National Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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CAMPAIGN 2004


KERRY AND BUSH SPAR ON JOBS, IRAQ


Democrat John Kerry accused President Bush yesterday of sending American troops to the “wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time” and said he’d try to bring them all home in four years. Mr. Bush rebuked him for taking “yet another new position” on the war.


Iraq overshadowed the traditional Labor Day kickoff of the fall campaign and its time-honored emphasis on jobs, as Mr. Kerry delivered some of his harshest rhetoric against Mr. Bush’s handling of the war and highlighted its economic costs. The Democrat set, for the first time, a tentative time frame for completing a withdrawal that Republican opponents say is too soon even to begin.


“We want those troops home, and my goal would be to try to get them home in my first term,” Mr. Kerry said, speaking to a fellow Vietnam War veteran at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania who had asked about a timetable for withdrawal.


Mr. Bush, campaigning in Missouri, described Mr. Kerry’s attack as the product of chronic equivocation combined with a shake-up of his advisers.


“After voting for the war, but against funding it, after saying he would have voted for the war even knowing everything we know today, my opponent woke up this morning with new campaign advisers and yet another new position,” Mr. Bush said in prepared remarks.


Both sides also sparred over employment in tours of the heartland by the presidential candidates and their running mates covering eight states in all.


– Associated Press


WEST


FIRES BURN THOUSANDS OF ACRES IN CALIFORNIA


SAN FRANCISCO – Firefighters were hampered by erratic wind and low humidity yesterday as they made slow progress against a fire that had burned nearly 12,000 acres and four homes in the Northern California wine country.


The fire, which started Friday northeast of Geyserville in Sonoma County, had been 20% contained and full containment was not expected until tomorrow, said the spokeswoman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Janet Marshall. The unpredictable wind and dry vegetation, compounded by uneven and often steep terrain, made the situation extremely dangerous for the 1,875 firefighters, Ms. Marshall said. “These are very erratic winds, which can be blowing perpendicular to one another,” she said. “You never know where they’re coming from, and that’s a huge safety concern for firefighters.”


Two firefighters had been injured, but not critically.


In addition to the four homes, eight outbuildings and 12 cars had been destroyed. About 40 residents had been evacuated from the area, about 60 miles north of San Francisco, including occupants of six homes ordered evacuated yesterday morning, Ms. Marshall said.


– Associated Press


MIDWEST


POLICE BELIEVE SINGLE KILLER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SIX SLAYINGS


KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Police said yesterday they believe a single killer was responsible for the slayings of six people whose bodies were found within a blighted 18-block area frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes.


The police captain, Rich Lockhart, would not say what led police to connect the killings to a single person; the crimes have not been linked forensically. Authorities previously had said they thought the killings were related, though they had not theorized the slayings were the work of one person. Police were working with the FBI to develop a profile of the killer.


One of those slain was found in July, but five others have been discovered since Thursday – including those found after someone calling 911 told police where to look. All of the bodies were discovered on vacant lots or near vacant houses or apartments in an area east of downtown where drug dealers and prostitutes were known to congregate.


Captain Lockhart said police were looking for similarities between the victims and the crime scenes. Police have not said how the victims died; autopsies were under way yesterday. “Some were engaged in high-risk lifestyles,” Captain Lockhart said. He did not elaborate.


– Associated Press


HEALTH


STUDY: CHICKEN POX VACCINES SAVE $100 MILLION A YEAR


CHICAGO – Vaccinating children against chickenpox saves the American health-care system nearly $100 million a year in reduced hospitalizations for severe cases of the itchy disease, a study found.


Though most people who get the usually mild disease can be treated at home, chickenpox can be serious, and complications requiring hospitalization can include severe skin infections, encephalitis, and pneumonia.


In 1993, two years before the government licensed the vaccine for routine use in early childhood, nearly 14,000 Americans were hospitalized for chickenpox-related complications at a cost of $161 million, compared with 3,729 hospitalizations and $66 million in related costs in 2001, the researchers estimated.


Routine vaccination has reduced cases in young children who get the shots and helped keep the disease from spreading to unvaccinated older children and adults, in whom the disease tends to be more severe.


The reduction in the disease “is excellent news for the vaccine program,” said lead researcher Dr. Matthew Davis, a University of Michigan pediatrician who said he has no ties to the vaccine makers. The study was funded by the university.


– Associated Press

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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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