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.

MIDWEST
PLANE SLIDES OFF RUNWAY AT MIDWAY
CHICAGO – A jetliner slid off a runway at Midway International Airport and onto a nearby street as it tried to land Thursday amid heavy snow and gusting wind, authorities said.
Late yesterday, a hospital official says a 6-year-old boy was killed in the accident.
Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 had departed Baltimore en route to Chicago, according to the city’s Department of Aviation.
An aircraft mechanic at Midway told WBBM-AM radio that the plane’s nose gear had collapsed, at least one of the engines was damaged and the jet appeared to have been hit by a vehicle.
– Associated Press
WASHINGTON
CONGRESS AGREES TO EXTEND PATRIOT ACT
Key Republicans from the House and Senate reached a White House-backed compromise Thursday to renew the broad powers granted to law enforcement agencies in the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil.
GOP leaders pledged to pass the Patriot Act extension for President Bush’s signature by the holidays, although bipartisan criticism flared. Senator Russell Feingold, a Democrat of Wisconsin, threatened to filibuster a bill he said lacked adequate safeguards to protect constitutional freedoms.
“We hammered out what I think is a good bill. … Not a perfect bill, but a good bill,” said Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who announced the compromise at a news conference in the Capitol.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the measure would assist “in the detection, disruption and dismantling of terrorist cells before they strike.”
Important parts involve the ability of law enforcement officials to gain access to a wealth of personal data, including library records, as part of investigations into suspected terrorist activity.
– Associated Press
RUMSFELD EXPECTS TROOP LEVELS TO DECREASE
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday he expects some 20,000 American troops to return home from Iraq after next week’s elections, and he suggested that some of the remaining 137,000 forces could pull out next year.
“If conditions permit, we could go below that,” he said in the latest administration hint of at least a modest reduction next year.
The Pentagon chief also said he believed the White House and Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, would “end up working something out” during negotiations over legislation standardizing interrogation techniques and banning mistreatment of foreign terrorism suspects in American custody.
– Associated Press