Nation in brief: Daley proposes tougher gun law

Chicago – With the city’s gun ban certain to be overturned, Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday introduced what city officials say is the strictest handgun ordinance in the United States.

The measure, which draws from ordinances around the country, would ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or garages, with a handgun.

Daley announced his ordinance at a park on the city’s South Side three days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live. The City Council is expected to vote on it today.

NASA extends

shuttle program

Cape Canaveral, Fla. – NASA’s space shuttle program will keep going until next year.

The space agency made it official Thursday after weeks of hints of launch delays: More time is needed to get the cargo ready for the final two shuttle flights.

Managers agreed to postpone the next-to-last shuttle launch until Nov. 1. Discovery had been scheduled to fly to the International Space Station with a load of supplies in September.

The last scheduled mission now has a Feb. 26, 2011, launch date. Endeavour will close out the 30-year shuttle program by delivering a major scientific instrument to the space station.

A decision regarding a possible third – and really last – mission is off until at least next month.