USA
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Saturday named former Rhodes Scholar Ben Jealous as the organization's new president. A native of Pacific Grove, Calif., Jealous, 35, will become the youngest leader in the NAACP's 99-year history. Jealous has experience as a black-newspaper executive and with Amnesty International and the Rosenberg Foundation, a private civil and human rights institution.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts is recovering at a Boston hospital after a bout of illness at his Cape Cod home over the weekend. Kennedy took office in 1962, making him the second-longest-serving US senator after West Virginia's Robert Byrd (D).
Striking union workers at five American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings plants in Michigan and New York were expected to learn the details Sunday of a tentative contract that could end an 11-week strike. Some workers were reportedly skeptical of the deal, which calls for members of the United Auto Workers to vote on a pay cut from $28 to $18.50 per hour.
Ten of 13 key fish species have declined in the Hudson River, a critical spawning ground for many Atlantic species, according to a new report released by Riverkeeper, an independent environmental organization. Power plant fish kills, overfishing, and invasive species are among factors cited for the Hudson's increasingly unstable ecosystem, the report says.
Sarah Fisher, whose racing team is partly sponsored by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, qualified Saturday for her seventh Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average speed of 221.246 m.p.h. She will start in the 22nd position, while two other women, Danica Patrick and Milka Duno, have secured the fifth and 27th starting spots. Fisher, a former student at IUPUI, will join officials Tuesday in announcing a first-of-its-kind motorsports engineering program at the school.
Rookie Candace Parker scored 34 points Saturday, the most ever in a Women's National Basketball Association debut, in leading the Los Angeles Sparks to a 99-94 win over the defending champion Phoenix Mercury. This is the league's 12th season.
