November 13, 1995
Web posted at: 3 p.m. EST
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- On its first full day in orbit, space shuttle Atlantis was still several thousand miles away from the Russian space station Mir but moving closer at 300 mph for a scheduled docking on Wednesday. (Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield comments on docking, 160K AIFF sound or 160K WAV sound).
Before the linkup, the five-member Atlantis crew must move a Russian-built docking port into position in the shuttle's cargo bay. The port, essentially a 15-foot tunnel with hatches on either end, will be left on Mir to make future shuttle dockings safer and easier. It's the first piece of a space station ever constructed by a shuttle crew.
If there is a partial government shutdown on Tuesday, mission controllers will remain on duty. However, NASA said it plans to lay off the vast majority of its workers. The only ones left will be those responsible for science satellites and ongoing experiments. The Hubble space telescope will continue taking pictures because its operators are university-based scientists and not NASA employees.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A legal debate over free speech and indecency will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether current restrictions on indecent cable TV programming are constitutional. Lawyers for some TV producers and viewers claim the restrictions on sexually explicit programming represent a form of censorship in violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
A 1992 federal law allows cable TV companies to bar indecent material from leased-access channels. If a cable company does not bar such programs altogether, it must place the programs on a separate "blocked" channel. Viewers may "unblock" the channel only by requesting that action in writing. The law applies to public access channels as well as channels that cable companies lease to local groups. The Clinton administration supports the law, saying it still allows adults to receive the programs they want.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The jury hearing the insurance fraud trial of boxing promoter Don King could soon begin deliberations. The prosecution finished its rebuttal arguments Monday, after closing arguments presented last week by the defense. The federal government alleges King lied repeatedly to hide how he cheated Lloyd's of London out of $350,000 he received from the insurance company after a canceled bout. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Gardephe told the jury King altered a contract for a 1991 bout between Julio Cesar Chavez and Harold Brazier so it would qualify for a bigger payout after the bout was scrapped.
The defense put the blame for the scheme on King's former accountant, who testified that King told him to designate $350,000 in the insurance claim as training expenses paid to Chavez, even though the boxer received only $80,000. Gardephe called King a "control freak" when it came to money, asking jurors if it was "conceivable that a man who signs five-cent checks is going to leave insurance decisions to his bookkeeper." In his closing arguments, defense attorney Peter Fleming questioned the reliability of key government witnesses, pointing out that three of them were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony.
LUMBERTON, North Carolina (CNN) -- Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the capital murder trial of a man accused of killing Michael Jordan's father.
Daniel Green, 21, could get the death penalty if convicted. Green says he is innocent of the charges. A second suspect, Larry Demery, has pleaded guilty to the murder and will testify for the prosecution.
James Jordan was shot to death as he slept in his car outside a North Carolina country store in July 1993. Prosecutors say the motive was robbery.
Michael Jordan, whose Chicago Bulls play Tuesday in Orlando, is not expected to attend Monday's hearings.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- The FBI says a bomb plot may have been foiled with the arrests of three people in Oklahoma.
The suspects, Ray Willie Lampley, 65, his wife, Cecilia Lampley, 47, and John Dare Baird, 53, were allegedly plotting to build a fertilizer bomb. Authorities say their target was a white separatist religious community of Elohim City, Oklahoma near the Arkansas border.
The alleged plot appears to have no connection to the April bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Matt Allen, the 13-year-old grandson of the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Rev. Jimmy Allen, died Friday of AIDS. Rev. Allen had written a book about his family's experience, "Burden of a Secret: A story of Truth and Mercy in the Face of AIDS."
Matt Allen's mother contracted the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion before giving birth to him. After his father, Scott Allen, was forced to resign as minister of education at a church in Colorado Springs, Colorado the family moved to Dallas. They had trouble finding a church that would enroll Matt in Sunday school.
Matt did find acceptance with his new classmates at Lakewood Elementary School. Many of them celebrated his birthday at his bedside a month ago. "They treated me like a normal kid before we went public, and they treated me the same after," he told The Dallas Morning News.
![[Imagemap]](/US/images/us_nav.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
AP contributed to this report.