Jet plan is grounded, and more

Jet plan is grounded

Congressional leaders have reversed course on a plan to buy four executive jets for the military, to be used to transport congressional officials on foreign trips. House leaders tried to purchase the jets, at a total cost of more than $300 million, by tacking the appropriation on to the Pentagon’s $636 billion spending bill. But the effort was scuttled after it attracted wide criticism.

Emergency plans faulted

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Emergency planners have failed to devise strategies to assist disabled Americans in cases of natural disaster, a new report concludes. The National Council on Disability says the needs of the disabled are routinely overlooked in disaster planning, in part because officials don’t seek their input. Some of the casualties associated with Hurricane Katrina, for example, occurred because there was no accessible transportation for the disabled, the report says.