JUST HANGING AROUND OVER MICHIGAN

Just hanging aroundover Michigan
An air rescue team from Quebec performs a demonstration at the Muskegon Air Fair. The fair was Saturday in Muskegon, Mich.
In St. Louis, powerand TVs are out
ST. LOUIS -- The heat was down and the skies were clear, but Kim Beck could only laugh when asked Saturday whether things were slowing down at the Salvation Army shelter she manages in suburban St. Louis. "Far from it," Beck said. "We had 95 people spend the night last night. It may not be hot, but they don't have power. Here they get the creature comforts -- they can eat, they can watch TV, some are even doing their laundry." The shelter was just one spot where the city's weather-battered citizens found a haven as the region began recovering from a week that brought 100-degree heat and one of the worst storms ever to hit the area, followed by another big thunderstorm Friday. The forecast was free of any immediate problematic weather. Weekend highs were expected to be in the 80s with little humidity. Still, it was expected to be early next week before power was restored. About half the city was still without electricity Saturday, and about 410,000 homes and businesses remained dark.
Bush's line-item vetoseems to be sinking
WASHINGTON -- President Bush may be pushing hard for Congress to give him line-item veto power to remove wasteful spending from the bills it passes, but the idea seems to be sinking on Capitol Hill. Even though lawmakers are increasingly sheepish about the "pork barrel" projects the line-item veto is designed to fight, Democrats and some old-school Republicans in the Senate are so resistant to the idea that legislation to grant Bush this authority may not even get a Senate vote. The House passed the measure a month ago, but it has run into opposition from Senate GOP veterans such as Pete Domenici of New Mexico, an "old bull" who sits on the Appropriations Committee, even though they supported a much stronger version that passed during the Clinton administration. The latest incarnation doesn't grant true line-item veto authority like the one the GOP-dominated Congress gave President Clinton in 1996.
Associated Press