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First lady: skin cancer was 'no big deal'

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 20, 2006

First lady Laura Bush said Tuesday she did not disclose she had a skin cancer tumor removed five weeks ago because, "It's no big deal and we knew it was no big deal at the time."

Mrs. Bush's comments, relayed by presidential spokesman Tony Snow, came a day after the White House said she had a squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most common form of skin cancer, excised from her right shin a few days after the Nov. 7 election. The patch was about the size of a nickel.

Unlike her husband, the first lady is not an elected official, Snow said. "She's got the same right to medical privacy that you do," he told reporters at a sometimes contentious briefing.

WASHINGTON

Senator's recovery going well, son says

South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson has been exceeding expectations in his recovery from emergency brain surgery last week, his son Brendan said Tuesday.

Brendan Johnson, a Sioux Falls lawyer, said his father has been responding repeatedly to directions from his mother, Barbara. But he is not yet speaking.

"It's fair to say he's been exceeding expectations up to this point," Brendan Johnson said.

Johnson offered few details about his father's condition and said he doesn't know what kind of tests he will undergo this week. He said he is not sure if the senator will need additional surgery.

Johnson was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a condition that causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large, become tangled and sometimes burst. He was rushed to the hospital Dec. 13.

WASHINGTON

Bush signs three health care bills

President Bush on Tuesday signed bills to raise federal funding for autism, shift AIDS money to rural areas and the South and create a government unit to oversee response to a bird flu pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

The autism bill increases federal funding by 50 percent for the disorder, which afflicts 1.5- million people in the United States.

Congress voted on Dec. 7 to significantly increase federal funding to identify the cause of autism, now diagnosed in one in 166 children. The legislation provides the National Institutes of Health with a list of possible research areas related to autism spectrum disorder, including an examination of whether the increase in autism diagnoses is caused by environmental factors.

The House on Dec. 9 agreed by voice vote to renew the $2.1-billion annual Ryan White CARE Act. The Senate passed the bill earlier after senators from New York and New Jersey dropped their opposition, accepting a compromise that settled months of dispute just as Congress adjourned for the year.

DETROIT

Judge: Colleges can use race in admissions

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Michigan's top universities can continue using race and gender in their admissions decisions for next year's incoming students, despite a voter-approved ban on affirmative action that was supposed to take effect this weekend.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson acted at the request of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. The schools said it would be too disruptive to do away with affirmative action immediately because they have already begun accepting students for next fall. The judge gave the universities until July 1 to follow the new rules.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 00:23:12]