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Lawmaker quits panel amid investigation

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 21, 2007

WASHINGTON

Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona stepped down suddenly Friday from the House Intelligence Committee, saying he was doing so because he was under federal investigation dealing with a series of financial transactions. Renzi is the second Republican congressman in the last two days to relinquish an important committee post because of a federal inquiry, a development suggesting a quickening pace of some federal corruption investigations of members of Congress. Rep. John T. Doolittle of California on Thursday gave up his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Doolittle has been linked in three inquiries to accusations that committee members accepted bribes or campaign contributions in exchange for earmarking federal money to certain projects. The investigation of Renzi, a wealthy developer from the Flagstaff area, began before the November elections and involves accusations that he improperly used his influence as a congressman to engineer a land swap benefiting a business associate.

NEW YORK

Homeless man held in torture

A homeless ex-convict has been arrested in the rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student, who was held hostage for 19 hours, cut with a knife and left tied up with the bed set ablaze. Robert Williams, 30, was picked up after a routine burglary report and faces attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and other charges stemming from last week's assault, police said Friday. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said neighbors of the victim picked Williams out of lineups, identifying him as the man loitering outside her upper Manhattan building before the assault. The 23-year-old victim, who is nearing her degree at the Graduate School of Journalism, was still hospitalized.

MIAMI

Colombian leader snubbed by Gore

Former Vice President Al Gore, in a slap at Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, pulled out of an environmental forum attended by the South American leader Friday, citing allegations that the Colombian's allies colluded with far-right death squads. The news of Gore's cancellation quickly eclipsed the pressing environmental issues discussed at the Poder Green Forum held in Miami. Gore has led an international campaign against global warming.

Elsewhere

Camden, N.J.: New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine was breathing on his own again Friday after doctors removed a breathing tube he had been using since he was critically injured in an April 12 high-speed crash, his spokesman said.

Barton, Md.: Workers on Friday found the bodies of two miners trapped when a wall section collapsed Tuesday in an open-pit coal mine in western Maryland, a federal mine official said.

Belleville, Ill.: Tiffany Hall, 24, a babysitter already accused of killing a pregnant friend, was charged Friday with drowning the woman's three children in a bath tub and then hiding the bodies.

Austin, Texas: A plan to require public schools to teach classes with the Bible as a textbook was changed by a Texas legislative panel to make such classes optional. The original bill by Republican Rep. Warren Chisum would have required schools to offer Bible courses as an elective.

[Last modified April 21, 2007, 02:42:07]