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DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
A question about a famous law enforcement agency ...
And a report on Steve Fossett's latest trip around the world.
Steve Fossett
American pilot Steve Fossett flewaround the world last week. He made the flight alone and withoutstopping for fuel. He spent sixty-seven hours and one minute in theair. Bob Doughty has our story.
BOB DOUGHTY: Steve Fossett likes to set records. Before last weekhe held sixty-two international records for flying and sailing. Hisearlier best-known flight record was for traveling around the world,alone, in a balloon.
The aircraft he used last week is called the Virgin AtlanticGlobalFlyer. This experimental aircraft has one jet engine andcarries nine tons of fuel. Its wings are almost forty-four meterslong.
The GlobalFlyer cost one-and-one-half million dollars. The moneycame from Richard Branson, the British businessman who owns VirginAtlantic airlines.
The flight began in Salina [sa-LIE-nuh], Kansas, in the middle ofthe United States.
Organizers of the flight chose that city because its airport hasa very long runway. The experimental aircraft needed an extra longrunway to take off because of the weight of its fuel.
Steve Fossett took the aircraft to fourteen thousand meters. Thesixty-year-old pilot used the strong winds at that height to gainspeed and save fuel. Several hours into the flight, it appeared thatthe plane had a fuel shortage. But Mister Fossett and the groundcontrollers could not tell if the fuel was gone or if theinstruments were wrong.
Ground control told Mister Fossett that he would have to make adecision about continuing the flight when he reached Hawaii. As heneared the islands, the strong winds that helped carry theGlobalFlyer increased. Steve Fossett decided to continue hisattempt. Those winds continued to help the GlobalFlyer on its returnto Salina.
Mister Fossett had little sleep during his sixty-seven-hourflight. He says he has more projects in the planning.
As of last week, all he needed was recognition from the NationalAeronautic Association. Then he could claim the record for thefastest non-stop, non-refueled trip ever made around the world.
Texas Rangers
DOUG JOHNSON: Our question this week comes from Addis Ababa,Ethiopia. Desta Terefe would like to know about the Texas Rangers.There is a team in baseball with that name. But our listener meansthe famous group of law enforcement officers. Over the years, thoseTexas Rangers have been the subject of books, movies and televisionprograms.
In the city of Dallas, at Love Field Airport, there is a largestatue of a man. On his head is a cowboy hat. On his hip is a largepistol. His hand is not near the gun, but it is easy to tell that hecould reach for it quickly. Near the bottom of the statue are thewords "One Riot, One Ranger!"
The Texas Rangers is one of the oldest law enforcementorganizations in North America. The first group was organized ineighteen twenty-three. In the early history of the state, the TexasRangers acted somewhere between a police force and a military force.Their main task was to protect settlers from Indian attacks.
Today, the main job of the Texas Rangers is to investigate andcapture wanted criminals. They do this by working with federal,state and local law enforcement agencies.
About one hundred eighteen officers work as Texas Rangers. Theyare divided into a headquarters group, six companies of Rangers anda special team that investigates unsolved crimes.
Those who want to become a Texas Ranger must not only have policeexperience. They must also have at least eight years' experiencedealing with major crimes. It is not unusual for two hundred policeofficers to apply for one or two openings in the Texas Rangers.
Maroon Five
The band Maroon Five won a Grammy award last month for best newartist. Yet members of this group have been performing together foryears. Gwen Outen explains.
GWEN OUTEN: Maroon Five is Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, MickeyMadden, Ryan Dusick and James Valentine. All but James Valentinewent to high school together in Los Angeles. They formed a band,Kara's Flowers. But Kara's Flowers never grew very popular. So theystopped performing and went to college.
After that, the four got back together. By then their music hadchanged. And they added the fifth member of their group, JamesValentine on guitar. They called themselves Maroon Five.
Their first album is called "SongsAbout Jane." It was recorded while Adam Levine was ending arelationship with his girlfriend, Jane. This song is called "Harderto Breathe."
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"Songs About Jane" was released in two thousand two. It has soldmore than eight million copies. Here is a song called "This Love."
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The album "Songs About Jane" by Maroon Five has been described asrock pop, influenced by funk and rhythm-and-blues. We leave you with"She Will Be Loved."
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DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our programthis week. Our show was written by Nancy Steinbach, Paul Thompson. Our producer was Caty Weaver. And our engineer was EfeemDrucker. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radiomagazine in Special English.