WASHINGTON -- Congress was headed toward a Friday vote on a spending package that would bring the 106th Congress to a close and give President Clinton a parting claim to some of the education spending he has sought.

While details remained to be worked out, lawmakers and aides said they tentatively agreed on a spending bill for education, health and labor programs, the last major obstacle to Congress completing its budget work for the year.

"I think we're home free," said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

House and Senate approval Friday of the education-health bill and other unfinished spending bills and related issues would allow the 106th Congress, which began with the impeachment trial of the president, to adjourn. That would make way for the new Congress in January that, for the first time in eight years, will be working with a Republican president.

Elsewhere

CALIF. POWER SHORTAGE: Energy Secretary Bill Richardson ordered Northwest power suppliers to sell electricity to power-strapped California utilities Wednesday, a move that averted the immediate threat of rolling blackouts.

State regulators had warned earlier that rolling blackouts were imminent because of power shortages within the state and an inability to buy more electricity from the Northwest.

The warning came from the Independent System Operator, keeper of California's power grid. It said that electricity supplies were so low that it might declare a Stage 3 power emergency for only the second time ever. At Stage 3, the grid can impose blackouts.

MICROWAVE DEATH: A Virginia woman was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for killing her month-old son in a microwave oven.

Elizabeth Renee Otte, 20, wept and clutched a photograph of the infant, Joseph Lewis Martinez. "I love my son. I still love my son and I will always love my son," she said. "I can honestly say I can't remember doing this if I did this."

Otte entered an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter, meaning she did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her in the 1999 death. She was originally charged with first-degree murder.

Otte has said that she has no memory of cramming her son in the microwave and turning the appliance on. Experts said that Otte suffers from epilepsy and that her seizures often are followed by blackouts of up to 50 minutes.

SPACE STATION: The crew of the international space station, Alpha, will have to spend two extra weeks in orbit because of space shuttle problems. Station commander Bill Shepherd and his two Russian crewmates were supposed to return to Earth in late February. But their ride home, space shuttle Discovery, has damaged thrusters that need to be replaced, and the unexpected work will delay the flight by two weeks to March 1.

Back to World & National news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Susan Taylor Martin

From the Times wire desk

Ice, snow disrupt travel for the third day in a row

The nation in brief

From the AP
national wire
From the AP
world desk