Nation in brief: Teams expand search for Fossett
Search teams dramatically expanded their hunt for adventurer Steve Fossett to encompass 10,000 square miles of rugged mountains and desert Thursday after nearly four discouraging days yielded no trace of his single-engine plane.
Ten airplanes and helicopters made repeated passes over a search area the size of Massachusetts known for its 10,000-foot peaks, strong winds and unrelenting harshness.
Despite the intensive search, there have been only a few false leads and no signals from the emergency locator beacon aboard Fossett’s Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon.
The best hope was that the world-famous adventurer used his long-proven survival skills to stay alive, rationing the food and water that was in the plane.
The expansion of the search suggested that rescuers have few clues about which direction Fossett was flying when he took off Monday from a private airstrip owned by hotel mogul Barron Hilton. The terrain – a mix of bare desert playas, ravines and mountain ranges – makes the quest to find Fossett especially tough.
Baton Rouge, La.
Nagin won’t run for governor
Keeping speculation alive until the very end, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin opted not to join the Louisiana governor’s race Thursday – a decision that became clear only when the qualifying deadline passed.
Many in Nagin’s city were surprised he was even considering a run, with more than 2 1/2 years left in his second term, a painfully slow hurricane recovery effort in the city and a gubernatorial candidate – U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal – who has held a commanding lead in polls.
Thirteen candidates qualified for the Oct. 20 ballot, most notably the Republican congressman, Democratic state Sen. Walter Boasso, Democratic Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and businessman John Georges, who dropped his Republican Party affiliation Thursday before signing up to run as an independent.
Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who beat Jindal four years ago, chose not to run for re-election.
Nagin said in a statement after the deadline passed that even though he was not seeking the governor’s office, he would continue to make the region’s recovery a priority during the 2007 election season.