Mukasey nominated

Mukasey nominated

WASHINGTON — Former federal judge Michael Mukasey, a tough-on-terrorism jurist with an independent streak, was tapped by President Bush on Monday to take over as attorney general and lead a Justice Department accused of being too close to White House politics.

Mukasey, the former chief U.S. district judge in the Manhattan courthouse just blocks from ground zero, will likely face a relatively smooth confirmation by a Democratic-led Senate that has demanded new Justice Department leadership for months. He replaces Alberto Gonzales, a Texan who announced his departure three weeks ago amid investigations that began with the firing of U.S. attorneys and mushroomed into doubts about his credibility.

Appointed to the bench in 1987 by President Reagan, Mukasey also worked for four years as a trial prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in New York’s southern district — one of the Justice Department’s busiest and highest-profile offices in the country. Mukasey oversaw some of the nation’s most significant terror trials in the years before and after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

He sentenced so-called “blind Sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman to life in prison for a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, and he signed in 2002 the material witness warrant that let the FBI arrest U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, who was convicted last month on terrorism-related charges.

Mars won’t change recipe

CHICAGO — The maker of M&M’s and Milky Way bars says it would be a mistake to mess with its chocolate. Mars Inc. said Monday it will continue to use 100 percent cocoa butter in its U.S. chocolate products, bucking an industry campaign to allow cheaper vegetable oils to be substituted.

The announcement comes amid a push by a dozen food industry groups to change long-established federal standards to allow for replacing cocoa butter with another vegetable fat, up to a level of 5 percent. The groups say the change, which would save money for manufacturers, would allow more flexibility and innovation. Manufacturers already can use vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter, but they are not allowed by the Food and Drug Administration to call it chocolate.

Another Vioxx suit

NEW YORK — The state and city sued Merck & Co. Inc. on Monday, accusing the drugmaker of defrauding Medicaid and other government insurance programs by hiding the risks of heart problems associated with its pain medication Vioxx. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, said the state’s Medicaid and Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage programs have paid more than $100 million for Vioxx prescriptions since the drug went on sale in 1999.

For its residents receiving Medicaid assistance, New York City paid a substantial share of those costs. The lawsuit says tens of millions of dollars were paid for prescriptions for patients with preexisting heart conditions. Those funds would not have been spent had the risks associated with Vioxx been known, court papers say.

Ramstad leaving Congress

MINNETONKA, Minn. — Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad announced Monday that he will not seek a 10th term, saying he is “burned out” after splitting his time between home and Washington for nearly two decades. His district includes the western suburbs of Minneapolis. His departure could create an opportunity for Democrats to build on their 2006 gains in Congress. He easily won re-election last year, but has a relatively liberal voting record on social issues such as abortion. Ramstad, 61, has been commuting between Minnesota and Washington since he was first elected in 1990. Ramstad, the senior Republican in the state’s delegation, serves on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Girl, 3, left at station

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand authorities are searching for the mother of a 3-year-old girl whose father abandoned her at an Australian train station before boarding a plane to the United States, police said. The girl’s father was caught on a security video abandoning his daughter Saturday at the Southern Cross station in the southern Australian city of Melbourne, said Inspector Brad Shallies of Melbourne police. He then caught a plane to Los Angeles.

Police have identified the man as Xue Naiyin, 54, and said he lived in Auckland, New Zealand, with his wife and daughter. New Zealand police say they have been unable to find the mother, Anni Xue, 27. New Zealand police detective sergeant Simon Scott said they are concerned for the safety of the mother and are treating her as a missing person.

Associated Press