Feds: Limit time spent stranded on the tarmac

WASHINGTON — Airlines should be required to limit how long passengers have to wait out travel delays inside an airplane on the ground before being allowed to get off, the Transportation Department inspector general recommended Tuesday.

The recommendations follow two weather-related incidents last winter in which hundreds of passengers were confined aboard jetliners on tarmacs for up to 10 ½ hours.

Inspector General Calvin Scovell III said the number of times passengers were confined to airplanes on the ground for more than five hours rose from 27 in the first seven months of 2006 to 44 in the comparable period this year. One- to two-hour delays climbed from 33,438 to 47,558.

He blamed the problem on poor planning by the airlines and the airports.

Democrats unveil

stopgap spending bill

Congressional Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday to keep the government running until mid-November, giving them more time to bridge gaping differences with President Bush over the budget.

The stopgap legislation is needed as the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year looms with none of the 12 annual spending bills, which fund government agencies and departments, signed into law.

The stopgap spending bill would fund at current levels the budgets of 15 Cabinet departments and dozens of agencies until Nov. 16.

The measure also provides $5.2 billion to provide heavy armored vehicles that would better protect troops in Iraq from roadside bombs.

CIA nominee

withdraws name

The White House withdrew its nominee to become the CIA's top lawyer Tuesday after Democrats raised concerns that the agency's interrogation techniques may be illegal.

John Rizzo, the president's choice to become the CIA's general counsel, asked President Bush to withdraw his name, saying it would be in his best interest and that of the agency where he has worked for 32 years.

The Senate Intelligence Committee had been expected to consider Rizzo's nomination Tuesday afternoon.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said Rizzo had submitted a withdrawal letter to Bush.

Lawmaker seeks ban

on aerial wolf hunts

Alaska hasn't done its part to observe a 35-year-old federal ban on hunting wolves from aircraft, said a California lawmaker who has filed legislation that would end the practice.

With an Arctic gray wolf named Atka at his side, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban wolf hunting from planes or helicopters. The legislation would close a loophole in the 1972 Airborne Hunting Act that has let Alaska issue permits to shoot and kill nearly 700 wolves from airplanes in four years, Miller said.

Defenders of Wildlife is leading the effort to ban aerial hunts.

Seattle Times news services