Panel: Captain who made videos can stay

Panel: Captain who made videos can stay

NORFOLK, Va.

The former commander of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier who produced raunchy videos aboard the USS Enterprise can remain in the Navy despite a finding that he committed misconduct, a Navy panel ruled Wednesday. Capt. Owen P. Honors let out a sigh of relief after the board of inquiry read its decision, then embraced his wife after months of uncertainty about his career largely came to a close.

The board was deciding whether to recommend to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus that Honors should be kicked out of the Navy after nearly three decades of service because of the videos. Among other things, the videos included simulated same-sex shower scenes, anti-gay slurs and references to prostitution in foreign ports.

Edwards seeks delay of Oct. trial

RALEIGH, N.C.

Lawyers for former presidential hopeful John Edwards asked a judge Wednesday to delay the scheduled October start of a trial on alleged campaign- finance law violations, saying they can’t prepare in just over a month because they have too much information to review.

Edwards, a former Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina, has pleaded not guilty to six felony charges related to money that went to hide Rielle Hunter, a videographer who followed his 2008 presidential campaign and later became his mistress and the mother of his child. Prosecutors allege that Edwards accepted contributions far above the legal limit in order to hide his affair and helped in trying to cover up the payments by filing false campaign-finance reports.

300,000 plan visits to NY 9/11 memorial

NEW YORK

More than 300,000 people from the United States and 65 other countries have made reservations to visit the National September 11 Memorial Plaza after the 10th anniversary ceremony, officials said Wednesday.

The above-ground site at ground zero will be in continuous operation after Sept. 11, when it will be open only for families of the victims of the terror attacks as well as a select group of political leaders including President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, said Joe Daniels, head of the memorial and museum.

Firefighters draining burning propane

LINCOLN, Calif.

Firefighters began making a bold attempt Wednesday to drain a burning propane rail tanker, but the process to head off a catastrophic explosion in a Northern California town was slowed by the fire’s intense heat.

The rail blaze kept thousands of people away from their homes for a second day. Crews had hoped to start draining the propane from the tanker into a newly dug retaining hole around 5 p.m., but the process was slowed by the fire, Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Whitt said.

The maneuver could get the blaze under control in 24 to 48 hours, instead of the 21 days the fire could take to burn out on its own, fire officials said.

Gunfire at school

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico

Gunmen attacked a group of parents waiting for their children outside an elementary school Wednesday, killing one man and wounding five other people in a dangerous part of the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office said two cars drove up to the school around noon, and two men got out and started shooting, apparently with assault rifles.

The gunfire wounded one man and four women, prosecutors’ spokesman Arturo Sandoval said.

Combined dispatches