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In the Nation

Strike-hit Spirit nixes more flights

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Spirit Airlines canceled all of its flights through Tuesday, stranding thousands more passengers as a pilot strike continued into its second day. The discount carrier announced the cancellations on its website Sunday.

Spirit's 440 pilots walked off the job Saturday in a contract dispute that is now more than three years old. The pilots say they earn less than pilots at competitors such as AirTran Airways and JetBlue. "None of the planes are moving and none of our pilots have crossed the picket line," Paul Hopkins, strike committee chairman of the Spirit unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, said Sunday.

The privately held airline, based in Miramar, Fla., carries 16,680 passengers per day - about 1 percent of the U.S. total - mostly between the Eastern United States and the Caribbean and Latin America. Spirit's CEO said no talks were scheduled.

The airline said it would refund fares for flights Saturday through Tuesday and offer a $100 credit toward future flights as it tried to get passengers booked onto other airlines. - AP

Teen sailor lauds speed of rescue

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The California teenager who was plucked from her disabled sailboat says she is in awe of the effort to rescue her and thought saving her might take much longer.

Writing on her blog Sunday, Abby Sunderland said she had only hoped a ship would pass by her within a few weeks. Instead, a coordinated international response was launched and a French fishing vessel rescued her three days after she set off her emergency beacons.

Her boat, Wild Eyes, was disabled when a wave smashed its mast and knocked out her satellite communications.

She also said she had started on a possible book about her adventures. - AP

An ominous turn in Oregon search

PORTLAND, Ore. - The search for a missing Portland boy was reclassified a criminal investigation Sunday, 10 days after he disappeared, but authorities would not say why. Also, a statewide search was called off.

Searching continued, however, inside a two-mile radius of Skyline Elementary School for 7-year-old Kyron Horman, Multnomah County Sheriff's Capt. Monte Reiser said.

Kyron disappeared June 4 after a morning science fair at the rural school. His absence was reported that afternoon, when he failed to return home on a school bus and his stepmother contacted the school, which called 911.

Also Sunday, Sheriff Dan Staton announced that his department was offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Kyron. He would not say why the investigation was reclassified. Until Sunday, Kyron was considered a missing endangered child, a designation that spans a range of possibilities, including crime. - AP