MONDAY,APRIL21,2003
NEWS BRIEFS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
STATI
New study reveals minority profiling
TOPEKA — Black and Hispanic motorists are three times more likely than whites to be pulled over by authorities on Kansas' interstate highways, according to a recent report.
"The results of the study demonstrate, by and large, that the state of Kansas is experiencing profiling of Hispanics and black motorists," the Police Foundation study said.
The $400,000 study compiled motorists' race and ethnicity information from tens of thousands of stops at predetermined locations and compared the data with previously collected traffic demographics from those locations.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' office said Friday that the governor planned to use the report to improve law enforcement training
"It's critical that Kansans feel like they are being treated fairly," said Matthew All, Sebelius' general counsel.
All said his office wanted to analyze the report further before making recommendations.
The Washington, D.C.-based foundation checked Interstate 70 from the Colorado border to Colby; Interstate 35 from the Oklahoma border to Wichita, and between mile marker 144 and 168 in Osage and Coffey counties; and the Topeka area.
NATION
NASA head resigns; no link to Columbia
HOUSTON—The man in charge of NASA's space shuttle program, who was one of the agency's most recognized faces following the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, will soon resign, according to media reports.
Ron Dittemore had planned to resign earlier but postponed his departure because of the shuttle disaster and investigation, a
source said yesterday.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday that Dittemore was expected to announce his resignation this week, while CBS News reported his resignation would come in the near future.
The Sentinel said a search for Dittemore's replacement was under way. In the meantime, The Houston Chronicle reported yesterday that the shuttle program would be headed by William Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for spaceflight, and his deputy, Michael Kostelnik.
Girl free, unharmed after kidnapping
REHRERSBURG, Pa. — A man who allegedly abducted his teenage niece after killing her parents was arrested yesterday following a high-speed chase and four-hour standoff with police. The 13-year-old girl was released unharmed.
Police said the violence began Saturday night when Robert Hixson shot and killed his wife's brother, Myron Bilger Jr., and Bilger's wife, Ellen, after breaking into their Pocono Lakes home. He then allegedly abducted the teenager, Hadley Bilger.
The stain couple's 5-year-old daughter had been at their home during the shooting and ran to the house of a relative, who alerted authorities, police said. The girls' father identified Hixson as the shooter before he died, according to Pocono Mountain Regional Police Detective Harry Lewis.
Hixson, 42, wasn't immediately charged. Police declined to comment on a possible motive but said they did not think an argument preceded the shooting
Hixson's truck was spotted by police yesterday morning. Authorities say he then fled, initiating a chase that ended about 45 minutes later when police disabled the tires of his truck in Berks County, about 90 miles southwest of the girl's home in the Pocono Mountains.
WORLD
Saddam's son-in-law surrenders in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein's son-in-law has left the Syrian capital and surrendered to the Iraqi National Congress in Baghdad, a spokesman in London said yesterday.
One of Saddam's top bodyguards also arrested yesterday by the group, the spokesman said. And U.S. Central Command said Iraq's minister of higher education and scientific research was apprehended by coalition troops.
Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti is married to Saddam's youngest daughter, Hala, and was deputy head of the Tribal Affairs Office in Saddam's ousted regime. Dubbed by the U.S. military as the nine of clubs in its deck of most wanted, he ranks No. 40 out of the 55 top Iraqi officials sought by the allies
Kuwaiti convoy feeds Iraqi zoo animals
DOHA, Qatar—A convoy of food has arrived for the animals at the Baghdad Zoo, who were malnourished during more than a decade of international sanctions and abandoned during the U.S.-led war, the U.S. Central Command said.
The shipment included a twoweek supply of fruit, vegetables and meat, and a one-month supply of dry feed, the command said in a statement. The food convoy left Friday from Kuwait and arrived in Baghdad the next day, the statement said.
The animals were weakened before the war from lack of food and medicine biomed on U.N. sanctions, then were endangered during the conflict when an Iraqi gun battery was placed on zoo grounds, making it vulnerable to attack.
The zookeeper fled, leaving the lions, bears, monkeys, camels and other animals without food and water. Since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, the zoo has been looted. American troops had been feeding some animals from their rations.
Chinese officials fired amid boom in SARS
BEIJING — Jolted by a jump in SARS deaths and a tenfold increase in infections in Beijing alone, China's Communist Party stripped the health minister and the capital's mayor of power yesterday. It also canceled an annual weeklong holiday for tens of millions of people to keep them from traveling and curb the spread of the disease.
Just hours after announcing 12 new deaths nationwide, the official Xinhua News
Agency said Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong were removed from their Communist Party posts but kept their government titles. The reported number of infections in Beijing increased from 37 to 346.
The party is the true power in China, and Zhang's and Meng's party posts were far more important than their government offices.
Their loss left the two men greatly diminished as political figures and possibly foreshadows their demotion or outright ouster from government.
The dismissals came two days after President Hu Jintao threatened serious punishment for officials who didn't quickly and accurately report cases of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The Associated Press
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