Astronauts install solar wing on Hubble

Astronauts installsolar wing on Hubble
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two shuttle astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk today and installed the first of two new, powerful solar wings on the Hubble Space Telescope.
"Hello, Mr. Hubble, the telescope," lead spacewalker John Grunsfeld said as he emerged from space shuttle Columbia. "We're here to give you more power to see the planets, stars and the universe."
Today's 350-mile-high tuneup was the first of five planned this week to enhance Hubble, not just electrically but scientifically.
"It's time to go outside and turn some wrenches," Mission Control told the astronauts following their successful capture of the telescope on Sunday.
Even though he worked on Hubble during the last service call in 1999, Grunsfeld was mightily impressed. So was Richard Linnehan, a first-time spacewalker.
"It's amazing to be here," Linnehan said as he floated outside. Then he saw the 43-foot, 24,500-pound telescope jutting out of Columbia's payload bay: "Oh, wow."
New study linkssnoring, hyperactivity
CHICAGO -- New research suggests children who snore face nearly double the risk of being inattentive and hyperactive, providing fresh evidence of an intriguing link between sleep problems and attention deficit disorders.
While the study doesn't answer whether one condition causes the other, the researchers believe snoring and other sleep problems may be the culprit in some cases because children often express sleepiness by being inattentive and "hyper."
If it turns out to be true, this theory could help explain the paradox over why stimulants such as Ritalin can effectively treat children with conditions like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who already seem over-stimulated, said Dr. Ronald Chervin, a University of Michigan neurologist and sleep researcher, and the study's lead author.
"If there is indeed a cause-and-effect link, sleep problems in children could represent a major public health issue," Chervin said.
Chervin's study involving 866 children age 2 through 13 is published in the March issue of Pediatrics. It is based on surveys of parents about their children's behavior and sleep patterns.
Among frequent snorers, 22 percent had high ADHD scores, compared with only 12 percent among infrequent snorers.
Snowstorm blamed formore than 20 deaths
MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The month of March roared in like a snow lion, triggering bone-chilling temperatures, dangerous roads and more than 20 deaths along the nation's midsection.
From Michigan to Texas, the weekend blast of snow and freezing rain crashed through the Plains, coating roads and power lines on its way out of the Rockies.
"It's unseasonably cold, but it's not out of the ordinary to have one of these arctic fronts moving through this time of year," said Steve Fano, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Texas.
In Michigan, the storm brought 17.6 inches of snow to the Marquette area by Sunday afternoon. Farther south, Grand Rapids collected a one-day March record of 13.6 inches on Saturday.
Temperatures were warming early today over Texas, but light snow and gusty winds exacerbated the pre-dawn chill in Michigan. Tennessee braced for near-record lows.
Fano said warmer air from the Gulf of Mexico was expected to replace the icy blast that dropped the temperatures at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to 15 degrees, only five degrees above of the record set in 1943.
Soap star dies
NEW YORK -- Mary Stuart, the stalwart star throughout the 35-year run of the popular soap opera built around her character, "Search for Tomorrow," has died. She was 75.
Stuart, who began as Joanne "Jo" Gardner Barron and ended the show as Joanne Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur, died Thursday at her New York City home of complications from a stroke.
Inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1995, Stuart also played the character Meta Bauer on another durable soap opera, "Guiding Light," from 1996 until her death.
Stuart was the first actress to be nominated for a daytime Emmy in 1962, and later added three more nominations. In 1983, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her work on "Search for Tomorrow."
Divorced twice, Stuart is survived by her husband of more than 20 years, Wolfgang Neumann; two children, Cynthia Stuart and Jeffrey Krolik; and two grandchildren.
Combined dispatches