President defends attorney general
Washington President Bush on Monday defended Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is the target of conservative critics seeking a hard-liner for the U.S. Supreme Court, USA Today reported.
The president said he will interview prospects himself after he sorts through candidates over the next few weeks to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the newspaper said in a story posted late Monday on its Web site.
“Al Gonzales is a great friend of mine,” Bush told USA Today. “When a friend gets attacked, I don’t like it.”
The president appealed to special-interest groups running ads and mobilizing supporters for the anticipated fight over the Supreme Court nominee to “tone down the heated rhetoric.”
Asked whether women and members of minorities are on his list, Bush said he is reviewing “a diverse group of citizens.”
Search continues for missing plane
Anchorage, Alaska Searchers continued looking Monday for a plane that has been missing for three days in Alaska with three men on board.
The search was launched Sunday after the wife of John Phillips, 63, of Columbia, S.C., reported the group had not checked in with her as expected, Alaska state troopers said.
The other two men on board the Cessna 207 were Patrick Leverett of Charleston, S.C., and Ken O’Connor, 77, of Charlotte, N.C. Leverett’s age was not available, but troopers said he is believed to be in his 50s or 60s.
The men may have taken off Friday afternoon on what was supposed to be a short flight from Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. The men had rented the 1973 Cessna at Anchorage’s Merrill Field and were touring the state, according to troopers.
The weather Friday was cloudy with a light breeze and visibility of 10 miles – good conditions for “low-level flying,” said Dave Vonderheide, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Anchorage.
All three men are licensed pilots; Phillips, a flight instructor, is believed to have been flying the plane. No flight plan was filed, and no locating transmissions had been picked up as of Monday morning.
Adventists name woman to high post
St. Louis The Seventh-day Adventist Church elevated a woman to a top leadership post on Monday for the first time in its history.
Ella Louise Smith Simmons, 57, will serve as one of nine vice presidents.
“The church as an organization cannot be efficient until it allows all people to contribute in ways that God calls them to contribute,” Simmons said. “The church is taking a step in the right direction.”
Simmons last served as provost and vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University, an Adventist college in Riverside, Calif.
Some 70,000 Seventh-day Adventist members are meeting in St. Louis for the group’s worldwide conference, held every five years.
Church President Jan Paulsen was re-elected Friday.
The Christian denomination has grown from more than 3 million members in 1980 to about 14 million baptized members in more than 200 countries, according to church statistics.