Senate to vote on bailout tomorrow...Bush signs spending bill...Gas shortage eases

Washington (AP) Senate leaders have scheduled a vote for tomorrow on the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue plan rejected by the House. They say they're going to add a tax-cut package the House has already turned down. The Senate plan would also raise federal deposit insurance limits to $250,000 from $100,000.

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush has signed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running for a year. The price tag is more than 630 billion dollars. It includes a record Pentagon budget, aid for automakers and natural disaster victims, and increased health care funding for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ATLANTA (AP) Lines have eased somewhat in Atlanta, the largest city hit by a hurricane-induced gas shortage in the Southeast.

Meanwhile, Georgia's governor is waiting for a White House answer to his request to release more crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease the shortage.

TOKYO (AP) Police say 15 people have been killed in a pre-dawn fire at a building in Osaka, Japan. A police spokesman says the blaze broke out early Wednesday in a video shop. He says the victims were male customers.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) A Minot Air Force Base officer admitted taking a missile launch control device as a souvenir because he thought it would be "a cool thing to have." That's according to one of his supervisors who testified today at a hearing to determine whether the officer (Captain Paul Borowiecki) will face a military trial.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-30-08 1953CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list