Charleston Gazette

Iran's New President Linked to '79 Hostage-Takers

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's new president was a member of the hard- line Islamic student group that seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, but he opposed the takeover - preferring instead to target the Soviet Embassy, friends and former hostage-takers said Thursday. The former students who carried out the seizure and held the Americans for 444 days said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had no role in taking the embassy or guarding the hostages.

Bush to Visit On 4th: ; Wvu Speech On Schedule

daveg@wvgazette.com President Bush again will celebrate the Fourth of July in the Mountain State on Monday, the third time he has done so in four years.

Fulks Pleads Guilty in Student's Death

cshumaker@wvgazette.com HUNTINGTON - Wesley Burns told Chad Fulks to look at him.

Air Force Group Still Favors Pope: ; Adjutants General Air Complaints at Meeting in Atlanta

rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com Even if the 130th Airlift Wing can operate 12 or more C-130s at Yeager Airport, the nation's war-fighting effectiveness would be best served by transferring the aircraft to Pope Air Force Base instead of keeping them in Charleston, according to the co-chairman of the Air Force's Base Closure Executive Group.

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Craft Fair

Baghdad Mayor Decries City's Crumbling Systems

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Baghdad's mayor decried the capital's crumbling infrastructure and its inability to supply enough clean water to residents, threatening Thursday to resign if the government won't provide more money. The statement from Mayor Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi was an indication of the daily misery that Baghdad's 6.45 million people still endure more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion. They are wracked not only by unrelenting bombings and kidnappings, but by serious shortages in wate...

U.S. War Dead in Iraq

As of Thursday, at least 1,743 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,343 died as a result of hostile action. The figures include five military civilians. The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Woman Questioned in Deaths Loses Bond

HUNTINGTON - A Detroit woman questioned in the fatal shootings of four Huntington-area teens in May was taken into federal custody Thursday after a judge revoked her bond. U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers ordered Cherylethia Glenchelle Holmes' arrest because federal grand jurors indicted her June 21 on federal drug and gun charges.

Nyc Trying Out Hybrid Suvs for Greener Cabs

NEW YORK - The quality of the air in New York City could come down to 10 inches of legroom. That is approximately the difference in backseat space between a standard New York taxi and the new hybrid SUVs that environmentalists would like to see added to the city's fleet of 12,760 yellow cabs.

July 13 Set As Shuttle Launch Date

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA set a launch date of July 13 for the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster 21/2 years ago, saying Thursday that the agency's best minds have made the spacecraft as safe as possible. "We are being as smart about this as we know how to be, but we are up against the limits of our human knowledge," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in pronouncing space shuttle Discovery ready for liftoff.

Peia Decides Against Medicare Drug Benefit

The more than 31,000 retirees who rely on the Public Employees Insurance Agency for their health care don't have to worry about being dumped into Medicare for their prescription drug coverage, at least until 2007, program officials said Thursday. PEIA has opted not to drop its drug benefit next year, a decision that will earn the state $8 million in federal rebates by July 2006, officials told the program's finance board at its Thursday meeting.

Time Agrees to Turn Over Notes in Cia Agent Case: ; New York Times Correspondent Miller Refuses to Reveal Sources, Still Faces Contempt Charge

NEW YORK - Breaking ranks with The New York Times, Time magazine said Thursday it would comply with a court order to hand over the notes of a reporter threatened with jail for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the unmasking of a CIA operative. Time relented after just days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from its White House correspondent Matt Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who have been locked in an eight-month battle with the government to pro...

Psc Upholds Jefferson Sewage Treatment Plan

CHARLES TOWN - The state Public Service Commission says the Jefferson County Public Service District did nothing wrong when it made sewage treatment plant agreements with area developers. The PSC on Tuesday rejected a recommendation by PSC Administrative Law Judge Keith George, who wanted the district to stop making sewage treatment plant agreements with developers of Old Standard LLC, Thorn Hill LLC, Sheridan LLC and Deerfield Village.

House Fills Deficit in Veterans Health Care

WASHINGTON - A unanimous House agreed late Thursday to immediately spend nearly $1 billion on veterans health care in a swift answer to President Bush's call for lawmakers to plug a politically troubling shortfall. Lawmakers approved by 419-0 a measure to close a funding gap that was disclosed last week to the surprise of lawmakers who were told unexpected health care demands had eaten a $1 billion hole in the budget for the Veterans Affairs Department.

Accident Sends 7 to Hospital

MORGANTOWN - A man waiting to pick someone up at Ruby Memorial Hospital passed out with his foot on the accelerator of his car, sending it careening into a building, a woman in a wheelchair and three other vehicles. Seven people, including the driver, were injured.

State Briefs

Beckley nursing home could regain status BECKLEY - A nursing home that lost its state certification has made improvements and could regain the ability to bill Medicare and Medicaid this summer.

Chilton 911 Center Opens

Affleck, Garner Are Married in Caribbean; Baby On Way

NEW YORK - After months of speculation, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have tied the knot - and she's pregnant. Representatives for both actors confirmed the marriage to The Associated Press on Thursday. Their publicists, Ken Sunshine and Nicole King, also confirmed that Garner, who grew up in Charleston, W.Va., is pregnant with her first child.