Buffalo fires head coach

Buffalo fires head coach

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK--Wade Phillips refused to fire special teams Coach Ronnie Jones and it cost him his job.

Less than three weeks after dismissing general manager John Butler, the Bills on Monday fired Coach Phillips.

"Buffalo's special teams' record was among the worst in the National Football League last season," Bills President Ralph Wilson Jr. said. "I felt we needed a change and that my request was reasonable.

"Wade has done a good job for us, reaching the playoffs two out of the last three seasons. But I felt the dismissal of the special teams coach was imperative for the improvement of our team. I did not want to release Wade …

BP Amoco to Restructure Styrenics Business.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

BP AMOCO CHEMICALS WILL RESTRUCTURE its styrenics business and close its 285,000-m.t./year styrene plant at Baglan Bay, U.K. at the end of September. The company will also shutter three expandable polystyrene (EPS) units and mothball a 60,000-m.t./year PS unit at Wingles, France, replacing it with a new, 85,000-m.t./year unit.

"The business is as bloody as it has ever been. The conditions are very difficult," says Mike Buzzacott, BP Amoco group v.p./polymers. "It is one of the few occasions when we have very depressed polymer margins at the same time as weak styrene prices." BP Amoco says market conditions will be difficult for one or two more years.

The …

MEETINGS.(Capital Region)

Nassau Planning Board

Tuesday, July 21

Approved Walter Bertram's proposed two-lot subdivision on Jefferson Hill Road after a public hearing.

Approved Curtis Stern and Gale Garner's proposed two-lot subdivision on Cold Water Tavern Road after a public hearing.

Approved Frank Spallane's proposed two-lot subdivision at 862 Burden Lake Road after a public hearing.

Approved James and Mary Truss' proposed two-lot subdivision at 44 Silvko Road after a public hearing.

Approved Alice Fernandez's proposed two-lot subdivision after a public hearing.

Scheduled an Aug. 20 public hearing on Anthony Bendetti's proposed …

Study affirms threat of animal pathogens; Growing risk seen of illnesses mutating, attacking humans.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

ST. LOUIS - Humans risk being overrun by diseases from the animal world, according to researchers who have documented 38 illnesses that have made that jump over the past 25 years.

That's not good news for the spread of bird flu, which experts fear could mutate and be transmitted easily among people.

There are 1,407 pathogens - viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa and fungi - that can infect humans, said Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Of those, 58 percent come from animals. Scientists consider 177 of the pathogens to be "emerging" or "re-emerging." Most will never cause pandemics.

…

GREYHOUND CRASH LEAVES 37 INJURED.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

NORTH EAST, Md. A Greyhound bus veered off Interstate 95 and rolled over on its side Friday, injuring all 37 people aboard. Some passengers said the driver seemed sleepy just before the accident.

``Before we flipped, he was swaying, he was weaving,'' said Charles Barksdale, who was sitting about 10 seats behind the driver. ``And then he went off the bank . . caught control of the bus again and swerved back into the traffic. Then he lost it all the way.''

State police refused to release the name of the …

NASA Spacecraft Pinpoints Where the Wild Thing Is.

Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Forty-nine days before its historic rendezvous with a comet, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully photographed its quarry, comet Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt-2), from 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) away. The image, the first of many comet portraits it will take over the next four weeks, will aid Stardust's navigators and scientists as they plot their final trajectory toward a Jan. 2, 2004, flyby and collection of samples from Wild 2.

"Christmas came early this year," said Project Manager Tom Duxbury at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Our job is to …

UN radio: 21 civilians killed by rebels in Congo

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A U.N.-run radio station says Rwandan Hutu rebels killed 21 people in an ambush on a truck in volatile eastern Congo.

Radio Okapi said the rebels on Tuesday attacked the truck and killed all of its passengers as they passed through Walikale territory. The radio station said Wednesday that the rebels also looted the truck's goods.

Eastern Congo has …