CONSERVATIVES TWEAK PLAN

Conservatives tweak plan
WASHINGTON -- Conservative Republicans tweaked their alternative to a bipartisan guest worker proposal for illegal immigrants Wednesday as Democrats pressed for a vote that would put most of those in the U.S. illegally on a path to citizenship. President Bush urged swift action. The latest counterproposal to a bill by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., would base the chance of citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States largely on whether or not they were here before a cutoff date. That date has not yet been determined. Those here before the cutoff date, an overwhelming majority, could apply for green cards if they pay fines and back taxes and learn English. Among that group, those who had spent five years in the United States would get an easier path to citizenship, with newer arrivals facing more obstacles. Those who arrived illegally after the cutoff date would be viewed as living here illegally and unlikely to qualify for citizenship while in the country.
Two students shot
WASHINGTON -- Two students were injured Wednesday in a shooting outside a District of Columbia high school. Public Schools spokeswoman Roxanne Evans said that a 19-year-old male student was shot in the back around 9:15 a.m., and that he was being treated for serious injuries. Police said the shooting happened in the parking lot in front of Roosevelt High School. They said a second victim, an 18-year-old male, was grazed by a bullet. Pupils at MacFarland Middle School, which is connected to Roosevelt, were being sheltered in place for the day, officials said, and grief counselors were being brought in to help. Police said they are searching for a silver Nissan with three or four people that was seen leaving the area.
Tentative agreement
DENVER -- Denver's mass transit agency and its largest employee union reached a tentative contract agreement Wednesday that could settle a three-day-old strike, a federal mediator said. Union members planned to continue the walkout until they vote on the offer Friday, mediator Christel Jorgensen said. "Both parties worked very hard," Jorgensen said after meeting for several hours with both sides behind closed doors. Details of the proposed pact would not be announced until after the vote, she added. A spokesman for the Regional Transportation District did not immediately return a message.
Postal worker charged
BAKER CITY, Ore. -- A postal worker killed a colleague by running over her and shooting her in the office parking lot, authorities said Wednesday. Grant Gallaher, 41, struck the woman with a postal vehicle as he drove into the lot Tuesday afternoon, said District Attorney Matthew B. Shirtcliff. The woman was on foot and her car was nearby. Gallaher then entered the building intending to shoot postmaster Michael McGuire, but was unable to find him, Shirtcliff said. He returned to the parking lot and shot the woman, Lori Leigh Hayes-Kotter, the prosecutor said. Witness Cheryl Thayer said police arrived after she heard six gunshots, and that a man walking from behind the post office surrendered.
Jury splits verdict
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- A jury found Merck & amp; Co. liable Wednesday for one of two former Vioxx users' heart attacks in a split verdict that awarded $4.5 million in damages to one of the plaintiffs. The state jury found the company failed to adequately warn both men about the risk factors linking the now-withdrawn painkiller to heart attacks and strokes, but said the drug was only a factor in one of the men's illnesses. Jurors ruled that only John McDarby, 77, a retired insurance agent from Park Ridge, should receive compensation. McDarby was awarded $3 million for pain and suffering and his wife was awarded $1.5 million. He did not comment after the verdict. The trial also included the case of Thomas Cona, a 60-year-old businessman from Cherry Hill who was stricken on a golf course after what he said was nearly two years of Vioxx use. The jury said he should receive $45 to compensate him for the cost of his medication. Cona declined comment after the verdict.
Rice pitches India plan
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought to assure a wary Congress on Wednesday that a landmark plan to share nuclear technology with India for its civilian program won't undercut efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. "Clearly, this agreement does not constrain India's nuclear weapons program. That was not its purpose," Rice told a House committee. "Neither, however, as some critics have suggested, does it enhance India's capability to build nuclear weapons." In the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike expressed serious reservations over the plan and criticized what they called the Bush administration's failure to explain its details to lawmakers earlier.
Associated Press
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