A bit more time to enroll for health care

A bit more time to enroll for health care

WASHINGTON

The Obama administration is granting more time for people to apply for health care if they started the process but were unable to complete it before the Monday deadline.

Health and Human Service spokesman Aaron Albright said Tuesday night the administration will be ready to help people “in line” by the deadline finish their applications, either online or over the phone.

Plane hunt resumes in calmer waters

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

As frustration was setting in, calmer seas returned today, and the search for the remains of Flight 370 began anew in remote waters of the Indian Ocean off western Australia.

Gale-force winds that forced an all-day delay Tuesday died down, allowing a total of 12 planes and two ships from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to resume the hunt for any pieces of the Malaysia Airlines jet — tangible evidence for the families seeking closure after more than two weeks of anguished uncertainty.

WTC parachute jump condemned

new york

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York police commissioner denounced the parachute jump off 1 World Trade Center last fall by three skydiving enthusiasts as a lawless act that put others in danger.

“The Port Authority joins the NYPD in condemning this lawless and selfish act that clearly endangered the public,” the agency said in a statement early Tuesday. “One of the jumpers worked construction at the WTC and violated the spirit of respect and reverence for this sacred site that almost all connected with the WTC project feel.”

Four men — three daredevils and someone accused of being an accomplice — were arrested Monday in connection with the Sept. 30 jump from the nation’s tallest building. They were arraigned on charges including felony burglary.

Russian rocket has American on board

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan

Their relationship on Earth may be at its lowest ebb in decades, but the U.S. and Russia haven’t allowed their disagreements over Ukraine to get in the way of their joint mission in space.

Early today, a rocket carrying a Russian-American crew to the International Space Station blasted off successfully from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled at 3:17 a.m. local time today.

The crew — NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev — were set to dock the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft at the station less than six hours after the launch and are scheduled to stay in orbit for six months.

Judge: Kansas can strip clinics of funds

WICHITA, Kan.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Kansas can strip two Planned Parenthood clinics of federal family-planning money while the organization moves forward with its legal challenge of a state law it says is retaliation for its advocacy of abortion rights.

Kansas is among several conservative states that have sought in recent years to strip Planned Parenthood of funding. At issue in Tuesday’s ruling is money distributed to states under Title X, a federally financed family-planning program. The Title X money targets low-income individuals seeking reproductive services such as birth control, pregnancy testing, cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. It cannot be used for abortions.

Associated Press