Four children die as bus, trucks collide

LOGANSPORT - A school bus carrying special needs children collided with two dump trucks yesterday in rural northern Indiana, killing the four children on board and injuring the bus driver, authorities said. The two truck drivers were not injured. A moped driver slowed suddenly in front of a dump truck, which tried to stop but clipped the bus in the oncoming lane, said Sergeant Tony Slocum of the State Police. The small bus flipped onto its side and slid into the path of a second dump truck, which struck its roof. The bus then slid into a ditch and came to rest, its front end and roof crushed. (AP)

President Bush wants to extend environmental protections to more of the Pacific Ocean. Bush said yesterday that he has asked the secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, and Defense to identify additional areas that could be eligible for conservation. He also announced that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, off the California coast, will be expanded by 585 square nautical miles to include the Davidson Seamount, an underwater mountain. Bush's comments came in a speech at the newly completed Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Last month Bush proposed protecting three remote island chains, launching a marine conservation effort that could be one of the largest. (AP)

The Government Accountability Office has rejected a claim that testing of improved body armor for US forces was flawed, clearing the way for the Army to get the stalled $1 billion project moving again. Had the GAO agreed with a contract protest filed in July by ArmorWorks of Chandler, Ariz., the program to buy sturdier armor could have been delayed for months. That would have been bad news for the Army, which has been criticized for moving too slowly to provide troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with the best battlefield gear. ArmorWorks accused the Army of not following accepted testing standards after the company's protective plates failed when armor-piercing rounds were fired at them. (AP)

President Bush yesterday signed legislation giving Vice President Dick Cheney and future vice presidents six months of Secret Service protection after they leave office. Since Hubert Humphrey left office in 1969 it has been common practice for the White House or Congress to extend temporary protection, usually for half a year, to former vice presidents. The measure Bush signed makes it permanent law. (AP)