Security makes Lady Liberty wait

NEW YORK » Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says the security screening process for visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island must be decided upon before a timeline for reopening the popular attractions can be determined.

Salazar visited the sites on Tuesday. Both Liberty Island and Ellis Island have been closed since Hurricane Sandy, and they sustained major damage. The Statue of Liberty itself was unharmed.

Salazar says that while a lot of repair work has been done, there’s still a lot to do. He said the major issue to be decided is how visitors are screened for security, and whether that process will stay in Battery Park or take place on the islands themselves. He says there will be a meeting on the issue this week.

Cuts will freeze Smithsonian hiring

WASHINGTON » The world’s largest museum complex is bracing for a $40 million cut in funding because of the budget stalemate in Congress, but the Smithsonian Institution vows to keep the doors open at its museums and National Zoo.

Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas says the attractions will maintain normal visitation hours.

Instead, the Smithsonian is preparing to absorb the funding cut in other ways. Maintenance and new construction will be delayed. Hiring will be frozen. Use of outside contractors will be reduced, as well as training, research and travel.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough wants to avoid a furlough of the institution’s 6,000 employees.

The $40 million cut represents about 5 percent of the Smithsonian’s budget spread out from March 1 to the end of its fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Marriott opens Earth’s tallest hotel

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates » Superlative-hungry Dubai is adding another to its list: a 72-story hotel billed as the world’s tallest.

The JW Marriott’s Marquis Dubai formally opened Tuesday after gaining the title of tallest hotel from Guinness World Records.

At 1,099 feet, the hotel would tower over skylines in most cities. But in Dubai, it sits in the shadow of its more than twice-as-high neighbor, the Burj Khalif, the world’s tallest building at 2,717 feet.