Nation digest 08/03/04

Muslim chaplain, cleared in espionage probe, quits

FORT LEWIS, Wash. --A Muslim chaplain cleared after being imprisoned for 76 days in an espionage probe submitted a letter of resignation to the Army on Monday, saying officials never apologized to him or allowed him to retrieve his belongings from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Capt. James Yee, 35, ministered to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay naval station, where the military is holding suspected Muslim terrorists. He was taken into custody last year after the military initially linked him to a possible espionage ring at the Guantanamo Bay naval station in Cuba. In March, Army officials dismissed all criminal charges against him.

Statue of Liberty to open for first time since 2001

NEW YORK -- Barring last-minute terrorism alerts or other problems, the Statue of Liberty will reopen to visitors today for the first time since the 2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the nearby World Trade Center. National Park Service officials went ahead with the reopening plan despite warnings of terrorist threats to the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan and to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, D.C. "I think it's significant that, despite the raising of the alert levels, we are still going ahead with the reopening," Assistant interior secretary Craig Manson said Monday. "I think it shows the world that liberty cannot be intimidated."

Florida ballot item on abortion challenged

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The ACLU and Planned Parenthood sued Monday to block a Florida ballot measure that would pave the way for a law requiring parents to be told when their minor daughters seek abortions. The lawsuit argues that the ballot summary for the proposed constitutional amendment is misleading. State lawmakers voted this spring to put the proposed constitutional change before voters. If passed, the measure would allow lawmakers to pass a law requiring that parents be told when their minor daughters seek abortions because last summer the state Supreme Court ruled that a 1999 parental notice law violated the state constitution's privacy provision.

First tropical storm of 2004 gains strength

CHARLESTON, S.C. --Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, strengthened Monday off the coast of South Carolina but was on a course that was expected to take it out to sea. Alex's maximum sustained wind speed increased to 60 mph and the National Hurricane Center predicted it could become a minimal hurricane, with wind of at least 74 mph, today. While the storm was projected to remain offshore, it was expected to pass close enough to land that tropical storm warnings were in effect from the South Santee River, northeast of Charleston, to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina's Outer Banks. A warning means sustained wind of 39 mph or more is expected.

-- From wire reports