House panel votes to hold Karl Rove in contempt

House panel votes to hold Karl Rove in contempt

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold former White House strategist Karl Rove in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena to testify.

Voting along party lines Wednesday, the committee said Rove broke the law by failing to appear at a July 10 hearing on allegations of White House influence over the Justice Department, including whether Rove encouraged prosecutions against Democrats.

The committee decision is only a recommendation.

Rove has denied any involvement with Justice Department decisions, and the White House has said Congress has no authority to compel testimony from current and former advisers.

Salmonella strain located

WASHINGTON — The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and in a sample from a batch of serrano peppers at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday.

Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety chief, called the finding a key breakthrough in the case, as did another health official.

Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in another part of Mexico, called Tamaulipas.

Both farms shipped through a packing facility in Nuevo Leon, raising the possibility that contamination could have occurred there.

House passes tobacco bill

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that for the first time would subject the tobacco industry to regulation by federal health authorities charged with promoting public well-being.

Its backers call the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act “landmark” legislation.

Though the bill appears to have enough support to pass this year, it’s unclear whether the Senate will have time to act, and the Bush administration issued a veto threat Wednesday.

The 326-102 House vote signaled solid bipartisan support for the measure, with 96 Republicans breaking with President Bush’s position to vote in favor of the bill.

Both presidential candidates, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., back the legislation.

Abbott settles AIDS suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Drug company Abbott Laboratories Inc. agreed Wednesday to pay between $10 million and $27.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by AIDS patients over the company’s 400 percent price increase of a popular HIV drug.

The ultimate payout depends on the resolution in an appeals court of three technical legal questions, Abbott spokeswoman Melissa Brotz said.

The settlement also needs to be approved by a federal judge in Oakland, where the lawsuit was set to go to trial next month.

The North Chicago, Ill.-based company had faced as much as $1 billion in damages if the judge agreed with the patients’ economic experts and found Abbott raised the price of the drug to stifle competition.

The drug, Norvir, is a key component in several important “cocktails” containing drugs made by rivals to treat the disease.

On Dec. 3, 2003, Abbott increased the price of Norvir’s average daily cost per patient from $1.71 to $8.57.

44-pound cat going on TV

PHILADELPHIA — “Princess Chunky” is ready for her close-ups.

The 44-pound stray cat will appear today on “Live With Regis and Kelly” (9 a.m. EDT) and, The Associated Press reported, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday.

But Princess Chunky’s owners have yet to claim her.

“You would think with all the media, the owners would have come forward,” said Deborah Wright, Princess Chunky’s foster mom.

“A few people have put in applications,” Wright said.

Those wanting to adopt the cat have to wait until Friday, when the seven-day period allowing owners to claim pets expires.

Princess Chunky was found Friday in the Ashley Run condominium development in Voorhees, N.J.

Wright, of Sicklerville, N.J., isn’t one of the applicants.

“I have three of my own,” she said

Combined dispatches