Nation roundup for May 25

Private ship flies by space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world’s first private supply ship flew tantalizingly close to the International Space Station on Thursday, acing a critical test in advance of the actual docking.

The unmanned SpaceX Dragon capsule flew within 1½ miles of the orbiting lab as it performed a practice lap and checkout of its communication and navigation systems.

Officials at NASA and the SpaceX company declared the rendezvous a success and said the historic linkup is on track for Friday.

It is the first U.S. vessel to visit the space station since NASA’s shuttles retired last summer — and the first private spacecraft to ever attempt a delivery. The Dragon is carrying 1,000 pounds of provisions.

Thursday’s accomplishment “is a big confidence boost. Everyone’s very excited,” said SpaceX mission director John Couluris. After working all night and into the wee hours, he urged his team to go home and rest up for Friday. “It’s exciting to be an American and part of putting American spacecraft into orbit, and we’re very proud right now.”

Food stamp fraud raising concerns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Food stamp recipients are ripping off the government for millions of dollars by illegally selling their benefit cards for cash — sometimes even in the open, on eBay or Craigslist — and then asking the government for replacement cards.

The Agriculture Department wants to curb the practice by giving states more power to investigate people who repeatedly claim to lose their benefit cards.

It is proposing new rules Thursday that would allow states to demand formal explanations from people who seek replacement cards more than three times a year. Those who don’t comply can be denied further cards.

“Up to this point, the state’s hands have been tied unless they absolutely suspected fraudulent activity,” said Kevin Concannon, the department’s undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

Overall, food stamp fraud costs taxpayers about $750 million a year, or 1 percent of the $75 billion program that makes up the bulk of the department’s total budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Most fraud occurs when unscrupulous retailers allow customers to turn in their benefits cards for lesser amounts of cash. But USDA officials are also concerned about people selling or trading cards in the open market, including through websites.

Ohio teenager to be tried as adult

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — A 17-year-old will be tried as an adult in the school shooting deaths of three students, a juvenile court judge ruled Thursday after hearing a sheriff’s deputy describe how the teen wore a T-shirt with the word “Killer” and admitted shooting people.

T.J. Lane admitted firing at students sitting at a cafeteria table at Chardon High School east of Cleveland on Feb. 27, killing three and seriously wounding two, authorities say. Lane, with his grandparents and the relatives of victims sitting apart in court, swallowed hard and blinked as Geauga County Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Grendell said he should be tried as an adult.

Lane could face life in prison if he’s convicted. Minors are not eligible for the death penalty in Ohio. Had his case been routed to juvenile court, the maximum possible penalty would have kept him jailed until he turned 21.

The judge said he found probable evidence in all six charges against Lane, including aggravated murder counts. He rejected a defense request to release Lane on a $500,000 bond and said Lane would pose a risk to flee and a safety risk to the community.

The ruling capped a morning hearing that offered new details about the attack but left unanswered the question of motive.

The judge, over the objections of The Associated Press and other media outlets, cleared the courtroom of everyone but Lane and attorneys while a surveillance video of the shooting scene was played. The tape could jeopardize Lane’s chance to get a fair trial, the judge ruled.

9 to 15 storms seen for Atlantic

MIAMI (AP) — U.S. forecasters predicted Thursday that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season would produce a normal number of about nine to 15 tropical storms, with as many as four to eight of those becoming hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its initial outlook for the six-month storm season that officially begins June 1. One to three storms could become major hurricanes with top winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or higher.

Though this season isn’t expected to be as busy as last year’s above-average season, federal officials warned coastal residents to start stocking up on hurricane supplies and forming evacuation plans anyway.

“That’s still a lot of activity. So just because we’re predicting a near normal season doesn’t mean anybody’s off the hook at all,” said Gerry Bell, the lead seasonal forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

Atmospheric and marine conditions indicating a high-activity era that began in 1995 for Atlantic hurricanes continue, Bell said.

However, the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, which warms Pacific waters near the equator and increases wind shear over the Atlantic, may develop by the late summer or early fall and help suppress storm development.

“Our range (of expected storms) is a bit wider this year because of this inherent uncertainty right now based on the best guidance we have as to whether El Nino will form or not,” Bell said.

This season got an early start when Tropical Storm Alberto formed Saturday off the coast of South Carolina. Alberto dissipated Tuesday over the Atlantic.

Alberto was unusual for being a small storm that formed in a small area favorable for storm development, but the weather conditions as spring transitions into summer sometimes produce tropical systems, said Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center.

Forecasters name tropical storms when their top winds reach 39 mph; hurricanes have maximum winds of at least 74 mph. The next named storm will be named Beryl.

No major hurricane has made a U.S. landfall in the last six years, since Hurricane Wilma cut across South Florida in 2005. This August will mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew’s catastrophic landfall in South Florida as a Category 5 storm. The season that spawned Andrew started late and produced a total of just six named storms.

“It takes one storm to come ashore, regardless of the intensity of the season, to create a disaster,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency’s deputy administrator for protection and national preparedness, Tim Manning.

The seasonal average is 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes. The 2011 hurricane season, one of the busiest on record with 19 named storms, produced Irene, one of the costliest storms in U.S. history.

Irene killed at least 47 in the U.S. and at least eight more in the Caribbean and Canada as it followed a rare path up the Eastern seaboard from North Carolina, across the Mid-Atlantic and near New York City.

Flooding from the storm was the most destructive event to hit Vermont in almost a century, killing six people and leaving hundreds homeless while damaging or destroying hundreds of miles of roads, scores of bridges and hundreds of homes. About a dozen communities were cut off for days, requiring supplies brought by National Guard helicopters.

Read said forecasters are trying to apply lessons learned from Irene’s destruction to their storm preparedness message this year.

“We think we were conveying, especially in western New England and upstate New York, meteorologically and hydrologically, what we thought was going to happen up there,” Read said. “It was one of the better forecasts I’ve seen, in 40 years of doing this, on rainfall for a land falling hurricane.”

Many in New England contend, though, that Irene’s flooding caught them by surprise. Fixing the communications gap remains a challenge for forecasters, Read said.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30, and the peak period for hurricane activity runs from August through October.