Tuesday, December 4, 2001
h'Snow' blanketsthe White House
WASHINGTON -- Whatever Mother Nature decides, first lady Laura Bush ensured a white Christmas for the White House by blanketing the mansion's State Floor with 800 pounds of artificial snow. Mrs. Bush is shown above next to the White House Christmas tree during a media tour Monday.
With crystal snowflakes and silvery icicles covering 49 live fir trees throughout the Grand Foyer, East Room and State Dining Room, the president's home is decorated in monochromatic white this year, a look that Mrs. Bush said she chose for its elegance.
"I love the simplicity of it," she said Monday as she led reporters on a tour designed to give the general public -- through newspapers and television -- its only look at the elaborate holiday decorations. The Bushes, under advice from the Secret Service, canceled the popular public tours after the September terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
Expensive campaign
NEW YORK -- Media mogul Michael Bloomberg spent $92.60 per vote to become New York's next mayor, eclipsing the U.S. record for self-financed campaigns and following a trend in recent high-stakes campaigns.
Documents filed Monday with the Board of Elections showed Bloomberg spent $68,968,185 in the race to succeed Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
To put the Bloomberg expenditures into perspective, Texas billionaire Ross Perot spent $62 million on his failed bid for president in 1992 -- about the same figure spent by Wall Street multimillionaire Jon Corzine, who won a Senate seat in New Jersey last year.
In the five weeks leading up to Election Day, Bloomberg spent $28 million -- double the $14 million spent by his Democratic rival, Public Advocate Mark Green, during the entire campaign.
Pregnant smokers
WASHINGTON -- It is estimated that at least 13 percent of pregnant women smoke, but health advocates hope a new ad campaign will help them kick the habit.
The American Legacy Foundation is launching the national campaign today.
It is targeting some 426,000 women who smoke throughout their pregnancy, said Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the Washington-based group.
Women who smoke are nearly 70 percent more likely to have low birth weight babies, and maternal smoking has been linked to one in 10 infant deaths.
Simpson's home raided
MIAMI -- Federal agents searched O.J. Simpson's home early today as part of an investigation into an Ecstasy drug ring and the theft of equipment used to steal satellite television signals.
Eight other people were arrested in Miami and two in Chicago as part of a two-year investigation called Operation X, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.
Simpson had not been arrested or indicted and Orihuela wouldn't discuss his connection to the investigation. Nine other homes in Miami were also being searched by the FBI along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Miami-Dade Police Department.
FBI reorganization
WASHINGTON -- FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday the bureau is being restructured to strengthen its ability to fight terrorism and cybercrime and to improve internal security and intelligence gathering.
Responding to terror attacks and congressional misgivings about the bureau's management, Mueller reorganized the FBI to respond more quickly to threats against national security including possible terror attacks and threats against the nation's computer infrastructure.