosmos. In this special report, you will see facts about the Hubble space telescope, discoveries it has made and what the last mission's goals are.
More special reports

Video report

For their own good
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
More video reports

Multimedia report

Rays fan guide to the Trop
Here are some insider tips to Tropicana Field and area information.
More multimedia reports

Back to class, but not to normalcy

By Times Wires
Published February 26, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.

Students at Northern Illinois University returned to class on Monday for the first time since a gunman burst into a lecture hall and killed five students and himself. Some students said they felt relieved to return to their routine, but others said they felt newly shaken, on edge as they sat in big lecture halls and newly watchful of everyone around them, especially anyone who arrived in class after it began, as the gunman did on Feb. 14. "It feels like part of our campus has been taken away from us," said Olivia Gabrys, 21.

WASHINGTON

Satellite's tank zapped, U.S. says

The Pentagon said Monday it has a "high degree of confidence" that the missile fired at a dead U.S. spy satellite in space destroyed the satellite's fuel tank as planned. In its most definitive statement yet on the outcome of last Wednesday's shootdown over the Pacific, the Pentagon said that based on debris analysis it is clear the Navy missile destroyed the fuel tank, "reducing, if not eliminating, the risk to people on Earth from the hazardous chemical."

NEW YORK

Flight death brings airline defense

American Airlines defended its staff as professional and its equipment as sound Monday after a review of a passenger's in-flight death, despite her family's claims. Carine Desir, 44, was pronounced dead Friday on a Haiti-to-New York flight by a pediatrician who said he tried to use the plane's defibrillator on her as she faded, but her pulse was already too weak for it to work. Dr. Joel Shulkin was one of several medical professionals who stepped in after flight attendants asked for help. He said through his attorney, Justin Nadeau, that two emergency medical technicians performed CPR on Desir, a diabetic. Antonio Oliver, a cousin who was traveling with Desir, said that the crew ignored her pleas until it was too late and that the plane's emergency equipment malfunctioned.