The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox lead with Defense Secretary Robert Gates announcing major changes to the Pentagon budget that would shift the military's focus
away from big, expensive weapons systems so it can dedicate more
resources toward fighting irregular or guerilla wars. The budget clocks
in at $534 billion, a 4 percent increase from last year, but involves
so many cuts to some of the Pentagon's best known weapons programs that
a big political fight seems almost inevitable. The Los Angeles Times leads with the powerful earthquake that hit central Italy yesterday and killed at least 150 people.
The historical town of L'Aquila was near the quake's epicenter and many
of its landmarks, including centuries-old churches and buildings, were
damaged or destroyed.
USA Today leads with data from the Federal Aviation Administration that shows there's been an increase in the number of aircrafts that hit large birds. From an average of 323 such collisions in the 1990s, the number increased to 524 per year from 2000 to 2007. Proportionally, the numbers are quite small. In 2007, for example, out of 58 million fights there were 550 instances of airplanes hitting large birds, and only 190 of them caused damage. But the government data only contain a fraction of total collisions since reporting the incidents is voluntary. The New York Times leads with a new poll that shows Americans are more optimistic about the economy since President Obama was inaugurated. Two-thirds of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, and 39 percent of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction, an increase of 24 points since mid-January. Although people are clearly concerned about job losses, 20 percent think the economy is getting better, a 13-point increase, while 34 percent think it's getting worse, a 20-point decrease. It's common for new presidents to enjoy a honeymoon period, but the "durability" of Obama's support is particularly notable, especially since it comes "at a time when anxiety has gripped households across the country," declares the paper.
