Nation Digest

PENNSYLVANIA

U.S. Paying Millions For Flight 93 Land

The National Park Service will pay about $9.5 million to eight landowners that own property needed to complete the first phase of the National Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, Pa., the Interior Department announced Monday. The agreement should allow the memorial to be built by Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Seven of the eight property owners have signed negotiated settlements, while the eighth, Svonavec Inc., awaits a court decision on fair compensation for the hundreds of acres it owns on the site. The Justice Department is expected to file the necessary court documents in the next two weeks, according to the Park Service.

"The fields of western Pennsylvania, where the heroes of Flight 93 perished, are hallowed ground for a grateful nation," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement announcing the deals. "Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the landowners, the Families of Flight 93 and the employees of the National Park Service, we have reached this important milestone."

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) -- who introduced legislation in 2002 to establish the memorial -- also praised the deal.

The Park Service plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial in November.

United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa., on Sept. 11, 2001, killing all passengers and crew members and four hijackers. Transcripts from the cockpit voice recorder later showed that passengers and crew members attempted to retake the plane and divert it from its intended target, believed to be one of several Washington landmarks.

-- Ed O'Keefe

PENTAGON

Firm Will No Longer Be Paid to Rate Press

U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan have terminated a contract with a company that was producing profiles of reporters seeking to cover a war that's becoming increasingly unpopular with the American public.

The media analysis work by the Rendon Group had become a "distraction to our main mission here," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of communications for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said Monday in an e-mailed statement.