Nation digest 10/01/02

NASA's countdown clocks ticking again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's countdown clocks began ticking for the first time in four months as the space agency readied shuttle Atlantis for liftoff Wednesday on a mission to add another girder to the international space station.

The countdown started Sunday night but was not announced until Monday, in keeping with the agency's anti-terrorism measures. NASA was also keeping the mid- to late-afternoon launch time a secret until 24 hours in advance.

The space shuttle fleet was grounded all summer because of cracked fuel lines.

Florida showers and Hurricane Lili threatened to delay Atlantis' flight, already more than a month late because of the fuel-line repairs.

Atlantis will deliver a 45-foot-long, 15-foot-wide girder to the space station. The structure contains 15 miles of wiring, 426 feet of stainless steel tubes for ammonia coolant, three radiators and a rail cart for spacewalking astronauts.

Suit alleging cell phones cause tumors dismissed

BALTIMORE -- A federal judge Monday tossed out an $800 million lawsuit filed by a Maryland doctor who claims cell phones caused his brain tumor.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake said none of the evidence submitted by Dr. Christopher Newman was substantial enough to warrant a trial against cell phone manufacturer Motorola and several major cell phone carriers.

The $45 billion wireless industry has been watching the case closely because could have opened the door to other lawsuits. No other such claims have succeeded so far.

Three major studies published since December 2000, including one by the National Cancer Institute, found no harmful health effects from cell phones.

Colonel admits he killed wife in fight over Net porn

ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Md. -- A lieutenant colonel at the Army War College pleaded guilty Monday to killing his wife, saying he beat and strangled her as they fought about his use of the Internet to find pornography.

Lt. Col. David Bartlett Jr., 46, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in the March slaying of his 39-year-old wife, Suzanne.

Bartlett pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, the military equivalent of second-degree murder. Prosecutors -- who had charged him with premeditated murder -- dropped assault and obstruction of justice counts.

Bartlett, the former branch chief of the operations research group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole at sentencing next month.

Man saves son from bear attack with arrow

POCATELLO, Idaho -- A man armed with a bow shot and killed a mother black bear that had attacked his son while she was protecting her cubs.

Nolan Koller heard his son, Jason Koller, 29, yell for help while the pair were elk hunting Saturday.

Nolan Koller said the bear was on top of his son, mauling him. The 200-pound bear then got off Jason Koller and charged. The elder Nolan waited until the bear was close, then shot it through the neck.

"These guys are really good archers, but still, even at that, it was a darn lucky shot," said Larry Hlavaty, conservation officer with the Idaho Fish and Game Department.

Jason Koller was in fair condition Monday at Bannock Regional Medical Center.

Texas octuplets' mother gives birth to daughter

LEAGUE CITY, Texas -- The seven surviving Texas octuplets now have a little sister.

Nkem Chukwu, the only woman known to have delivered eight living babies from one pregnancy, gave birth to Ifeoma Chukwu on Aug. 22.

In 1998, Chukwu spent more than two months suspended practically upside down to ease the pressure caused by her crowded womb. One of her babies was delivered Dec. 8 of that year, while the seven others arrived 12 days later.

The smallest died after one week, but the others have grown up without complications.

-- From wire reports