Protesters against the nuclear-powered Cassini space probe demonstrated their fear of accidental plutonium release by not demonstrating outside Florida's Kennedy Space Center. This has made it very difficult to estimate how many protesters participated in the event. "We showed them how dangerous it is. At some times, the place was as empty as a graveyard," announced Ryan Hogin, a Montana anti-Cassini activist. "The experts are saying tens of thousands protested—I'd say it was close to 100,000 that stayed home ... maybe more."

With its 72 pounds of plutonium, the Cassini probe blasted off safely for Saturn.

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The National Hockey League suspended Washington Capitals left wing Chris Simon indefinitely after he yelled racial slurs against Mike Grier of the Edmonton Oilers during a game. Simon was sidelined for the rest of the game for a "gross misconduct" penalty, which is far more serious than the ordinarily felonious assaults that land players in the penalty box for up to four minutes.

Grier, an African-American, was especially distressed that the slur would come from Simon, a Native American member of the Ojibwa tribe. "That's what was strange to me, that it was someone who has his background and his race," Grier commented. "I didn't expect it to come from another minority. It's just a little more shocking."

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In Jacksonville, Florida, the Rev. Dale Shaw, president of the North Florida Ministerial Alliance, is crusading to get Richard Wright's autobiography Black Boy banned from local schools and a teacher who assigned the book fired, all because the book—a description of life in pre-World War II Mississippi—contains racially derogatory words.

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