Washington in brief

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2001

Aide: Bush still wants to drill in Alaska refuge

WASHINGTON -- President Bush still plans to ask lawmakers to open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, his spokesman said Monday.

"The president's position on opening up a small portion of ANWR for oil development is unchanged," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

Fleischer acknowledged "there was some confusion" Sunday when administration officials were asked on TV network shows about a Time magazine report quoting Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove.

The magazine quoted an unnamed source saying Rove told a media consultant for oil companies April 17 that Bush wasn't going to push Congress for new drilling in Alaska.

63 PERCENT APPROVAL: President Bush receives solid marks for the way he has handled himself in office, but the American people question some of his basic priorities and say his policies are tilted far more toward wealthy individuals and corporate interests than to people like themselves, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As he nears the 100-day mark in his presidency, Bush is rated somewhat higher than President Bill Clinton but below where Ronald Reagan and George Bush were at similar points in their presidencies. In the poll, 63 percent said they approved of the way Bush is handling the job, slightly up since last month; 32 percent disapproved.

Altered corn found in many more products

A genetically engineered variety of corn that caused massive recalls of taco shells last year has spread further through the food supply than had been thought and is present in a much wider range of processed foods, officials reported Monday.

The corn, StarLink, was found in new categories of products such as corn bread, polenta and hush puppies in tests conducted by the company that developed the corn. StarLink was never approved for human consumption because of concerns it might cause dangerous allergic reactions.

Officials at the company, Aventis CropSciences of Research Triangle, N.C., said that the levels it detected were very low and that any health risk posed by the corn is extremely small.

While federal authorities have said the risk to public health from the unapproved corn is remote, the Food and Drug Administration is testing the blood of about 20 people who believe they might have suffered allergic reactions to the genetically engineered corn.

U.S. panel may intervene in Calif. energy prices

Federal energy regulators are reviewing a proposal to restrict wholesale electricity prices in California during the severe power shortages expected this summer.

The proposal, which is to be taken up at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meeting Wednesday, also would require producers to sell power for California's grid during power emergencies.

The commission has faced growing political pressure to find new ways to address allegations of price gouging in the Western power markets, where wholesale costs have been 10 times what they were a year ago, and likely will go higher in the coming months.

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