National News for May 23 - June 5

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from The Washington Post, CNN and BBC News. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
May 25 - Due to rainy weather in Florida, the space shuttle Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California instead of its primary landing site at Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Fla. Atlantis was launched May 11 to repair and replace instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope and is scheduled for another flight in November.

Washington, D.C.
May 27 - President Barack Obama nominated appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor, 54, to the Supreme Court as his first pick to replace former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. Justice Souter, who has served on the court since 1990, resigned on May 1. If Sotomayer is confirmed, Sotomayer she would become the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.

Detroit, Mich.
June 1 - General Motors (GM) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, making it the third largest company in U.S. history to take such measures. The previous week, President Obama worked with GM to create a draft bankruptcy plan that would give the automaker's executives around $30 billion to revive the company. The plan would also allow the Obama administration to participate in selecting several members on GM's 13-member director board.

Walnut Creek, Calif.
June 4 - Karen Perez, nine, is the first person in the California Bay Area to die of swine flu after contracting the H1N1 virus. There have been at least 20 deaths so far in the U.S. due to swine flu, and Perez is the fourth person in California to die of the virus. Swine flu has been found in all 50 states, and there have been a total of 12,000 confirmed and probable cases nationwide.