Senate approves curbs on Patriot Act powers

Senate approves curbson Patriot Act powers
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday cleared the path for renewing the USA Patriot Act, swatting aside objections while adding new protections for people targeted by government investigations. The overwhelming votes virtually assured that Congress will renew President Bush's anti-terror law before it expires March 10. The Senate is expected to pass the two-bill package, renewing the law with the added protections, today. The House was expected to pass the legislation Tuesday. The law's opponents, who insisted the new protections were cosmetic, conceded defeat. "The die has now been cast," acknowledged the law's chief opponent, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., after the Senate voted 84-15 to end his filibuster. "Obviously at this point, final passage of the reauthorization bill is now assured." The overwhelming support for the renewal package holds great political value for Bush, who in 2001 made the act the centerpiece of what has become a troubled war on terrorism.
Medicare drug enrollment
WASHINGTON -- Older Americans and the disabled should be allowed to sign up for the prescription drug benefit without penalty after a May 15 enrollment deadline, Democratic lawmakers told the top Medicare official Wednesday. The theme of delaying the deadline became almost a mantra for the Democrats during a congressional hearing. A couple of Republican lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said they were inclined to agree, indicating growing bipartisan support for the idea. "How can anyone blame seniors if they've been either too perplexed or too wary to enter the fray," said Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Republicans for the most part said Democrats were exaggerating problems with the unveiling of the benefit.
British police file chargesin $92 million robbery
LONDON -- Police charged three suspects Wednesday in the $92 million robbery at a cash depot in southeastern England -- the world's largest known peacetime theft. The charges against the trio are the first in the investigation of the theft last week at the security warehouse in Tonbridge, 30 miles southeast of London. Police said car salesman John Fowler, 57, was charged with conspiracy to rob the Securitas Cash Management Ltd. warehouse and with kidnapping depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife, Lynn, and their 9-year-old son. Stuart Royle, 47, was charged with conspiracy to rob, while Kim Shackelton, a 39-year-old woman, was charged with handling stolen goods. Thirteen suspects have been arrested since the heist, but the three were the first formally charged by police.
Survivor hasn't been toldabout co-workers' deaths
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Randal McCloy Jr. hasn't asked about the fate of the 12 men who entered the Sago Mine with him two months ago. And so far, his wife hasn't told him. The 26-year-old coal miner knows it was an explosion that left him with brain damage and other injuries. But wife Anna has shielded him from news coverage and has not told him that he was the only one to make it out alive, that his friends perished, most of them slowly succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning as they lay in the dark awaiting rescue. "We're just going to wait until he basically comes around completely before we come out and tell him, you know, that he's the only one," she told The Associated Press in an interview. "He may know. And in a way, I have this feeling that he does," she said. "I'm just giving him the chance and giving him the time. When he's ready to talk, he'll tell me." Their few conversations about the accident have been brief and vague, since McCloy is still learning to talk and walk again, spending four hours a day in rigorous therapy at the HealthSouth Mountain View Regional Rehabilitation Hospital.
MS drug is safe, effective,three studies determine
NEW YORK -- A promising multiple sclerosis drug that was suspended from the market because three people developed a rare brain disease now appears relatively safe and quite effective, three studies found. The research in today's New England Journal of Medicine comes days before government hearings on whether to allow sales of the drug, Tysabri, to resume. Tysabri (pronounced ty-SAH-bree) was withdrawn a year ago by Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. PLC, only months after it had been approved. The Food and Drug Administration last month agreed to allow testing to resume after the company said no more cases of the brain disease had emerged. The new studies found that Tysabri alone or with standard interferon treatment cut the rate of relapse by as much as two-thirds after two years and reduced the number of people whose MS got worse, compared to those on a dummy treatment or interferon alone.
Associated Press