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Nation in brief

Oil company agrees to $525-million in pollution control

By wire services
Published January 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - ConocoPhillips will install $525-million in pollution controls at nine refineries and pay a $4.5-million fine to settle a federal lawsuit alleging Clean Air Act violations, the Bush administration announced Thursday.

The settlement requires ConocoPhillips, the nation's third biggest oil company, to reduce yearly emissions of nitrogen oxide by more than 10,000 tons and sulfur dioxide by more than 37,100 tons. Both can cause serious respiratory ailments and worsen cases of childhood asthma.

The refineries covered in the agreement among the company, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and five states, represent 10 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

The settlement is the 13th reached under an EPA initiative begun in December 2000, and it means that more than half the U.S. domestic refining capacity is covered by settlements stemming from alleged Clean Air Act violations, administration officials said.

"These settlements, when fully implemented, will reduce emissions of air pollutants by approximately 240,000 tons per year at 57 refineries in 26 states," said Thomas Skinner, EPA acting assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

BOSTON - Sal Bartolo removed his gloves, took off his jacket and slipped right into Richie Firicano's red leather barber chair Thursday morning - no waiting.

"The old-timers, they aren't going to walk up the street in this snow and ice," Firicano said.

There are certain advantages to the record-breaking snowfall that has paralyzed New England this month.

A blizzard over the weekend dropped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, and up to 11 inches more fell Wednesday and Thursday for a January total of 43.1 inches in Boston - more snow than in any month since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1892. The previous record of 41.6 inches was set in February 2003.

In Providence, R.I., the snowfall total for January stood at 36.7 inches, approaching the 1996 record of 37.4.

With temperatures expected to remain below the freezing mark through the weekend, all that snow is going to stick around for a while.

The snow has delayed trains, slowed traffic to a crawl and turned streets into obstacle courses. Towing companies have been busy pulling snowbound cars from streets, and some gas stations have had to close because deliveries of gasoline could not get through.

CABBIE FOUND: The body of a 70-year-old cab driver lay undiscovered for three days after snow from a blizzard encased his car, blocking the view inside, police said. The man, whose name was not released pending family notification, was found midday Wednesday near his home in Brooklyn. It appeared he died of a heart attack shortly after parking his car on the street sometime Sunday, a day after the storm began dumping nearly 18 inches of snow on the city.

DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 800,000 pickups and sport utility vehicles because the cruise control switch could short circuit and cause a fire under the hood, the nation's second biggest automaker said Thursday.

The recall affects approximately 792,000 Ford F-150 pickups, Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators from the 2000 model year. Also affected are 2001 F-Series Supercrew trucks that were made at the same time.

Ford will notify owners of the recall in February, and dealers will deactivate the cruise control switch for free. Once the company has an adequate supply of replacement switches, it will send another letter notifying owners that they can get their switches replaced.

PEORIA, Ill. - Prosecutors said Thursday that a former concrete worker has confessed to killing eight women - dumping some along rural roads and burning the bodies of the others in a pit in his mother's back yard.

The alleged confession by Larry Bright marks a significant breakthrough in a case that has rattled residents in the Peoria area since women's bodies began turning up along desolate roads in rural Illinois four years ago.

Bright, 38, tried to plead guilty to the one slaying with which he has been charged, but Judge Albert Purham rejected the attempted plea and told him to consult an attorney. State's Attorney Kevin Lyons also spoke in court, telling the judge that Bright had confessed to killing eight women in all and had pointed police to where they could find the remains of four missing women.

BLAKE TRIAL: Robert Blake's first wife and the adult daughter of his slain second wife took the witness stand at the actor's murder trial Thursday, testifying about Blake's troubled relationship with Bonny Lee Bakley. Bakley's daughter, Holly Gawron, 24, told the jury that while living in Arkansas with Bakley, Gawron sometimes answered the phone and heard Blake "yelling, cursing obscenities" when he thought he was talking to Bakley. Bakley, 44, was shot to death in May 2001 as she waited in a car for Blake outside a restaurant. Blake, 71, said he returned briefly to the restaurant to retrieve a gun before finding Bakley mortally wounded.

KENTUCKY OIL SPILL: Workers made progress Thursday removing some of an estimated 63,000 gallons of crude oil that seeped into the Kentucky River from a ruptured pipeline, forming a huge slick approaching the Ohio River. By Thursday evening, workers had retrieved 26,000 gallons, officials said. Environmental officials had feared if the slick had reached the Ohio, it could foul drinking water supplies down river.

BORDER ABDUCTIONS: Twenty-seven Americans have been abducted in Mexico's northern border region over the past six months and two have been killed, the State Department said Thursday. Spokesman Richard Boucher cited those numbers in defending an alert to American citizens about the risks of traveling in the area.

[Last modified January 28, 2005, 00:22:07]