Tourists who want to put a hand or foot in each of four states at the Four Corners area are apparently off the mark — by about 2.5 miles.

According to readings by the National Geodetic Survey, the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2.5 miles west of where it should be.

The only place in the United States where four state boundaries come together was first surveyed by the U.S. government in 1868 during the initial survey of Colorado’s southern boundary line.

The intended location was 109 degrees west longitude and 37 degrees north latitude. But, because of surveying errors, the popular tourist spot is a bit off.

The accurate location would be downhill to the east of U.S. 160 in Colorado and northeast of the San Juan River as it flows into New Mexico.

Home sales in the Western U.S. surged in January as first-time homebuyers, real estate investors and others seized on bargain-priced foreclosed homes in California, Nevada and Arizona, according to two reports released Wednesday.

A total of 74,000 existing homes and condos were sold in January in the 13-state region. Sales were up 32.1 percent from the same month in 2008, without adjusting for seasonal factors, according to the National Association of Realtors.

As has been the trend since last summer, distressed sales continued to fuel sales in the West, and that helped drag down median home prices in the region by almost 26 percent from the prior year to $220,000, the association said.

Nationally, existing home sales dropped 7.6 percent from January last year, while the U.S. median home price slid almost 15 percent to $170,300.

Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco made up the top five major metro areas in the country to register an increase in home sales last month, according to the Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report, released Wednesday. The data includes all home sales recorded in the metropolitan statistical areas by all local agents, regardless of company affiliation.

Those Western cities ranked among the top 10 U.S. metros to post the sharpest median price declines last month, with San Francisco and Phoenix behind only Detroit.

Elsewhere in the West, sales declined in Honolulu, Billings, Mont., Seattle, Portland, Ore., Boise, Idaho, Albuquerque, N.M., Denver and Anchorage, Alaska, according to the AP-Re/Max report. Of those metros, only Anchorage posted an increase in its median sales price, climbing 6.9 percent to $239,000.

Recession fears and rising unemployment kept many would-be buyers on the sidelines, but others were lured out by cheap prices and low interest rates – which briefly dipped below 5 percent last month.

“That’s what’s driving the first-time buyer,” said Marty Rodriguez, a Century 21 broker-owner in a Los Angeles suburb.

Sales climbed about 68 percent in the Phoenix metro area, a hotbed of foreclosures that saw speculation-driven price increases during the housing boom. The median home price dropped about 42 percent to $129,900, according to the AP-Re/Max report.

Smelters work at the newly nationalized Vinto tin smelter on the outskirts of Oruro, Bolivia, in this February 2007 file photo. Swiss-based Glencore International AG's Bolivian subsidiary just announced it will layoff several hundred employees which is triggering protests by the out-of-work miners.

DENVER – Withering cost cuts across the mining industry have left tens of thousands of people without jobs from the Arizona desert to the Andes — and there is a litany of evidence that the situation is growing worse.

International mining companies also have postponed or canceled projects and padlocked the gates to mines as consumers have cut spending on cars, jewelry and housing.

Global mining giant Rio Tinto announced last week that iron ore production, used to make steel, tumbled 18 percent in the fourth quarter and said Tuesday its aluminum subsidiary would double previously announced production cuts.

Unwanted copper, gold, bauxite (used in aluminum) and iron ore, is piling up or being left underground as the worst recession in at least a generation saps demand.

“Expect inventories to get bigger and expect this continuing process (of cutbacks),” said Andrew Martyn, a portfolio manager who specializes in mining for Toronto-based Davis-Rea Ltd. “It’s going to go for quite some time here.”

The effect on many communities worldwide that rely on mining has been immediate. Workers are protesting job cuts and others are expected to begin migrating in large numbers in search of work, some across international borders.

“A lot of the communities are remote so that when (mines) do shut down, the town actually collapses,” Martyn said.

The bulk of the layoffs in the United States are in base metals such as copper and zinc, although major companies are scaling back production of metallurgical coal for use in steel manufacturing.

Coal companies have slowed production from Wyoming to Australia.

Coal jobs are among the highest paying in many rural U.S. communities, potentially creating a dire economic ripple effect. In the past, coal companies have been more recession proof, but the average price per ton for Appalachian coal has fallen more than 35 percent since the summer.

At least 700 job cuts are likely in Tennessee and Montana by Swiss-based Glencore International AG, a commodities company.

Still, job losses have been most severe outside the United States.

Glencore’s Bolivian subsidiary recently announced it will layoff several hundred people, triggering labor protests.

Thousands of miners who dig primarily for zinc in Bolivia either have been laid off or left their jobs in the Andes, the poorest region in South America’s poorest country. In the mines around the small cities of Potosi and Oruro, the work force of roughly 25,000 miners and refiners has been cut roughly in half.

A controlling stake in Bolivia’s largest mine, San Cristobal, has been put up for sale by Denver-based Apex Silver Mines Ltd., which is reorganizing under bankruptcy protection.

Local officials say workers may flood back into villages emptied during a two-year zinc boom that ended in 2007, or they may emigrate to Argentina in search of jobs.

Tens of thousands of mining jobs have been lost in recent months from South Africa to Jamaica as manufacturers shut down. U.S. industrial production plunged by double the amount analysts expected in December, capping the worst year for manufacturers since 2001.

“As little as three to six months ago, steel companies were running flat out around the world because China was making factories to ship goods to the rest of the Western world,” Martyn said. “That process has come to a grinding halt.”

There are no reliable employment numbers available for the mining industry globally because it spans such a broad geographic, economic and political spectrum, but it is clear that the number of jobs already lost is vast.

The fall off in copper, used in everything from housing to computers, has triggered thousands of layoffs in Peru, Arizona and New Mexico.

Aluminum producers like Alcoa have also slashed production, along with thousands of jobs. Those cuts have spilled over into mining.

“What all companies are doing that have bauxite and alumina facilities is they’re basically retrenching,” Argus Research analyst Bill Selesky said. “They may be running them at lower production levels now just to keep up with what’s going on. And they won’t rehire these people until they actually see an uptick in demand.”

In a December address, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced a $6.7 million plan to boost tourism and small businesses to help offset the effects of the downturn in the bauxite-alumina industry.

Industry analysts speculate some signs of improvement could start appearing in the latter half of this year, though others say it could take up to two years.

“Companies still looking to cut costs are going to be cutting out high cost operations. A lot of that should be still to come,” Barnard Jacobs Mellet analyst Patrick Chidley said.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner, is expected to reveal more about the state of production and exploration for the last quarter of 2008 on Wednesday, Australia time. The figures should be available late Tuesday in the United States.

Rio Tinto Alcan President and CEO, Primary Metal, Jacynthe Cote speaks to reporters on Tuesday in Montreal. Rio Tinto Alcan is permanently closing its Beauharnois smelter in Quebec and curtailing production at the Vaudreuil alumina refinery.

Gooding and Company Auction attendees examine a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione on Saturday

Forget the stalled economy, an undisclosed car collector paid $4.95 million on Saturday for a 1960 Ferrari 250 California Spider at the Gooding & Co. auction in Scottsdale.

That is likely to be the top price paid this week at four Valley auctions that could top $100 million in combined sales for about 1,700 automobiles.

Gooding sold seven cars at Scottsdale Fashion Square on Saturday for more than $1 million each and reported $31.8 million in total sales for its one-day event.

“We’re thrilled,” said Gooding President David Gooding. “We were impressed that the California Spider brought a record price for an unrestored Ferrari.”

The Gooding auction, in its second year in Scottsdale, plays to a niche audience of super wealthy buyers. The much larger Barrett-Jackson auction with 1,050 cars attracts its share of the super rich and outshines the other auctions in total sales.

RM Auctions and Russo and Steele also were selling some coveted collector cars at six-figure prices approaching $1 million.

RM reported preliminary sales figures from Friday’s event at the Arizona Biltmore Resort of $18 million, down from $26.7 million a year ago.

Its top sales included a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4Belinetta that sold for $918,500, and 1954 Dodge Firearrow Sports Coupe that went for $880,000.At Barrett-Jackson, huge crowds of bidders and car enthusiasts at WestWorld in Scottsdale watched some of Saturday evening’s top sales.

That included:

• The first production Ford Thunderbird, $660,000.

• A 1970 Plymouth Superbird Custom Tribute car, which sold for $551,000, with the proceeds benefiting the Darrell Gwynn Foundation.

• NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon’s 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo No. 24 race car. It sold for $550,000 with proceeds gong to the Hendrick Marrow Foundation.

Barrett-Jackson topped seven figures with the sale of a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane that sold for $1.21 million.

Gooding’s $4.95 million sale was believed to be the second highest in Arizona auction history. A Shelby Corbra Super Snake sold for $5 million in 2007 at Barrett-Jackson.

Goodings other top sales included:

• A 1937 Talbot-Lago Tear Drop Coupe, $3.52 million.

• A 1932 Daimler 40/50 Double Six Sport Saloon, $2.97 million.

• A 1937 Bentley Fixed Head Sport Coupe, $1.32 million.

Gooding’s sales were up more than $10 million from last year.Company president Gooding said that everyone was nervous about sales this year because of the economy.”We didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “The difference is that great cars bring good money.”Barrett-Jackson and Russo and Steele will end auction week today (Sunday), each with a final days of sales.Russo and Steele holds its auction of 500 cars southeast of Loop 101 and Scottsdale.

United Van Lines tracking moves

ST. LOUIS — Americans continue to head west — and to the Mid-Atlantic states — while many are leaving the Great Lakes region behind, according to a study released Wednesday.

St. Louis-based United Van Lines, the nation’s largest mover of household goods, has been tracking moves since 1977. Company vice president Carl Walter said the study in the past has accurately reflected trends in migration. He said real estate firms, financial institutions and others use United’s data for planning and analysis.

The 2008 study looked at 198,962 interstate household moves in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.

The District of Columbia topped the list for inbound migration, with 62.1 percent of interstate moves going there. Nevada was second (59.2 percent), followed by North Carolina (58.2 percent), Alabama (58.1 percent) and Wyoming (57.8 percent).

Most of the states with high percentages of inbound moves were in the Mid-Atlantic (South Carolina and Delaware also ranked high) or the West — where South Dakota, Oregon and Colorado were high in the rankings as well.

Michigan saw the largest outbound migration, with 67.1 percent of interstate moves heading out. It marked the third straight year that Michigan, hard hit by the economy and layoffs in the auto industry, has seen the highest percentage of outbound migration.

North Dakota (58.9 percent), New Jersey (58.7 percent), Pennsylvania (58 percent) and Rhode Island (57.8 percent) also were in the top five in the percentage of outbound movers. Several other states with high rates of outbound moves were in the Great Lakes region, including Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Most states in the South saw more inbound than outbound moves in 2008. Only two states in the Northeast — Vermont and Massachusetts — had more inbound than outbound migration.

Missouri reversed a 13-year trend of outbound moves, with 51.4 percent of 2008 moves coming into the Show-Me State. In Illinois, 57.2 percent of moves were outbound, the sixth-highest total. Kansas saw 50.4 percent of interstate moves inbound.

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ON THE WEB

www.unitedvanlines.com

Tourists enjoy the Grand Canyon.

GENEVA _ The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday.

The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

Over a billion people are expected to join in Internet voting that will nominate 77 semifinalists for the top natural wonders, which will share in the glory already enjoyed by the seven man-made wonders chosen 18 months ago.

“We are calling on people all over the world to actively show their appreciation for our … natural world by joining together to celebrate the most extraordinary sites on our planet,” said Tia Viering, spokeswoman of the New 7 Wonders campaign.

The Swiss-based nonprofit foundation collected 441 nominations over the Internet since it opened the selection process in 2007.

The foundation then chose the top vote-getter from each country, making a list of 222 sites. The overall list rose to 261 with the inclusion of sites shared by two or more countries — such as Niagara Falls and Lake Superior between Canada and the United States, and the Matterhorn, between Switzerland and Italy.

Votes can be cast until July 7. Registration on the Web site aims to prevent people from voting twice.

The quarterfinalists include some lesser known sites, such as Yasur Volcano on the south Pacific island of Vanuatu or Nigeria’s Zuma Rock, a giant monolith in the middle of the African country.

A panel of experts in nature, chaired by Federico Mayor, former chief of UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will reduce the list to 21 finalists in July.

The seven winners will then be chosen in another round of public voting lasting until 2011, this time by Internet, telephone and text messages.

Around 100 million people voted in the selection of the seven man-made wonders. The winners were the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; the Colosseum, Italy; the Great Wall of China; the Taj Mahal, India; Petra, Jordan; Christ the Redeemer Statue, Brazil; Machu Picchu, Peru; and the Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

“The enthusiasm for the campaign, which brought culture out of dusty corners and back to life on front pages, TV screens and computers everywhere, crossed all social and economic lines,” said Viering. “Everyone from schoolchildren to entrepreneurs eagerly participated.”

Choosing world wonders has been a continuing fascination over the centuries. UNESCO keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 878 places.

The New 7 Wonders campaign led by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments and natural sites. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.

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On the Web

Full list of nominees on: www.new7wonders.com

General Motors' cash problems could give car buffs the rare opportunity to buy some of GM's most unique vehicles such as this 1967 Pontiac GTO used in the action movie "XXX." Beginning Jan. 11, more than 200 of GM's Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Mich. will be put up for sale at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale.

DETROIT — General Motors’ cash problems could give car buffs the rare opportunity to buy some of GM’s most unique vehicles at auction next week, giving gearheads an extraordinary chance to own some of Detroit’s history.

Some 200 of GM’s one-off and historic models will be sold Sunday through Jan. 18 at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. The auction will help manage GM’s fleet of 1,000 historic and unique vehicles.

Tom Freiman, manager of GM’s Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Mich., which displays about 200 of the automaker’s rare vehicles, estimated the sales could generate less than $5 million. GM has been burning through $1 billion or more a month, and borrowed $4 billion last month from the federal government.

“We’re trying to get the collection to the right size,” Freiman said. “At the end of the day, I think we’re going to end up with a better mix of heritage vehicles.”

Ken Gross, a classic car collector an author, is glad to see some of GM’s stash sold.

“They can’t keep them all,” Gross says. “If they keep what’s significant and let other people have the rest, everybody benefits. Hobbyist get some nice cars, and GM gets a little money.”

The vehicles for sale will include cars made to serve as pace cars in races or made for car shows, including high-performance vehicles made for the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show. GM declined to give a complete list of vehicles to be auctioned, saying it is still being determined. But the vehicles include:

— A white 1998 Cadillac Brougham convertible made for Pope John Paul II to use. The vehicle has a step-up, thronelike chair and a platform that rises and falls by hydraulic lift. It was blessed by the pope “but deemed unsafe by the security team,” according to the Web site of Barrett-Jackson, an auction house.

— A 1986 presidential limousine replica that has been featured in movies such as “In the Line of Fire” and “The American President.”

— The 1967 GTO used in the action movie “XXX.”

— A 1925 House Car. It’s an early version of a camper made before RVs became commercially available. It has mahogany trim and maple floors and is built on a Chevrolet 1-ton chassis. No mention of fuel economy.

— The Buick Blackhawk, a hand-built vehicle made to celebrate Buick’s 100-year anniversary in 2003, according to Barrett-Jackson.

Buick Blackhawk

Buick Blackhawk

Charles Green describes injuries he suffered when shot with a stun gun in August. The FBI is investigating whether excessive force was used in the case.

A new study has found that the type of Taser stun gun used most by police officers can fire more electricity than the company says is possible, which the study’s authors say raises the risk of cardiac arrest as much as 50 percent in some people.

The study, led by a Montreal biomedical engineer and a U.S. defense contractor at the request of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., concluded that even stun guns firing at expected electrical levels carry some risk of inducing a heart attack. The study said the results raise questions about quality control.

The researchers’ analysis contradicts Taser’s position that electric shocks from the weapons cannot kill. Taser International Inc., based in Scottsdale, called the study flawed.

The guns are used by more than 12,000 police agencies across the country. Many authorities credit the weapon with preventing deaths and injuries to officers and suspects.

But since 2001, there have been more than 380 deaths after police Taser strikes in the U.S. and 26 in Canada.

Medical examiners have ruled that a Taser was a cause, contributing factor or could not be ruled out in more than 30 of those deaths.

The study, which authors say tested more Tasers than any previous independent review, examined 44 stun guns being used today by seven undisclosed U.S. police agencies.

It found that four would not fire at all or fired improperly and that four others produced from 47 percent to 58 percent more power than the manufacturer specified.

Taser officials acknowledged the possibility of a higher-than-normal initial charge in weapons not first given a “spark test” to ensure they are in proper working condition. They insist this does not affect safety.

Q. There was a really bright star above a very thin crescent moon last night. What was it?

A. If you are looking in the bright evening twilight and not far above the southwestern horizon, you are seeing the planet Venus, now creeping back into view. To the unaided eye, Venus can be confused with dimmer Jupiter, so look for the moon to appear to the left of Venus on Saturday and nearest Jupiter in our sky on Monday. Venus is easily visible about 15 degrees above the southwestern horizon starting about 30 minutes after sunset. Although Jupiter is currently higher in the sky (and farther east) than Venus, this will change as the two move closer in our sky (though of course they are hundreds of millions of miles apart in space). The two group wonderfully together by the end of November, so stay tuned for a special free viewing event at Flandrau.

www.gotUAsciencecenter.org

One day last October, Eric York lugged the carcass of an adult mountain lion from his truck and laid it carefully on a tarp on the floor of his garage.

The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a biologist at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, found the big cat lying motionless near the canyon’s South Rim. He was determined to learn why she died. Because the park lacks a forensics lab, he did the postmortem in his garage, in a village of about 2,000 park employees.

Epidemic experts can only speculate about what happened next. When York cut into the lion, he must have released a cloud of bacteria and breathed in. On Nov. 2, York was found dead, a 21st-century victim of plague, the disease that in the Middle Ages turned Europe into a vast mortuary. He was 37.

The case mirrors events that have promoted a global surge in epidemics, among them influenza, HIV, West Nile virus and SARS. A study out this year in the journal Nature reported about 60 percent of epidemics begin when a microbe makes the leap from an animal into a human.

“What will be the next emerging disease? The one we least expect,” says David Morens of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Word of York’s death flew among those who worked at the famed natural attraction, which draws 5 million visitors a year. For public health experts, it provoked concerns that plague might make a comeback. Experts from the National Park Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona Department of Health quickly converged on the park.

Fortunately, their investigation found only 49 people who had come in contact with York. All were treated with antibiotics. None became ill, says David Wong, a National Park Service epidemiologist.

“We identified his contacts even before the autopsy results were in,” Wong says. “Within minutes, we were calling folks to tell them to come in. We opened the clinic on a Sunday.”

The investigators who combed occupied areas of the park also were relieved to find no evidence of the rodent die-offs that prompt plague-infected fleas to leap to people and feast on them instead of the animals, Wong says. Massive flea migrations, prompted by widespread rodent deaths, caused Black Death in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Both York and the mountain lion suffered from pneumonic plague, a lung infection that spreads through a cough or a sneeze.

“Pneumonic plague is a highly fatal disease,” Wong says. “The death rate can be as high as 50 percent even with treatment.”

Concerned about big cats

York was widely known for trapping and collaring big cats to study their movements and protect them from encroaching on humans, says Charles Higgens, director of public health for the National Park Service.

York’s friends say he could make a mountain lion trap with toothpicks, says Launie York, the biologist’s mother. She says her son loved the woods around the family farm and was forever storing specimens in the family freezer.

“We had a saying here: ‘If it’s in a black plastic bag, don’t open it. It isn’t dinner,’ ” she says.

Before his fatal encounter with the mountain lion, York got to know the big cat well. During his two years at the park, York tracked, trapped and collared her. When she gave birth to three kittens, he ear-tagged them so that he could identify them when they were old enough for their own telemetry collars.

Then, on Oct. 25, the lion’s collar sent out a mortality signal, indicating that she hadn’t moved in 24 hours. When York located her carcass, her kittens were nowhere to be found. His notes suggest that he believed she may have been killed in a fight with a male, because of blood pooled around her nose. But York wasn’t satisfied with guesswork, so he decided to do an autopsy at his home.

Ambushed by germs

Although plague is endemic west of the Mississippi – brought here in the 1800s by flea-infested rats on ships ferrying Chinese railroad workers to the USA – York had little reason to suspect it. Mountain lions usually stalk bigger game than rodents. But this lion had kittens that had to learn to hunt.

When York became ill, he visited the park’s clinic, Wong says. On Oct. 30, clinic staff diagnosed a flu-like illness and sent him home. It was there, three days later, that a roommate found him lying motionless on the couch.

Wong says York’s toughness and self-sufficiency may have cost him his life.

“He was a tough guy. He gutted out more than you or I or almost anyone else would.”

He says the case has prompted the National Park Service to begin working with colleagues at the CDC and at state and local health departments to identify diseases within the park system that might pose a risk to the 276 million people who visit every year, as well as the many people who might be exposed once park visitors return home.

Q: What is that little cluster of small stars I’m seeing rise around 7:30 – 8 p.m. in the east? Is it the Little Dipper?

A. You’re not looking at the Little Dipper but rather the Pleiades or “Seven Sisters” star cluster, one of the finest and most famous clusters. For most people, six stars are visible to the unaided eye. Through binoculars many more stars are visible, making this one of the finest celestial objects to view in binoculars or a wide-field telescope. To find the Pleiades tonight, go to a location away from local light sources (dark skies help but are not required) and look above the eastern horizon from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. Depending on your location, Venus may appear to rise later due to mountains that may block it from view. Binoculars will help a great deal in spotting it from light-polluted locations.

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On the Web

Flandrau Science Center:

www.gotuasciencecenter.org

Blazing fuel tanks hang from a hot-air balloon that slammed into power lines Friday during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in Bernalillo, N.M. The balloon scattered debris across the town as it disintegrated, killing one man and injuring another.

BERNALILLO, N.M. – A hot air balloon crashed into power lines and burst into flames Friday during Albuquerque’s annual balloon fiesta, throwing both men on board to the ground and killing one of them.

Witnesses said that many of the balloons were flying low right before the Wings of Wind balloon crashed in Bernalillo, just north of Albuquerque.

Stephen Lachendro of Butler, Pa., was killed and Keith Sproul of North Brunswick, N.J., was critically injured. Kathie Leyendecker, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, said she did not know who was piloting the balloon.

Lachendro was found dead at the scene on the side of a ditch; Sproul was unconscious and taken to the hospital, Rio Rancho Fire Battalion Chief Paul Bearce said.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Glenn Vonderahe, a witness. “I saw the balloon and the next thing I knew, there was a lot of fire and smoke. There was total fire under the balloon.”

He first saw the balloon land, then bounce back up and apparently hit some power lines, he said. The balloon was stuck in the lines for a time, and then Vonderahe saw the balloon portion – called the envelope – float away, a burning tank still attached.

“Debris was flying everywhere,” he said. The tank fell harmlessly to the ground, and the drifting envelope was eventually found about 15 miles away.

Witnesses said winds had picked up just before the crash. But Leyendecker said conditions at the field in Albuquerque where the balloons take off were ideal, about six to eight mph.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, said National Guard Lt. Col. John Fishburn.

Lachendro was a father of two sons and a daughter and enjoyed ballooning with friends, said his daughter, Amanda Lachendro.

“I just want everyone to know that he loved what he did,” she said, declining to comment further.

“It’s horrible and saddening when something like this occurs,” Leyendecker said. “But this sport has been around for 225 years. There’s a sense of adventure and a lot of education and training that goes into this.”

The yellow, brown and orange triangle-shaped balloon was among hundreds participating in Friday’s events at the balloon fiesta, which will run through Sunday as planned.

“I was excited to see all the balloons, but to have it end like that, I was just shaking like a leaf and my legs felt like Jell-O,” said witness Terri Bordelon of Sterlington, La.

There were several reports of hard landings. In one of them, an 11-year-old passenger was injured after he became entangled in the ropes and was dragged along the ground for about 20 feet, Bearce said. The boy’s condition was not immediately known.

The festival, held each October, is Albuquerque’s pre-eminent tourist draw. Growing from a 1972 gathering at a shopping mall parking lot, it now hosts hundreds of balloons and pilots and draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city.

But it has had fatalities before, mostly from balloons hitting power lines. Last year, a 60-year-old Oceanside, Calif., woman fell at least 70 feet to her death and three other women were hospitalized after their balloon snagged a power line.

In 1982, four people died when propane tanks on a large balloon exploded. Other fatalities were recorded in 1990, 1993 and 1998.

Q. You mentioned Saturn next to the moon on that February lunar eclipse earlier this year, but when will Saturn be seen again in the evening sky?

A. The ringed planet Saturn will not be visible in the evening until around mid-February, when it rises about 8 p.m. in the east. In early October, one hour before sunrise, Saturn is more than 10 degrees above the eastern horizon, but by late October at that time it climbs to more than 30 degrees in altitude, or one-third the way up from the horizon. Saturn is found in the constellation Leo the Lion, far below its bright star Regulus.

Flandrau: The UA Science Center

www.gotuasciencecenter.org

MEXICO CITY – More than 40 percent of Mexicans say they feel less secure since the start of a government crackdown on the drug trade, according to a poll published Friday.

Only 25 percent of Mexicans polled say they feel safer since President Felipe Calderon sent more than 20,000 troops to battle drug cartels nationwide, the newspaper El Universal reported. Another 27 percent say they feel the same level of security.

Still, half of all respondents say they believe the country will be safer in the next three years if the government continues the battle.

Violence has soared since the army and federal police stepped up attacks on the drug trade nearly two years ago.

On Friday, an official at the Baja California state prosecutor’s office said five bodies were found dumped in an empty lot and two others were found decapitated two blocks from the Tijuana offices for Mexico’s ruling National Action Party. The official was not authorized to give her name.

Nearly 40 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the past week in the border city, bringing the total so far this year to more than 400 dead.

State prosecutor Rommel Moreno has blamed the violence on warring leaders within the city’s Arellano Felix drug gang.

Asked what they believed was driving the violence, 40 percent of those polled said it was a sign that organized crime had overtaken the government, 35 percent said it was a reaction to the crackdown and 21 percent believed it was drug cartels fighting for territory.

The poll by Buendia & Laredo had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points and quizzed 999 adults Sept. 26-29.

Bush administration mandate could affect contraception, some say

Attorneys general from Arizona and 12 other states on Wednesday protested a proposed Bush administration rule that would give stronger job protections to doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions because of religious or moral objections.

In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, the states said the rule is too vague in defining abortion, and may be interpreted to include birth control.

“It threatens to drastically discourage and even deter a woman’s right to choose,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. “This proposed rule unconscionably puts personal agendas before patient care . . . failing even to acknowledge the rights of rape victims and others to access birth control and related vital health services.”

Other states protesting the rule are Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont.

The Bush administration proposed the rule last month. The rule, which applies to institutions receiving government money, would require as many as 584,000 employers ranging from major hospitals to doctors’ offices and nursing homes to certify in writing that they are complying with several federal laws that protect the conscience rights of health care workers. Violations could lead to a loss of government funding and legal action to recoup federal money already paid.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has said that health care professionals should not face retaliation from employers or from medical societies because they object to abortion.

In the letter, the attorneys general said the rule threatens federal funding for institutions that provide health care and birth control to rape victims.

“Vagueness and broad application, together with the penalty of withdrawal of critical federal health care funding to a health care entity that violates – even inadvertently – the proposed regulation may have substantial and significant consequences for the provision of health care to many Americans,” the officials said in the letter.

The 42-page rule seeks to set up a system for enforcing conscience protections in three separate federal laws, the earliest of which dates to the 1970s. In some cases, the laws aim to protect both providers who refuse to take part in abortions and those who do.

The regulation is written to apply to a broad swath of the health care work force, not doctors alone.