Nation in brief

EPA issues new air standards

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration proposed new requirements Thursday to cut smog and soot-forming chemicals from power plants and factories, aiming to curtail pollution that often travels long distances across many states.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposal would cap emissions of sulfur dioxide and smog-causing nitrogen oxide from factories and power plants in 30 states, including Florida.

Mike Leavitt, the new EPA administrator, called the regulations "the largest single investment in any clean air program in history."

He said the pollution reductions will help states meet tougher federal air quality health standards for microscopic soot and ozone - a precursor of smog - that were issued in 1997 and are now being implemented after years of litigation.

CREDIT-ACCESS BILL: Americans will be able to get free copies of their credit histories every year and will gain new weapons against identity thieves under legislation President Bush signed Thursday. The legislation renewed the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which set a national credit reporting standard to make it easier for people to get credit cards, loans and mortgages.

FLANDREAU, S.D. - Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle joined another pillar of South Dakota politics in the courtroom as he testified at the manslaughter trial of Rep. Bill Janklow.

The defense called Daschle to bolster its contention that Janklow, a diabetic, had not eaten the day he collided with a motorcyclist. The defense contends a diabetic reaction caused Janklow to miss a stop sign in the deadly Aug. 16 crash.

Janklow, 64, is charged with second-degree manslaughter, running a stop sign, reckless driving and speeding in the crash that killed Randy Scott, 55.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A second member of the so-called Lackawanna Six terrorist cell was sentenced to prison, receiving eight years behind bars for supporting terrorism.

Yasein Taher, 25, admitted he trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

He was the second member of the group - all young Yemeni-American men recruited to Osama bin Laden's al-Farooq camp in the spring of 2001 - to be sentenced. Mukhtar al-Bakri received 10 years in prison Wednesday.

MISSING STUDENT: The man charged in the kidnapping of a North Dakota college student was ordered held on $5-million bail after his lawyer said he wanted to stay behind bars for his own safety. As Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, appeared in court, law officers in two states continued the search for Dru Sjodin, 22, missing since she left work at a Grand Forks mall on Nov. 22.

HINCKLEY REQUEST: Lawyers for the man who shot President Reagan said Thursday that psychiatrists support letting an unsupervised John Hinckley Jr. leave a mental hospital for visits with his parents. Government attorneys insisted he is still dangerous. Both sides completed their arguments on Hinckley's request for permission to leave St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington for the visits. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman declined to say when he would issue a ruling.

TEXAS EXECUTION: A former mechanic with an extensive criminal record was executed Thursday for fatally beating an 80-year-old woman. Ivan Murphy, 38, was the second convicted killer executed in as many nights in Texas. Texas has executed 24 inmates this year, more than any other state. Murphy was condemned for the 1989 slaying of Lula Mae Denning.

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