National Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

NORTHEAST


MIT APPOINTS ITS FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT


The Massachusetts Institute of Technology yesterday named Yale provost Susan Hockfield as its new president – the first woman to hold the job at the prestigious science university where men overwhelmingly dominate the faculty and the student body.


While the appointment of a female university president is no longer exceptional, it is significant at MIT, which in 1999 acknowledged past discrimination and has since made efforts to improve prospects for women.


Despite those efforts, women comprise just 42% of undergraduates, 29% of graduate students, and 17% of the faculty at MIT.


The appointment is also significant because of Ms. Hockfield’s academic background: A brain expert, she will be the first life scientist to serve as president in the 140-year history of the school, traditionally known for its expertise in engineering and “hard” sciences like physics and chemistry.


– Associated Press


LAWYER: CIPEL WANTS APOLOGY, NOT MONEY


TRENTON, N.J. – The former aide who claims he was sexually harassed by Governor McGreevey said he will consider dropping his plans to sue if the governor simply apologizes, the man’s attorney said yesterday. Golan Cipel, Mr. McGreevey’s former homeland security adviser, is still considering legal action against the governor but might settle for the apology, attorney Allen Lowy said.


“If the governor were to stand up and very clearly own up and apologize for what he did to Golan this whole thing would go away very quickly,” Mr. Lowy said. “It’s not about money. It’s never been about money.”


“An apology would go a long way to making Golan feel better,” Mr. Lowy said. Mr. McGreevey announced his resignation two weeks ago and said he was stepping down because he had an extramarital affair with a man. Two McGreevey administration sources said the man was Mr. Cipel.


A McGreevey spokesman, Micah Rasmussen, said the governor would not apologize because no sexual harassment took place.


– Associated Press


SOUTH


FAMILY, CREMATORY REACH SETTLEMENT


ROME, Ga. – An $80 million settlement was reached yesterday in a lawsuit against the operators of a crematory where the remains of 334 people were found strewn across the grounds.


The deal was struck during a trial over a lawsuit filed by nearly 1,700 people who said their relatives’ remains were mishandled at the Tri-State Crematory, operated by Ray Brent Marsh.


The bodies were supposed to have been cremated, but complete and partial human remains were found in storage buildings, in burial vaults, and in the surrounding forest. The families face several more legal battles before getting paid. Since the crematory owners have few assets and little money, the settlement will hold up only if the owners’ insurer is found liable for the $80 million. A hearing on the matter will be held today.


“Everybody, quite frankly, wanted to get it over,” defense attorney Frank Jenkins said. Mr. Marsh, who still faces 787 criminal charges in an October trial, declined to comment.


– Associated Press


WASHINGTON


BUSH OVERTAKES KERRY IN POLLS


Democrat John Kerry has lost ground with voters in their perceptions of his honesty, leadership skills and Vietnam experience during the heated debate over his war record as a Swift boat commander,a poll found. A month ago, Mr. Kerry and President Bush were tied on the question of who has the honesty and integrity to serve as president. Mr. Bush now has an advantage on that question,46% to 39%,according to a Los Angeles Times poll released yesterday. The number of people who feel that in his Vietnam combat missions, Mr. Kerry demonstrated qualities America needs in a president has dropped from 58% in June to 48% now, according to the Times poll.


The poll found Mr. Bush and Vice President Cheney with a slight lead, backed by 47% to 44% for Mr. Kerry and running mate John Edwards and 3% for independents Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo. The head-to-head matchup has shown very little change with Messrs. Bush and Kerry tied in July.


Other polls released yesterday also found the race very close.


The Bush-Cheney ticket was at 48%, Kerry-Edwards at 46%, and Nader-Camejo at 4% in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.


– Associated Press


WEST


GATES LEADS EFFORT FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH


SAN FRANCISCO – Silicon Valley tycoons, Nobel laureates, and Hollywood celebrities are backing a measure on California’s November 2 ballot to devote $3 billion to human embryonic stem cell experiments in what would be the biggest-ever state-supported scientific research program in the country.


The measure – designed to get around the Bush administration’s restrictions on the funding of such research – would put California at the very forefront of the field. It would dwarf all current stem cell projects in America, whether privately or publicly financed.


Cell research has emerged as a major campaign issue between President Bush and Senator Kerry, who promises if elected to reverse Mr. Bush’s 2001 policy restricting federal funding of such experiments to only those cell lines already in existence. Proposition 71 would authorize the state to sell $3 billion in bonds and then dispense nearly $300 million a year for 10 years to researchers for human embryonic stem cell experiments, including cloning projects intended solely for research purposes. It bans the funding of cloning to create babies.


– Associated Press


FLU VACCINE IS FOUND TAINTED IN FACTORY


SAN FRANCISCO – The nation’s supply of vaccine for the impending flu season took a big hit yesterday when Chiron Corporation announced it had found tainted doses in its factory.


The company said it will hold up shipment of about 50 million shots – about half the supply American health officials had hoped to have on hand this year -while it investigates what went wrong and determines whether the vaccine is safe to use. “There’s no product that is going to go into the arms of the American public that will not have been deemed to have met the highest standards of safety,” chief executive Howard Pien said. Mr. Pien said the company hopes to ship between 46 million and 48 million doses by early October, about month later than usual.


– Associated Press


MIDWEST


WILLIAM KENNEDY SMITH ACCUSED IN CIVIL SUIT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT


CHICAGO – A woman who sued William Kennedy Smith said yesterday that the member of the prominent political family sexually assaulted her five years ago “in a manner that will haunt me to the day I die.”


The Kennedy cousin denies attacking Audra Soulias and claims she filed her civil lawsuit only after he refused to pay $3 million, but she said the power and money held by Mr. Smith’s family was what kept her silent for so long.


Mr. Smith, 43, who was cleared of rape charges in 1991, said in a statement from the center for land-mine victims that he heads that his “family and personal history have made me unusually vulnerable to these kinds of charges.”


– Associated Press


SCIENCE


NASA PREPARES FOR SPRING SHUTTLE LAUNCH


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s redesigned space shuttle fuel tanks should no longer shed dangerous pieces of foam when launches resume next spring, officials said yesterday.


But if a shuttle wing is gouged by insulating foam or some other debris during liftoff, astronauts still will not be able to fix a hole the size of the one that brought down Columbia.


Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the Columbia accident investigation report, shuttle program manager Bill Parsons said he and others warned from day one that finding a way to repair the reinforced carbon edges of the wings in orbit would be a technical challenge.


So far, NASA has complied with five of the 15 return-to-flight recommendations set forth by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board on August 26, 2003.


The remaining 10 must be completed by December for NASA to launch Discovery to the international space station by mid-March to mid-April, the space agency’s goal.


– Associated Press

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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