Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sept. 11 Damages Trial To Use Cockpit Tapes

NEW YORK -- Tapes of the final moments before one of the hijacked airliners in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania may be played at the first case over damages from the attacks to go to trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The last four minutes of the recording of United Airlines Flight 93, with sounds of passengers trying to force entry into the cockpit and retake the airplane, was ruled admissible by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

The first of 41 remaining cases filed by Sept. 11 victims who sued airlines and their security contractors for wrongful death is to begin Sept. 24. That case was filed by the wife of Patrick Driscoll, 70, who died aboard Flight 93.

The recordings have not been released publicly but were played in court at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in 2006.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Donald Migliori, said the recordings that will be played, which will include the voice of one or two of the hijackers saying they have a bomb on board, was the most important evidence at the trial.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, doctors treating sickened Ground Zero workers offered Congress a detailed diagnosis of the ailments still affecting thousands after the attacks but warned that there is no way to determine how many more may become afflicted with life-threatening illnesses.

Two conservative Episcopal bishops who are unhappy with what they see as a growing liberal bent in the denomination say their dioceses will officially consider pulling out of the U.S. church.

According to statements released late Tuesday by the diocese of Pittsburgh and a small diocese based in Peoria, Ill., their members could approve proposals to take steps to cut ties with the Episcopal Church -- if they don't see immediate action from the church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion.

The statements come one week before the annual meeting of Episcopal bishops in New Orleans. Many Episcopalians are watching to see if the U.S. bishops respond to a demand made this year by worldwide Anglican leaders that the American church promise by Sept. 30 not to approve same-sex unions or gay clergy.

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan and Keith Ackerman, bishop of the Quincy, Ill., diocese have been active in the conservative wing of the Episcopal church, which is unhappy with the Episcopal stance on homosexuality and other issues.

* * *

? HOUSTON -- Forecasters predicted heavy rains and flooding for the Houston area as Tropical Storm Humberto formed in the northern U.S. Gulf. Hurricane trackers were also watching a second storm system making its way west in the central Atlantic after being declared Tropical Depression 8.

? CORSICANA, Tex. -- A 6-year-old girl was found hanged inside her family's garage and had been sexually assaulted before she died, police said. Authorities have made no arrests or named any suspects since Hannah Mack's body was discovered by her mother on Monday.

? ORLANDO -- The military has entered a protective order barring former astronaut Lisa M. Nowak from contact with Colleen Shipman, the woman she is accused of attacking. The order was entered into the court record Monday, the same day that Circuit Judge Marc L. Lubet pushed back Nowak's Sept. 24 trial.

-- From Staff Reports and News Services