Free Republic

PALMDALE - An F-104 jet fighter that once served flight test duty at Edwards Air Force Base is coming home, but with a much different purpose. The North American Eagle, built from the F-104 fuselage, is a jet-engine-powered car intended to break the world's land speed record. The vehicle will be on display Saturday at the Plant 42 Heritage Airpark before the team sets out for test runs at El Mirage Dry Lake next week. The free viewing is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the airpark on Avenue P just east of 20th Street East. Members of the...

SAN FRANCISCO - Despite a tradition of promoting gay rights, California has long had a conflicted approach to same-sex marriage and it's one that is expected to become even more pronounced in the months ahead thanks to a pair of overlapping voter initiatives. Fearing that courts ultimately will support the rights of gays to marry, opponents want to place before voters an initiative to amend the state Constitution so only heterosexual unions would be valid. But in typical California fashion, the initiative drive for 2006 already has grown contentious and confusing.A rare rift among conservatives has led competing groups to...

Governor Schwarzenegger lit the state Christmas tree and ended a secular practice of calling it a "holiday tree." The governor made no mention of the name change that was in honor of the late Senator William "Pete" Knight. Schwarzenegger said at Knight's funeral in May that he would change the name back to Christmas tree. Knight had lobbied unsuccessfully to change the name after Governor Davis decided to call it a holiday tree. During the 73rd annual lighting, Schwarzenegger took on the role of "Triminator" as he helped a disabled girl trim the tree with the final ornament. The governor...

Some Assembly Democrats who remember William J. "Pete" Knight for his opposition to same-sex marriage rather than his status as a test pilot and war hero are trying to derail an effort to name a portion of the Antelope Valley Freeway in his honor. After the state senator died May 7 of leukemia, Asssemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, proposed the name change, while Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich suggested naming Air Force Plant 42 after Knight. The Lancaster Veterans Home, when it is built by the state, also will be named after Knight, who served three decades in the...

SACRAMENTO - Although the late Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, R-Palmdale, was laid to rest last week, pending legislation bearing his name lives on. A measure by Knight that champions school choice and educational innovation received approval from the Senate Appropriations Committee and now heads to the Senate floor. Another bill also awaits the full Senate's consideration before a May 28 deadline. Knight's Senate Bill 1531, approved Thursday by a vote of 7-1, would remove the limit on the number of charter schools that can operate within the state. The bill will encourage further expansion of these schools by allowing...

William J. 'Pete' Knight, 1929-2004, served well Nov. 18, 1929: William J. Knight is born in Noblesville, Ind. Knight, whose Depression-era family home has no indoor plumbing, spends summers working on his grandparents' grain farm. Knight earns the nickname "Pete" when, in grade school, he wiggles his nose like Peter Rabbit to get a girl's attention. Knight attends Butler and Purdue universities before entering the armed forces. 1950: Knight is drafted into the Air Force. "I became interested in flying … in high school and so forth," Knight said. "But it was never a burning desire." Nevertheless, Knight launches himself...

State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a type of blood cancer, his spokesman said Tuesday. Knight, R-Palmdale, took a leave of absence from his Senate duties in mid-April for rigorous medical testing, which revealed the illness. He now "will be undergoing appropriate treatment for this sudden ailment," spokesman David Orosco said. "While Senator Knight's date of return to the Senate is still undetermined, his staff will make every effort to keep his constituents informed as more information becomes available," Orosco said. Acute lymphocytic leukemia, which strikes the blood and bone marrow, is often...

"... same-sex marriage has advanced so far as an issue that even Republicans like Knight, a senator from Palmdale, seem to be changing their minds. In 2000, California voters overwhelmingly approved Knight’s Proposition 22, which said the state would recognize only marriages between a man and a woman. Knight once wouldn’t even consider civil unions and expanded rights for domestic partners, but now he’s willing to compromise--under certain conditions. Since Proposition 22 passed in 2000, he's seen its power erode--most notably when his gay son recently got married in San Francisco. Today, Knight says he might be willing to accept...

SAN FRANCISCO – When David Knight married his boyfriend of 10 years, his parents weren't among the mothers and fathers proudly snapping photos and sipping champagne at San Francisco's City Hall. His mother is long gone, dead of cancer when he was 17. And his father, well his father ... Knight chooses his words with care. These are precarious times for the gay son of state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, the arch-conservative architect of California's Defense of Marriage Act. Does he heed his head or his heart? He doesn't want to hurt his family, but saying nothing exacts its...

LOS ANGELES - One was a rocket plane that flew at the edge of space and with blistering speed. The other was a series of odd-shaped aircraft designed to fly and land without wings. Both research programs are direct ancestors of today's space shuttle, making space travel in reusable, winged vehicles possible, and contributed much to aeronautical knowledge in general. A joint Air Force and NASA research program, the X-15 is considered one of the most successful ever, completing 199 flights from 1959 to 1968 using the skies and dry lake beds of Edwards Air Force Base. A. Scott Crossfield...

State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight said Tuesday that it is going to take a "mini-revolution" to turn around the state of California. "I don't mean shoot 'em up," he said. "California's being governed by San Francisco and Los Angeles," said the Palmdale Republican, addressing about 50 members of the Greater Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce during a luncheon at the AV Country Club. "California is sinking under the influence of the liberal Democrats," Knight said.Knight scoffed at criticisms by recall opponents that the attempt to oust Gov. Gray Davis impedes the Democratic process. Reading from a list of names,...

State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight filed a lawsuit Monday in Sacramento against Gov. Gray Davis' signing of Assembly Bill 205, which gives same-sex couples almost all the rights of married couples except the right to file joint tax returns and to say "I do." The Palmdale Republican said the bill is an attempt to legalize same-sex marriage under a different name. "It's an affront to the institution of marriage. It's an affront to the traditional family. I can't support that. I can't understand why we are even debating the issue of who should get married and who shouldn't," Knight...

PALMDALE - Back when William J. "Pete" Knight was fresh out of training school after learning to fly fighters, he was geared up to enter the Korean War. But, before he was able to fly his first mission, the man who would become the fastest man alive and a state senator, R-Palmdale, had his dreams dashed. The conflict had wrapped up and all the fighting was over. He said he was too young to give a lot of thought about the politics in the war. "I was too young to be concerned with the politics," Knight said. "My mission was...

LANCASTER - A Columbia High School may be in the future of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. However, which school should bear the honor to memorialize the seven astronauts who perished above the skies of Texas remains to be seen. The Antelope Valley Teachers Association called for the new William J. "Pete" Knight High School to be renamed Columbia High in honor of the shuttle craft whose 20-year-plus history was so dependent on Edwards Air Force Base Plant 42 in Palmdale and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

PALMDALE - While the debate over colors and mascot still rages, the question of curriculum and sports programs for the new William J. "Pete" Knight High is more defined, school officials said.