Astronauts attach new part at station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Two astronauts ventured out on the first spacewalk of Endeavour's space station visit Saturday to help install a porch on Japan's expansive lab.
Veteran spaceman David Wolf and rookie Timothy Kopra got straight to work as they floated out the hatch, 220 miles away from the planet.
But their voices could hardly be understood at times because of loud static, caused by their helmet microphones.
"Dave, you're unreadable," astronaut Christopher Cassidy called from inside.
With Apollo 11 on the minds of many back on Earth, NASA noted that Saturday's spacewalk was the 201st by Americans since those first steps on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 40 years ago this Monday.
Remaining inside the linked shuttle and international space station were 11 astronauts, a full house. The station population swelled to a record 13 when Endeavour arrived Friday for a 11⁄2-week stay.
Authorities: 6 slain, 5 in Tennessee
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A suspect was in custody in the slayings of six people, five in southern Tennessee and another about 20 miles away in Huntsville, Ala., authorities said Saturday.
Lincoln County, Tenn., Sheriff Murray Blackwelder said at a news conference that his department is investigating three crime scenes, though he did not elaborate. He did not release the victims' names or that of the suspect and would not confirm the causes of death. He did not release a motive.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said that the five killed in Tennessee were found Saturday morning in two homes in Lincoln County, which includes Fayetteville, and that some of the victims were related.
She says the killings happened Friday night or early Saturday. Huntsville Police Sgt. Mickey Allen told TV station WAFF that his department has a person in custody who confessed to several homicides in Tennessee and the one in Huntsville. Based on the suspect's information, police found a body at Huntsville's Hall Cultured Marble and Granite late Saturday morning, said Allen, who works on the city's major crimes unit.
Obama to Congress: Don't squander chance to make meaningful changes to health care system now
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama told the nation Saturday his health care overhaul is financially sound, but a new analysis by congressional budget experts of emerging House legislation said it would increase deficits by $239 billion over a decade.
"I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade," the president said in his weekly address. "And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long-term," he added.
It was the sixth consecutive day Obama sought to keep the focus on his chief domestic priority in the face of mounting resistance on Capitol Hill, including conservative Democrats. Republicans also renewed their criticism.
The president's remarks were released late Friday, a few hours before an update by the Congressional Budget Office said the overall cost of the House bill would "result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period." The estimate included the cost of higher Medicare fees for doctors, an important ingredient of the measure for the American Medical Association. The AMA, which represents physicians, endorsed the bill late last week.
The CBO analysis said the bill would result in a reduction in the deficit from 2010-2014, before it began to add red ink in gradually increasing amounts for the next five years.