Towns, States Rally to Reopen National Parks...

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• TAMARA AUDI


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• CAROLINE PORTER


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The Arizona town of Tusayan, on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, has 558 residents and 1,000 hotel rooms. And by Friday, it had $ 325,000 to reopen temporarily shuttered Grand Canyon National Park.

“The reason we exist is the Grand Canyon National Park. This closure is devastating,” said Greg Bryan, Tusayan’s mayor and the owner of a Best Western hotel. The town is offering to fund a partial reopening of the park that would allow visitors to drive through on a main road and stop at overlooks.

AP

Tourists take a photo in front of a sign near the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, on Oct. 4, near Tusayan, Ariz.

As the federal-government shutdown entered its fifth day Saturday, state and local governments were searching for ways to keep attractions open, especially in places where local economies largely depend on the parks. Some are willing to pay to keep the parks going during these final crucial weeks of prime tourist season, before winter sets in.

In Wisconsin, officials are keeping seven federally subsidized state-owned forest, wildlife and recreation areas open, even after receiving instructions from the federal Department of the Interior to close them. The state lands depend on federal funds for 18% of their budgets, or $ 701,000 total.

“I really don’t think it is a defiance, but fulfilling our obligations,” said Cathy Stepp, an official with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which administers the state properties. “We are doing everything we can with social media, radio outlets and news to get the word out that we’re open. The calls are coming in like crazy—people are planning to come here with camping trips every year, weddings, reunions.”

Lawmakers in Maryland have worked out a small exception to the federal shutdown to allow several hundred family members to honor firefighters who died in the line of duty at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md., this weekend.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) worked with the memorial, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration to open the site briefly for the annual memorial service.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, said the brief opening didn’t present an additional cost. “They’re just unlocking the gate and allowing families of fallen firefighters to pay their respects at the memorial,” the spokeswoman said.

But the federal government turned down Republican South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s offer to keep the Mount Rushmore National Memorial open with state workers. The National Park Service told state officials that it was required to use federal employees, not state employees, at the monument, and that opening Mount Rushmore would set a precedent to open the other federal parks.

“It makes sense for the federal government to shut things down because there isn’t funding available, but it doesn’t make sense to close something because they are trying to make a point,” said Tony Venhuizen, a spokesman for the governor. “Our offer still stands if there is a change of heart on the part of federal officials. We certainly would be pleased to talk to them if they seem interested.”

Federal officials have so far rebuffed offers from Arizona state and local officials to pay for reopening at least a portion of Grand Canyon National Park.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, famous for her run-ins with the Obama administration, at first this past week released a statement saying her state “cannot afford to bail out the federal government,” but then offered to use state funds to reopen the park.

“The governor believes that President Obama and both parties in Congress owe it to the American people to get their act together and work out a solution to fund the government. And, at the very least, President Obama should agree to reopen the National Parks,” said Ms. Brewer’s spokesman, Andrew Wilder.

He said the park’s superintendent told the governor’s office that the Grand Canyon “would not accept third-party dollars for park operations.”

On Friday night, Ms. Brewer, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin and Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs sent a letter to Mr. Obama asking that he immediately reopen the Grand Canyon, or least make it possible for state and private funding to reopen the park.

A spokesman for the National Park Service said its headquarters hadn’t received a “formal offer” to reopen the Grand Canyon, but ruled out the possibility.

“Beyond the legal constraints involved, it would not be appropriate or feasible to open some parks or some parts of parks while other parts of the National Park System remain closed to the public,” said National Parks Service spokesman Mike Litterst.

“We appreciate the generous offers of support and temporary assistance to reopen various individual parks around the country,” he said, adding that the service “shares in the frustration” of more than 700,000 people turned away from 401 parks every day.

Tusayan business owners kicked in $ 125,000 toward the Grand Canyon park’s reopening. The town council voted to contribute $ 200,000.

Mr. Bryan, Tusayan’s mayor, said that if the state contributes enough to bring that amount to $ 500,000, that could keep part of the park open for a few weeks, reopening the main route through the park and the lookout areas.

In Arizona, the Grand Canyon State, the awe-inspiring attraction brings in millions of visitors every year and is an anchor of the state’s tourism industry, which last year accounted for $ 19 billion in spending and 7% of tax revenue, according to a state tourism report. The attraction creates 12,000 jobs, and tourists spend $ 1.2 million a day on businesses there, according to Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat who represents the district that includes the canyon, as well as seven national forests and other national parks.

Ms. Kirkpatrick said Friday she is continuing to negotiate on behalf of her district to try to reopen the Grand Canyon and other parks.

In Wyoming, home to Yellowstone, the country’s first national park, officials talked to the National Park Service about finding an alternative source of funding to keep operations running, said Renny MacKay, a spokesman for Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican.

Earlier this year, locals helped pay for snowplowing at Yellowstone when the national park couldn’t afford it because of automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequester. This time around, though, “the likelihood of reaching agreement on that type of approach is not likely,” said Mr. MacKay.

“The closure of national parks and monuments in Wyoming creates a significant economic hardship on many small businesses in nearby communities,” he said.

—–Kris Maher and Ana Campoy contributed to this article.

Write to Tamara Audi at tammy.audi@wsj.com and Caroline Porter at caroline.porter@wsj.com

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Towns, States Rally to Reopen National Parks...

North Korea says it will reopen joint industrial zone with South

(CNN) — North Korea said Wednesday it will allow South Korean companies to return to the Kaesong industrial zone, where it had suspended activity during a period of high tension earlier this year.

The North said it would lift measures it imposed in April that halted operations at the shared manufacturing complex, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Pyongyang will guarantee the safety of South Korean personnel in the zone, the statement from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said.

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North Korea says it will reopen joint industrial zone with South

Nine US embassies reopen

President Barack Obama is receiving regular briefings on a terror threat that has closed U.S. diplomatic posts in the Middle East. NBC’s Kristen Welker reports.

By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor

About one-third the U.S. diplomatic posts that were temporarily shuttered due to a “serious threat” of al Qaeda attack reopened on Monday, hours after officials extended closures at 15 others through Saturday and shut four more.

Nine embassies and consulates opened their doors again, but a further 19 would be closed through Saturday “out of an abundance of caution,” the State Department said.

“This is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities,” the State Department said in a statement late Sunday.

They added that many would have been shut for the celebration of Eid at the end of Ramadan. 

“Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to extend the closure of several embassies and consulates including a small number of additional posts,” the State Department added. 

The countries with closure orders covered much of the Muslim and Arab world. 

However, U.S. posts in Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil reopened on Monday.     

Missions in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali, and Port Louis will be closed until at least Saturday.

Officials told NBC News that the threat appears to be linked to Yemen, but the State Department has only confirmed that the warnings are generally tied to al Qaeda.

Yemen is home to perhaps the most dangerous terror network affiliate, known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The lethal wing is considered responsible for several terrorist strikes on the United States, including the foiled Christmas Day 2009 attempt to bomb an airplane over Detroit.

“The one thing we can talk about is the fact that there’s been an awful lot of chatter out there,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R.-Ga.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He added that the chatter is “very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.”

“This is the most serious threat that I’ve seen in the last several years,” he added.

The Obama administration announced the weekend closures on Friday, and the State Department later released a global travel warning.

The alert called on American travelers to take additional precautions overseas, pointing to potential dangers involved with public transportation systems and other likely locations for tourists. It said that previous terrorist attacks have targeted subway and rail networks as well as airplanes and boats.

The alert is slated to expire Aug. 31.

The decision to close the U.S. diplomatic missions on Sunday — a work day in most of the region — came almost a year after an attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

NBC News’ Catherine Chomiak and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Aug 5, 2013 5:59 AM EDT

Nine US embassies reopen

Official: LaGuardia looking to fully re-open

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

A southwest airlines plane rests on the tarmac after what officials say was a nose gear collapse during a landing at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013, in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

This photo provided by Bobby Abtahi, shows what officials say was a plane where the nose gear collapsed during landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/Bobby Abtahi)

A southwest airlines plane rests on the tarmac after what officials say was a nose gear collapse during a landing at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013, in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Officials were hoping to have both runways at LaGuardia Airport up and fully functional after the collapse of a plane’s front landing gear sent it skidding along the tarmac and caused a temporary suspension of operations.

The front landing gear of arriving Southwest Airlines flight 345 collapsed Monday right after the plane touched down on the runway, officials said.

Ten passengers were treated at the scene, with six being taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Thomas Bosco, Acting Director of Aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the area airports. The six crew members were taken to another hospital for observation.

Bosco said the incident forced the temporary closing of the airport, with one runway coming back into service around 7 p.m. It was hoped both runways would be open Tuesday morning.

Dallas-based Southwest said there were 150 people on the flight coming from Nashville, Tenn., while the Port Authority said the total was 149.

Bosco said the nose gear of the plane collapsed when it landed at 5:40 p.m., and “the aircraft skidded down the runway on its nose and then veered off and came to rest in the grass area.”

Bosco said there was no advance warning of any possible problem before the landing.

A passenger, Sgt. 1st Class Anniebell Hanna, 43, of the South Carolina National Guard, said the flight had been delayed leaving Nashville. Passengers had heard an announcement saying “something was wrong with a tire,” she said, waiting in a room at LaGuardia several hours after the incident.

At LaGuardia, “when we got ready to land, we nosedived,” said Hanna. She and some family members were coming to New York for a visit.

“I hit my head against the seat in front of me,” she said. “I hit hard.”

Emergency crews were seen spraying foam toward the front end of the plane on the tarmac. The Port Authority said the passengers exited the plane by using chutes.

Hanna said she was among the first to get off the plane, and could smell something burning when she got down to the tarmac. The passengers were put on a bus and taken to the terminal, where they were told to make lists of their possessions on the plane in order to get them back.

The FAA is investigating, as is the National Transportation Safety Board.

Richard Strauss, who was on a nearby plane waiting to take off for Washington, said the nose of the plane was “completely down on the ground. It’s something that I’ve never seen before. It’s bizarre.”

A rear stairwell or slide could be seen extending from the Southwest flight, said Strauss, who owns a Washington public relations firm. His plane, which was about 100 yards from the Southwest flight, wasn’t allowed to taxi back to the gate, he said.

Bobby Abtahi, an attorney trying to catch a flight to Dallas, was watching from the terminal and heard a crowd reacting to the accident.

“I heard some people gasp and scream. I looked over and saw sparks flying at the front of the plane,” he said.

The incident came 16 days after Asiana Flight 214 crash-landed at San Francisco’s international airport on July 6, killing two Chinese teenagers; a third was killed when a fire truck ran over her while responding to the crash, authorities said. Dozens of people were injured in that landing, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from South Korea.

Longtime pilot Patrick Smith, author of “Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. Questions, Answers, and Reflections” and AskthePilot.com, said landing gear incidents are not high on the list of worries for pilots.

“It doesn’t happen very often but I need to emphasize just how comparatively minor this is and how far, far down the hierarchy it is,” he said. “From a pilot’s perspective, this is nearly a non-issue. They make for good television, but this is far down the list of nightmares for pilots.”

___

Associated Press writers Amanda Barrett, Deepti Hajela and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Official: LaGuardia looking to fully re-open

Official: LaGuardia looking to fully re-open

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this photo provided by Jared Rosenstein, a Southwest Airlines plane whose nose gear collapsed as it touched down on the runway is surrounded by emergency vehicles at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Monday, July 22, 2013. The plane was carrying 149 passengers and crew. (AP Photo/Jared Rosenstein) MANDATORY CREDIT

A southwest airlines plane rests on the tarmac after what officials say was a nose gear collapse during a landing at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013, in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

This photo provided by Bobby Abtahi, shows what officials say was a plane where the nose gear collapsed during landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/Bobby Abtahi)

A southwest airlines plane rests on the tarmac after what officials say was a nose gear collapse during a landing at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, July 22, 2013, in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration says the plane landed safely. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Officials were hoping to have both runways at LaGuardia Airport up and fully functional after the collapse of a plane’s front landing gear sent it skidding along the tarmac and caused a temporary suspension of operations.

The front landing gear of arriving Southwest Airlines flight 345 collapsed Monday right after the plane touched down on the runway, officials said.

Ten passengers were treated at the scene, with six being taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Thomas Bosco, Acting Director of Aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the area airports. The six crew members were taken to another hospital for observation.

Bosco said the incident forced the temporary closing of the airport, with one runway coming back into service around 7 p.m. It was hoped both runways would be open Tuesday morning.

Dallas-based Southwest said there were 150 people on the flight coming from Nashville, Tenn., while the Port Authority said the total was 149.

Bosco said the nose gear of the plane collapsed when it landed at 5:40 p.m., and “the aircraft skidded down the runway on its nose and then veered off and came to rest in the grass area.”

Bosco said there was no advance warning of any possible problem before the landing.

A passenger, Sgt. 1st Class Anniebell Hanna, 43, of the South Carolina National Guard, said the flight had been delayed leaving Nashville. Passengers had heard an announcement saying “something was wrong with a tire,” she said, waiting in a room at LaGuardia several hours after the incident.

At LaGuardia, “when we got ready to land, we nosedived,” said Hanna. She and some family members were coming to New York for a visit.

“I hit my head against the seat in front of me,” she said. “I hit hard.”

Emergency crews were seen spraying foam toward the front end of the plane on the tarmac. The Port Authority said the passengers exited the plane by using chutes.

Hanna said she was among the first to get off the plane, and could smell something burning when she got down to the tarmac. The passengers were put on a bus and taken to the terminal, where they were told to make lists of their possessions on the plane in order to get them back.

The FAA is investigating, as is the National Transportation Safety Board.

Richard Strauss, who was on a nearby plane waiting to take off for Washington, said the nose of the plane was “completely down on the ground. It’s something that I’ve never seen before. It’s bizarre.”

A rear stairwell or slide could be seen extending from the Southwest flight, said Strauss, who owns a Washington public relations firm. His plane, which was about 100 yards from the Southwest flight, wasn’t allowed to taxi back to the gate, he said.

Bobby Abtahi, an attorney trying to catch a flight to Dallas, was watching from the terminal and heard a crowd reacting to the accident.

“I heard some people gasp and scream. I looked over and saw sparks flying at the front of the plane,” he said.

The incident came 16 days after Asiana Flight 214 crash-landed at San Francisco’s international airport on July 6, killing two Chinese teenagers; a third was killed when a fire truck ran over her while responding to the crash, authorities said. Dozens of people were injured in that landing, which involved a Boeing 777 flying from South Korea.

Longtime pilot Patrick Smith, author of “Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. Questions, Answers, and Reflections” and AskthePilot.com, said landing gear incidents are not high on the list of worries for pilots.

“It doesn’t happen very often but I need to emphasize just how comparatively minor this is and how far, far down the hierarchy it is,” he said. “From a pilot’s perspective, this is nearly a non-issue. They make for good television, but this is far down the list of nightmares for pilots.”

___

Associated Press writers Amanda Barrett, Deepti Hajela and Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Official: LaGuardia looking to fully re-open

Greek PM offers to reopen state broadcaster: government source

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s prime minister has offered to quickly restart state broadcaster ERT under temporary management, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to defuse a political crisis and avoid snaps elections.

Reuters: Top News

Greek PM offers to reopen state broadcaster: government source

Greek PM offers to reopen state broadcaster: government source

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s prime minister has offered to quickly restart state broadcaster ERT under temporary management, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to defuse a political crisis and avoid snaps elections.

Reuters: Top News

Greek PM offers to reopen state broadcaster: government source

California cat sanctuary to reopen following deadly lion attack

1 of 2. A security guard stands by the gate of the Cat Haven sanctuary near Dunlop, California, March 7, 2013, the day after a lion killed a volunteer intern that entered its cage at the facility.

Credit: Reuters/Steve Keleher

By Laila Kearney

San Francisco | Sat Mar 9, 2013 2:42pm EST

San Francisco (Reuters) – The California wildlife sanctuary where an African lion attacked and killed a 24-year-old worker this week is set to reopen to the public on Sunday.

The Cat Haven preserve, which has been shut since the attack on Wednesday, will resume regular operations, including offering guided tours to visitors, Cat Haven officials said.

“It is important that we attend to (the animals’) health and well-being, and we believe returning to a state of normal operations is a part of that process,” Cat Haven founder Dale Anderson said in a statement.

Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern who had been working at the park since January, was attacked while cleaning an empty cat enclosure.

A 4-year-old male lion named Cous Cous escaped from his feeding pen, apparently by pushing open an improperly secured gate, and pounced on Hanson, fracturing her neck and killing her instantly, according to Fresno County Coroner David Hadden.

Sheriff’s deputies later shot and killed the lion, which weighed at least 400 pounds (181 kgs), after they failed to coax him away from Hanson’s body.

Cous Cous and his mate, Pely, were Barbary lions, a species from the region between Morocco and Egypt that is extinct in the wild. He had been handled by humans since he was weeks old.

A necropsy, the animal form of an autopsy, was performed on Thursday to determine whether health issues, such as a neurological disorder or a disease like rabies, could have contributed to the attack.

An initial examination found the lion healthy, but full test results are expected to take weeks, said Janice Mackey, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Cat Haven, a 100-acre (16-hectare) sanctuary in Dunlap, California, run by the group Project Survival and located about 40 miles east of Fresno, is still home to 29 large cats.

State and local agencies are investigating whether Cat Haven violated any safety procedures that could have safeguarded against such an attack.

Anderson said the sanctuary is cooperating with the investigation and cautioned that, until law enforcement releases its findings, “anything reported about the accident is purely speculative.”

Hanson earned a biology degree in 2011 from Western Washington University and last year she spent six months in Kenya working on a wild feline reserve.

Her family says they see the incident as a tragic accident.

“We know that first and foremost, Dianna would want the work that Cat Haven is doing to continue,” her mother, Donna Hanson, said in a statement.

The Hanson family has set up a fund in Dianna’s honor that will benefit her favorite charitable organi ations, including Cat Haven.

(Editing by Edith Honan and Vicki Allen)

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Reuters: Oddly Enough

California cat sanctuary to reopen following deadly lion attack