Bush commissions father's carrier

NORFOLK, Va. -- It's the perfect gift for an old Navy flier: 1,092 feet of flattop.

"What do you give a guy who has been blessed and has just about everything he has ever needed?" asked President George W. Bush from aboard the Navy's newest ship. "Well, an aircraft carrier."

The USS George H.W. Bush, a steel-gray vessel longer than three football fields and built at a cost of $6.2 billion, was commissioned Saturday with its namesake, the 41st president, and other members of the Bush family on hand for the ceremonies at Naval Station Norfolk.

Adorned for the day with red, white and blue bunting, the USS George H.W. Bush is one of the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the largest warships in the world.

"The ship that bears our dad's name is more than 95,000 tons of aluminum and steel," Bush said from a podium tucked under the flight deck. "She will carry nearly 6,000 of the finest sailors and Marines in the world. She represents the craftsmanship of many skilled builders, and thousands of hours of preparation." Bush, who took his last scheduled flight aboard Air Force One to get to Norfolk, added: "Laura and I are thrilled to be here to help commission an awesome ship and to honor an awesome man."

Blagojevich faces tough trial in Senate

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich will face long odds, and perhaps some legal twists, in the Illinois Senate trial that will decide whether he'll keep his job or be tossed out of office.

It may be called a trial and involve the trappings of a courtroom, from a judge to exhibits and objections, but experts point out that the event will be political, not legal. The senators are free to base their decisions on old feuds and popular opinion if they want, rather than fine points of the law.

Still, some of the charges do involve fine points. Did a prescription-drug program violate pharmacy inspection laws? Did state agencies properly account for money they transferred to another state agency?

If Blagojevich loses the trial, he stands little chance of getting the verdict overturned by the courts, which shy away from tinkering with the impeachment process. And if he testifies to defend himself, Blagojevich could find his words used against him by the federal prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against him.

"What does somebody do as an advocate for the accused? It's very, very difficult," said attorney Donald MacPherson, who represented Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham when he appealed his impeachment conviction to the state's Supreme Court.

Snowstorm grounds flights in Ohio

CLEVELAND -- Authorities from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast are warning motorists to stay home as a weekend snowstorm grounds flights and makes roads slippery.

The National Weather Service forecast up to 10 inches of snow in parts of Ohio and Massachusetts. The weather service has posted winter warnings and advisories from northern Illinois to New England.

Ohio's Cleveland Hopkins International Airport canceled or delayed half of its morning flights Saturday.

The Star Press of Muncie reports that wreckers have stopped responding to accidents in Indiana because they were sliding off icy roads when they tried to winch vehicles out of ditches. Five Indiana highway department trucks slid into ditches while applying sand and salt.

Tennessee Valley Authority faces ire

STEVENSON, Ala. -- Standing on a porch near the Widows Creek power plant Saturday, Charlie Cookston took a drag off a cigarette and ticked off the reasons he distrusts the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Dead mussels in the mighty, meandering Tennessee River. Dwindling numbers of fish. Big, black piles of coal ash that seem to get larger every day.

As nearby residents await lab tests on the safety of drinking water, tempers are unsettled. Electric rates at the nation's largest utility have soared. A dike burst in Tennessee destroyed several homes, and on Friday, as much as 10,000 gallons of waste spilled into Widows Creek in northeastern Alabama.

The nation's largest utility, once was viewed as a savior to the region, bringing lights, thousands of jobs and progress since its creation as a New Deal program in 1933, has had a rocky few months.

"We ain't trusted TVA around here since back in the '50s," said Cookston, 59, who runs bulldozers and other heavy equipment for a living.

"Their rates on power are as cheap as anybody," he said, looking toward the plant stacks. But "I think there's a lot more going on down there than we'll ever know."