USA

The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to authorize its subpoena of David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, in a probe of possible US torture of suspected terrorists. Addington, who claimed he was immune from testifying, is one of several lawyers thought to have played a key role in crafting interrogation policies.

The Bush administration issued its final court-ordered plans Monday for boosting Pacific Northwest salmon survival along the Columbia and Snake rivers, outlining plans for dam modifications, predator-control strategies, and improved hatchery operations.

Nearly two-thirds of banks surveyed by the Federal Reserve in April reported tightening lending standards on home mortgages, with 15 percent saying those standards had been tightened considerably.

West Virginia University President Mike Garrison said he intended to stay on despite a no-confidence vote Monday by the faculty senate, which called for his resignation over an academic furor involving the governor. Faculty outrage has grown since an independent panel concluded April 23 that Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter, received a degree she didn't earn.

The new Sports Museum of America opens Wednesday in Lower Manhattan. The museum houses the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center and has partnerships with various other sports halls.

Civic groups in low-income sections of Los Angeles have begun to transform bus stops and other gathering places into public "living rooms," with chairs, plants, and even ottomans, according to the Los Angeles Times. The effort is proving to be a fast, inexpensive way to improve neighborhoods without gentrification.

Growers on Hawaii's Big Island report that crops are shriveling up two months after Kilauea volcano opened a new vent and began spewing "vog" or volcanic smog.