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Nation in brief
Compiled from Times wires U.S. Forest Service misplaced $215-million two years agoWASHINGTON -- The U.S. Forest Service, battling one of the worst fire seasons in history, "misplaced" about $215-million intended for wildfire management because of an accounting error, a watchdog group contends. The money is being recovered. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington advocacy group, made public on Friday an internal memo from Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth that said the error nearly two years ago had been discovered as the agency tried to improve its accounting practices. The Forest Service expects to spend a record $1.5-billion this year to fight wildfires that have consumed more than 6-million acres in the West and killed 20 firefighters. The agency is working with the White House Office of Management and Budget to find a way to apply the money, which was supposed to have been spent for the fiscal 2000 budget that ended Sept. 30, 2000, to this year's budget. While the auditing error could make additional money available to fight fires this summer, Eric Lynch, a policy analyst for the taxpayer group, said "the misplaced millions could have been spent to reduce fire risk long before this year's fires ravaged the West." In a memo to regional foresters and other supervisors this month, Bosworth said $215-million was mistakenly reduced from a wildfire management account during a year-end account reconciliation in late 2000. The error was recently discovered "as a result of our continuing intense efforts to address agency accountability issues," Bosworth wrote in the memo, released by the taxpayer advocacy group. Over the past decade, the Forest Service has failed eight out of ten inspector general audits, a record the taxpayers' group called among the worst in the federal bureaucracy. Attorney wants names of pregnancy test usersSTORM LAKE, Iowa -- Seeking leads in the gruesome killing of a newborn baby, the county attorney here has subpoenaed the names of hundreds of women who had pregnancy tests at a local Planned Parenthood clinic. The organization is fighting the subpoena in the Iowa Supreme Court. Philip Havens, Buena Vista County county attorney, said the questions had to be asked. "I don't know how else you deal with it and conduct an investigation," he said. But Sue Thayer, who has managed the clinic since 1985, said surrendering the information would destroy the clinic's ability to serve women in difficult situations because "they would no longer see us as a confidential agency, a place where they can come and they know it's safe." On May 30, the baby was found dismembered in the county recycling center. Sheriff's deputies had little to go on, and sought the names of women who might have been due to give birth at the end of May. Other clinics and the local hospital provided information. Army team won't focus just on antimalarial drugWASHINGTON -- Alarmed by a series of domestic killings and suicides at Fort Bragg, N.C., the Army is sending in a team of health specialists to study a range of possible explanations, officials said Friday. The Army disputed reports that it is focusing mainly on the possibility of a link to use of the antimalarial drug, Lariam, although officials said this was among the issues to be examined. Lariam was prescribed to troops who fought in Afghanistan. Three of the four soldiers involved in the killings had recently returned from duty there, although the Army will not say how many of them took Lariam. The team will consider factors related to how the Army prepares soldiers and their families to deal with personal and other problems before an overseas deployment and supports them upon their return. Elsewhere . . .SHUTTLE FLIGHTS DELAYED: The space shuttle flight featuring the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, is off until January because of cracked equipment, NASA said Friday. Columbia was supposed to take off in July with Ramon but was delayed because of small cracks discovered in fuel-line pipes throughout the fleet. NASA said the next shuttle launch, by Atlantis, will be no earlier than Oct. 2. LIGHTNING KILLS 2: Lightning killed two people and critically injured an elderly couple during a funeral Friday at a rural cemetery near Willard, Mo. Strong storms that roared through other parts of Missouri and Iowa also knocked out power and forced officials to cancel school. OLDEST AMERICAN DIES: Adelina Domingues, who was recognized as the oldest living American, died at the age of 114 Wednesday, officials at the San Diego nursing home where she lived said.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
