Negotiators in Buckeye, Ariz., on Tuesday saw two correctional officers held hostage in a prison guard tower for the first time since they were taken captive by a pair of inmates Sunday.
“Both of them appeared to move without discomfort. They’re moving by themselves,” said Cam Hunter, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman. The sighting helped reassure prison officials and family members as negotiations continued, she said.
RESERVIST DUTY: The Army Reserve’s top officer said Tuesday he wants to change the mobilization system so members may be called to active duty for 9- to 12-month periods every four or five years.
There is no official regularity to reserve callups, and some who joined without expecting to ever be mobilized have been shocked to find themselves in Iraq for full-year tours.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: The head of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., will plead guilty to violating a federal law protecting endangered birds, the agency announced Tuesday.
Lawrence M. Small was charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for possessing South American headdresses that included feathers from protected birds.
CELL SERVICE DEAL? Cingular Wireless has fired first in a potential bidding war to buy AT&T Wireless, offering more than $27 billion cash for a deal that would create the nation’s largest cell phone company.
SHUTTLE’S FUTURE: A group of experts in Cape Canaveral, Fla., overseeing NASA’s efforts to resume shuttle flights, said Tuesday it is too soon to know when the space agency will be ready to launch again. The return-to-flight task force said NASA is making “solid progress” on some fronts but added that many details about the agency’s preparations remain unknown just shy of the first anniversary of the Columbia disaster.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Lara Weber (lweber@tribune.com) and alBerto trevino (atrevino@tribune.com)
