FB I: “USUAL PROCESS” FOLLOWED FOR KAVANAUGH

FBI Director Chris Wray on Wednesday defended the FBI’s background investigation of new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying the work was limited in scope and that the “usual process” was followed by his agents.

Wray’s comments at a Senate committee hearing on national security threats were his first public statements about the bureau’s investigation into Kavanaugh’s past and allegations of sexual misconduct dating from Kavanaugh’s high school and college years.

That process has faced bitter criticism from Democrats, who have complained that the White House constrained the FBI and worked with Senate Republicans to narrowly define the parameters of the investigation. The investigation lasted a week and did not include interviews with multiple people who said they had relevant information to share about Kavanaugh’s past.

South Korea considers lifting some sanctions on North Korea.

SEOUL, SOUTH

KOREA» South Korea is considering lifting some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea to create more momentum for diplomacy aimed at improving relations and defusing the nuclear crisis, the South’s foreign minister said Wednesday.

During a parliamentary audit of her ministry, Kang Kyungwha said the government is reviewing whether to lift sanctions South Korea imposed on the North in 2010 after a deadly attack on a warship that killed 45 South Korean sailors.

South Korea then effectively shut down all crossborder economic cooperation except for a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, which was shuttered in February 2016 after a North Korean nuclear test and longrange rocket launch. The socalled “May 24 measures” of 2010 also banned North Korea from using shipping lanes in South Korean territory.

The program to build NASA’s moon rocket could double in price to $9 billion, Inspector General says.

The new rocket NASA has been developing for years in its quest to get to the moon and Mars will require a massive amount of additional funding that would double the initial cost of the project to nearly $9 billion, according to a report released Wednesday.

NASA’s Office of the Inspector General found that Boeing, the main contractor, already has spent $5.3 billion on the rocket program, and is expected to burn through the remaining contract funds by early next year, three years ahead of time and without delivering a single rocket stage.

The rocket is suffering production delays, the Inspector General found. The first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft were supposed to be a test mission without astronauts by the end of last year, with the first crewed mission expected in 2021. But those launches have been delayed by 2.5 years and may be set back further.

Betty Grissom, widow of astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom, dies.

Betty Lavonne Grissom, who successfully sued a NASA contractor after her husband, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, and two other astronauts died in the 1967 Apollo launch pad fire, has died. She was 91.

Mark Grissom, 63, said Wednesday that his mother had been in good health before her death Sunday at her Houston home. He said funeral plans hadn’t been finalized, but his mother will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, where his father is interred.

Betty and Gus Grissom met in high school in the southern Indiana city of Mitchell and married in 1945. He later graduated from Purdue University and went on to become one of the seven original Mercury astronauts.

Michael Bloomberg makes it official: He’s a registered Democrat again.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, announced Wednesday that he has registered as a Democrat, a move certain to stoke further speculation about whether he intends to run for president in 2020.

Bloomberg, a former Republican and more recently declared political independent, announced his decision in a morning Instagram post in which he referenced his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

“At key points in U.S. history, one of the two parties has served as a bulwark against those who threaten our Constitution,” he wrote. “Two years ago at the Democratic Convention, I warned of those threats. Today, I have reregistered as a Democrat — I had been a member for most of my life — because we need Democrats to provide the checks and balance our nation so badly needs.” — Denver Post wire services