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Obama signs SCHIP bill

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama signed into law a bill expanding a popular health insurance program for children Wednesday, calling it a first step to healthcare reform.

"This is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American," Obama said before signing an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to roughly 4.1 million children who currently aren't covered by health insurance. The bill extends the program until 2013.

The additional $35 billion in costs would be funded by a 62-cent increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, which was one of the differences between the Senate and House bills. The House version included a 61-cent per-pack tax hike.

"It is just one component of a broader effort to bring our healthcare system into the 21st century," Obama said of the state-run, federally funded program.

Obama used the signing ceremony to urge passage of his economic stimulus package. Healthcare initiatives contained in the stimulus package moving through Congress include computerization of medical records and extension of health insurance for the unemployed "so workers who lose their jobs don't lose their healthcare, too," he said.

The SCHIP bill also allows states to use federal funds to provide healthcare coverage to children and pregnant women who are in the country legally -- a provision most Republicans opposed -- amending current law that mostly bars legal immigrants from receiving State Children's Health Insurance Program coverage until they have been in the United States for five years.

Bird parts found in Flight 1549 engines

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Birds caused the crash landing of a US Airways flight last month in New York's Hudson River, federal officials said Wednesday.

The jetliner lost power shortly after takeoff and was ditched safely in the river last month. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that both engines of the Airbus A320 were damaged and contained bird parts.

"The material from both engines has been sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington where the particular bird species will be identified," the NTSB statement said.

Flight 1549 was bound for Charlotte, N.C. The 155 passengers and crew aboard all escaped without serious injury.

Ark. doctor critically hurt in car blast

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The chairman of the Arkansas Medical Board was injured Wednesday when a bomb placed on the front end of his Lexus exploded, police said.

Dr. Trent Pierce was flown to a hospital in Memphis after the 8 a.m. blast in front of his West Memphis, Ark., home, police Chief Robert Paudert said. Pierce was in critical condition, CNN reported.

"It's a terrorist attack on Dr. Pierce," Paudert said. "We just don't know why someone would do this. ... We're going to find out."

CNN reported that police said they are unsure whether Pierce was inside or outside the car at the time of the explosion.

"We don't know if this was a random target," Paudert said.

The investigation has been turned over to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, he said.

Texas executes double-murderer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her teenage son in San Antonio with a baseball bat in 1994 was executed in Texas Wednesday, officials said.

"Nothing I can do can change the past. ... I am asking for forgiveness," David Martinez, 36, told his family. "Saying sorry is not going to change anything. I hope one day you can find peace. I am sorry for all the pain that I have caused you for all those years."

Martinez was pronounced dead eight minutes after his lethal injection, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Martinez, then 22, was convicted of the killing of Carolina Prado, 37, and her 14-year-old son Erik. The newspaper said Prado's 10-year-old daughter witnessed her brother's slaying.

Wednesday, she was among the witnesses at his execution, the newspaper said.