Senator wants national speed limit

Sen. John Warner suggested Thursday that Congress reinstitute a national speed limit to save gas and possibly lower fuel prices.

Warner (R-Va.) has asked Energy Department Secretary Samuel Bodman to determine at which speeds vehicles would be most efficient.

In 1974, Congress set a national speed limit of 55 mph due to the shortages resulting from the Arab oil embargo. According to CNN.com, The speed limit was repealed in 1995 when crude oil dipped to $17 a barrel and gasoline cost $1.10 a gallon.

Gasoline now averages $4.10 a gallon nationwide, and oil is around $145 per barrel, CNN.com said.

Warner said two studies have shown that the 55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil per day - or 2 percent of the country's highway fuel consumption -and lowered the amount of traffic deaths.

Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies

Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who once said his job was to derail the freight train of liberalism, died today at the age of 86.

The Jesse Helms Center, a private, non-partisan foundation, announced on its Web site that Helms died at 1:15 a.m. Friday in Raleigh.

According to CNN.com, the Charlotte News & Observer, Helms' hometown newspaper, unofficially dubbed him as one of the creators of the modern Republican Party.

"Helms helped broaden the party to include religious conservatives and people who drank not just Chablis but sweet tea, and who drove not just BMWs but pickup trucks," the paper wrote when he announced his retirement. "In doing so, Helms played a pivotal role in moving the Republican Party to the right -- changing the GOP from the party of Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller to the party of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich."

President Bush commented on the former senator's death, saying, "Sen. Helms has been a tireless defender of our nation's freedom and a champion of democracy abroad."

Spain wins title

Let the celebration begin.

For the first time in 44 years, the Spaniards have won soccer's Euro Cup in Vienna, Austria.

Fernando Torres provided the heroics, scoring the game's lone goal in the 33rd minute, as España took home the coveted title for the first time since 1964.

Fresno State makes history

Fresno State became the lowest-seeded team to win a National College Athletic Association in any sport after beating the Georgia 6-1, capturing its first College World Series.

Fresno's Justin Wilson, a junior, let up run in eight innings and sophomore Steve Detwiler had a 4-for-4 day with two home runs and all six RBIs last night. Fresno State won its second straight game to take the best-of-three championship series 2-1.

Both schools' mascot is the Bulldogs.

Tim Russert dead at 58

Less than a week after the death of legendary sportscaster Jim McKay, the journalism world has been dealt another blow with the sudden death of NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert. He was 58.

The network said Russert collapsed at work Friday and that he was taken to Washington's Sibley Memorial Hospital, where he passed away.

According to CNN.com, Russert's colleague and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw announced his co-worker's death on the network just after 3:30 p.m., adding that Russert had just gotten back from a family vacation in Italy to celebrate his son Luke's graduation from Boston College.

President Bush and Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama all expressed their sadness over Russert's passing.

"He was an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades. Tim was a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it. Most important, Tim was a proud son and father, and Laura and I offer our deepest sympathies to his wife, Maureen, his son, Luke, and the entire Russert family," Bush said in a statement Friday.

"He was truly a great American who loved his family, his friends, his Buffalo Bills and everything about politics and America. He was just a terrific guy," McCain said.

Obama said of Russert, "There wasn't a better interviewer in television."

Russert was a graduate of John Carroll University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University and had been working at NBC in 1984. He had been hosting "Meet the Press" since 1991.

One for the Constitution

The detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba have the right to challenge their detention in American civilian courts according to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Boston Globe reported.

The prisoners are being kept there as part of President Bush's policy of holding terrorist suspects indefinitely without charge.

Many believe the 5-to-4 ruling will bring on a barrage of hearings of the roughly 260 men who have been detained for years without trial or formal charges, according to the Globe.

The U.S. government must now provide evidence against the detained men that proves they are a threat to national security or release them.

A new American

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz recently became an American citizen.

Big Papi was granted U.S. citizenship during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library Wednesday along with 226 other immigrants from 57 countries, according to the Boston Globe

Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic, was very proud, the Globe reported.