NEW YORK — The USS New York, built with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was put into Navy service Saturday both as a symbol of healing and strength.
“No matter how many times you attack us, we always come back,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said at the amphibious assault ship’s commissioning. “America always comes back. That’s what this ship represents.”
He spoke on a Manhattan pier where hundreds of Navy officers and sailors joined first responders and families of Sept. 11 victims.
“I hereby place the USS New York in commission,” Mabus announced.
Talks in Philadelphia transit strike break off
PHILADELPHIA — Negotiations aimed at ending a transit strike in Philadelphia broke off Saturday night with Pennsylvania’s governor calling on the union to let its members vote on the transit authority’s offer.
Union president Willie Brown said the union has agreed only on proposed wages in a contract presented by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Brown said the union wants an independent audit to assure the security of its pension funds.
No new contract talks have been scheduled.
Ground broken for Flight 93 memorial
SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — With the words “Let’s roll” — the command issued by United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer to lead the passenger revolt — U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and 39 victims’ relatives and dignitaries turned shovels of dirt at a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday for a permanent national memorial.
The government intends to have the first phase completed by Sept. 11, 2011 the terrorist attacks’ 10th anniversary.
Engine fire grounds Delta plane in Atlanta
ATLANTA — A company spokesman says a Delta plane headed to Philadelphia had to return to the gate just before takeoff from Atlanta because of an engine fire.
Delta spokesman Carlos Santos said the MD88 was taxiing along the runway shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday when there were reports of “some flames coming out of the engine.” He said airport fire trucks responded immediately.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Police report: Wrong-way driver a pot smoker
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — New York State Police investigators said in a written report that a woman who killed seven people plus herself in a crash on the Taconic State Parkway was a regular marijuana user.
The report says Diane Schuler’s husband told police his wife “smoked marijuana once in a while to relieve the stress of work and the kids.”
Schuler, her daughter and three of her nieces were killed when she drove the wrong way on the highway in July. Three men in the car she hit were also killed.
When confetti runs out, Yankee fans toss files
NEW YORK — New York City office workers who got carried away during the Yankees victory parade Friday apparently began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn’t get their hands on confetti.
Auditor Damian Salo attended the Manhattan parade. He tells The New York Post he found all sorts of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the players rode up Broadway.
They included pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and even some court files.
Alabama county celebrates official Obama holiday
MARION, Ala. — A small, rural Alabama county is in the midst of a five-day celebration that concludes Monday with an official holiday marking the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president.
Poor and mostly black, Perry County is sparing little during five days of festivities.
County employees will get a paid holiday Monday as government offices close. Events include an old-fashioned civil rights rally and march, a golf tournament, a weekend carnival and a parade Monday through Marion.
Critics of the holiday say the county — with 14 paid holidays — can’t afford another. But supporters say it’s appropriate in a county that was a landmark in the struggle for voting rights for blacks.
— Herald wire services
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