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Getting stuck in the mud on its first attempt to leave Manhattan was not the last or the least of the troubles that the aircraft carrier Intrepid has encountered in the past 18 months. The military museum the ship houses was at risk of going out of business last year, as the costs of overhauling the carrier and rebuilding its home pier spiraled past $100 million, almost double the original estimate, said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. To keep the work going and to stay on schedule to reopen this fall, the museum’s directors...

A 62-year-old sculpture of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima is getting the heave-ho from the museum on the aircraft carrier Intrepid while the ship is docked in Staten Island for an overhaul, museum officials and the sculpture’s owner said yesterday. The five-ton sculpture, which served as a model for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., has been on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum since 1995. But museum officials, who are starting to renovate the ship’s interior, said they declined to buy the sculpture from its owner, Rodney Hilton Brown, and asked him...

The USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, glistening from a full-body makeover, arrived in style at Staten Island on Wednesday to the cheers, hoots and hollers of former crew members and World War II veterans. "It's like running into an old girlfriend who had a facelift," said 82-year-old Ray Stone, a former Navy radar man who served on board the Intrepid from 1943 to 1945. "I nearly broke down in tears when I saw her," said Stone. "Her bottom has been scraped of barnacles and she looks just like she did way back when." Stone was among about 400 people who attended...

Historic aircraft carrier Intrepid out of water for body makeover By PAT MILTON Associated Press Writer   NEW YORK (AP) -- The World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid is coming out of the water for its full-body makeover and a little "boatox."The war veteran turned floating military museum was to be placed Tuesday in dry dock, where it will be perched on 212 custom-made pine blocks while crews scrape and power-wash its salt and weather corroded keel, then paint it the traditional battleship gray.It took a complex engineering feat just to have the blocks milled to mimic each...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, March 23, 2007 – When Army Sgt. Antonio Autrey was burned in Iraq by a blast that destroyed his Bradley fighting vehicle almost a year ago, all the former high school football receiver wanted to do was to be able to hold a football again. Army Sgt. Antonio Autrey checks out the weightlifting equipment at the Center for the Intrepid. Photo by Nelia Schrum  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Now, after almost a year in recovery at the Burn Center here, the 4th Infantry Division soldier has set his sights on bench pressing, with...

Shes underway at last Have a look on Earthcam

A month after failing to budge the aircraft carrier Intrepid from its muddy berth, a team of tugboats will try again on Tuesday morning to tow it across the Hudson River to New Jersey for repairs and refurbishment. The next attempt to move the Intrepid, which has housed a military museum on the West Side of Manhattan since 1982, is scheduled to begin between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., during high tide, Bill White, the president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, said yesterday. The five-mile voyage to a dry dock in Bayonne, N.J., will take several hours, but...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... As we all know the 40th President of the United States slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God Saturday June 5th. So feel free to post your pics, stories, etc. about the Gipper. Today's word is...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Philanthropist Elizabeth Kenowsky Fisher, co-founder of the Intrepid Museum, Fisher House and Fisher Armed Services Foundations passed away Jan. 15. At 90, Elizabeth was most known for her lifetime support and commitment to improving the quality of life for the benefit of members of the armed forces, veterans and their families, in company with her late husband Zachary. Born in Allegheny County, Pa., Elizabeth served overseas with the United Services Organization in World War II, entertaining troops, volunteering for the Veterans Bedside Network and visiting the wounded in field hospitals. The Fishers were instrumental in transforming the...

<p>At the heart of it, there's only one thing to say: Seven Iredell County teens are dead.Of course I drive to Statesville and keep my eyes and ears open. And, yes, I pick up some information. But it's not information that satisfies. The information we want, you and I, I wasn't able to get.</p>

Police: Chase followed policy 7 teens die in wreck speeding on U.S. 21 ERICA BESHEARS, ROBERT MOORE & KATHRYN WELLIN Top row: Antoinette Griffin, 13; Antonio Miller, 13; David Summers, 14 Second row: Dominique Hurtt, 15, Quentin Reed, 18 Not pictured: John Lindsey Meyers Jr., 15 (DRIVER); Erica Stevenson, 15 A 15-year-old boy at the wheel of a stolen car lost control and crashed as he sped from a police officer early Monday, killing himself and six other Statesville teenagers in the car, authorities said. Troutman police Officer Keith Bills tried to stop the northbound white 2001 Dodge Intrepid just...

From JR Cigar - TOP SECRETFor your eyes only All Hands On Deck!!! OPERATION: MONTECRISTO “The Smoking Lamp is Lit” Wednesday, September 17th 6:30pm – 10:30pm Aboard the USS Intrepid 46th Street & 12th Avenue New York City • Cigar Goody Bag upon Embarkation • Souvenir Photo • Beer and Wine Open Bar • Good ol’ American Barbeque (NY Style!) - Burgers, Dogs, Italian Sausage, Chicken and all the stuff that goes along with them. • Tunes of the 50’s and 60’s spun by a rockin’ DJ And, we’ve got the whole ship so all of the museum exhibits will...

New York City's USS Intrepid Sea-Air- Space Museum, the world's largest naval museum, is being stiffed by the French donors of a warplane on its flight deck. The French-American Chamber of Commerce has failed to pay a promised $10,000 for the Etendard naval fighter-bomber's upkeep, and the Intrepid Foundation is threatening to sell it for scrap. During the entire six years the French plane has sat on the celebrated World War II aircraft carrier, the Intrepid foundation hasn't received a dime for its maintenance. This is in stark contrast to the way the Polish government contributed a MiG-21 fighter jet...