In brief: Test flight set for fast aircraft

LOS ANGELES – An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft that could reach speeds of 13,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean is set to blast off on a test flight today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, Calif.

The flight is scheduled to test technology that would provide the Pentagon with a vehicle capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in less than an hour.

The unmanned aircraft, dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, is to be launched at 7 a.m. PDT.

The aircraft will separate from the booster, dive back toward Earth, level out and glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20. An aircraft at that speed would zip from Los Angeles to New York in less than 12 minutes.

The aircraft is expected to splash down about half an hour later and sink near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg.

Poet to receive laureate title

FRESNO, Calif. – Philip Levine, the powerhouse poet whose Pulitzer Prize helped put the writing program at California State University, Fresno, on the international map, today will receive the title of poet laureate of the United States.

Levine, 83, will be the 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, the post’s official title, and will serve for 2011-12.

The job description includes giving an annual lecture, introducing poets in the library’s annual poetry series and raising “the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.”

Levine received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for “The Simple Truth.”

Fake bomb nets airport arrests

PHOENIX – Three African refugees were arrested after what police described as a fake bomb was found in one of their carry-on bags during security screening at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, police said Tuesday.

Phoenix police didn’t yet know what the motive was behind the Friday incident and weren’t ruling out the possibility of a terrorism connection, Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

Martos said that Luwiza Daman had the suspicious item in her carry-on bag as she tried to get through security at the airport Friday.