American Scene

CALIFORNIA

Vets group chief dies of heart attack

MARINA DEL REY | Air Force veteran Dwight Radcliff, president of the United States Veterans Initiative, has died of a heart attack. He was 55.

Family spokeswoman Nicole Ward said Mr. Radcliff died of heart attack Saturday at Marina del Rey Hospital.

Mr. Radcliff was a tireless worker for U.S. Vets, which helps thousands of veterans and their families find jobs, homes and counseling. The group recently broke ground on a $35 million affordable-housing complex for low-income vets in Los Angeles.

Mr. Radcliff joined the group in 1997 after his own struggle with substance abuse and homelessness.

He played guitar and went on tour with Stevie Wonder in the 1980s. He most recently played with a veterans band called Living Proof.

LOUISIANA

Testing for spill kill effort delayed

NEW ORLEANS | BP said engineers have delayed until Tuesday a test on whether it can begin pumping mud into the blown-out Gulf of Mexico well in hopes of choking it off for good.

The company said Monday the test was pushed back a day after a small leak was discovered in the hydraulic control system.

The test will last several hours. It involves probing the broken blowout preventer with an oil-like liquid to decide if it can handle the so-called “static kill” process.

If the test is successful, the company plans to start slowly pumping the heavy mud down the well as early as Tuesday.

BP engineers said the static kill may permanently plug the well, but they may not know for sure until they finish a relief well in another week or so.

FLORIDA

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