JUDGE BLOCKS STRIKE

Saturday, August 26, 2006 Judge blocks strike NEW YORK — A federal judge blocked Northwest Airlines flight attendants from going on strike Friday, handing a victory to the airline just hours before a planned strike action that could have devastated the cash-strapped company. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said he will issue an injunction to allow time for him to examine the case. He said Northwest Airlines Corp. made a "persuasive case" that a delay in any strike was necessary so that the legal issues could be resolved. He said that while the injury to flight attendants would be to delay their ability to strike, "far greater injuries exist to Northwest and the public by permitting the strike to commence at this point." The flight attendants had planned to launch unannounced, sporadic walkouts anytime after 10 p.m. EDT Friday. Northwest, already operating under bankruptcy protection, has said a strike could kill it. The nation's fifth-largest airline, Northwest has about 7,300 active flight attendants. Forecast worsens for space shuttle launch CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The weather forecast for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis worsened slightly Friday, with storms expected in the area hours before Sunday's launch. There was a 40 percent chance that weather at the Kennedy Space Center would prohibit a lift off at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, NASA's first launch opportunity, said Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer. Area storms likely will push westward before liftoff, Winters said. But NASA won't launch if there are storms within 23 miles of the shuttle landing runway, in case astronauts need to make an emergency landing. "We're probably go red through the countdown," said Winters, referring to a violation. Stormy weather and a lightning strike at the launch pad Friday forced technicians to delay fueling the system that will power the space shuttle during the mission. The interruption wasn't expected to affect the countdown since the fueling had started earlier than planned. Deadly storms bring twisters, hail to Plains NICOLLET, Minn. — Lumber from obliterated buildings was scattered among corn stalks, concrete foundations were exposed where houses once stood and silos were crushed like empty aluminum cans after deadly storms swept across the northern Plains with twisters and large hail. In southern Minnesota, 70 homes were lost, dozens more structures suffered damage and hundreds of cattle were killed or on the loose. Some wandering cattle caused car accidents a day after the storm, officials said Friday. "There's a lot of devastation," said Tom Doherty, chief deputy in the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office. "We have areas that you can't believe a house was there. Crops, you wouldn't even know there was a crop there. Cornfields, there's nothing left." More severe weather rolled across Missouri on Friday; most of the Jefferson City area lost power for about two hours as people headed to work and school. And in New York, the city was under a rare tornado warning for about a half hour Friday. No tornado touched down, the National Weather Service said. Suspect pleads innocent ESSEX, Vt. — A man accused of killing two people and wounding two others in a shooting rampage that began at his ex-girlfriend's home and continued at an elementary school pleaded not guilty Friday, while a prosecutor said the suspect confessed to the crimes. Christopher A. Williams, 27, was ordered held without bail. He shot himself twice in the head after the rampage Thursday and appeared in court using a wheelchair, arms strapped to his sides and feet shackled. Williams was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He was released from a hospital Friday and transferred to jail. He appeared listless in court, slumping in his chair and showing no emotion. Mental health counselor Joan Tracy said that Williams had said he wanted to drown himself in a toilet after being arrested Thursday. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Ford has angioplasty MINNEAPOLIS — Former President Ford underwent his second heart procedure in a week at the Mayo Clinic when stents were placed into two of his coronary arteries to increase blood flow, his spokeswoman said Friday. The angioplasty procedure on the 93-year-old Ford was successful and he was resting comfortably in his room at the hospital in Rochester, spokeswoman Penny Circle said in a statement. On Monday, doctors at the clinic had fitted Ford with an implantable cardiac pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat. Mayo Clinic spokesman John Murphy confirmed the procedure, but would not comment further. "No further releases or updates are anticipated for several days," he said. About 600,000 angioplasties are done each year in the United States alone. Associated Press