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.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

WASHINGTON


FDA: CHILD ANTIDEPRESSANTS SHOULD HAVE WARNINGS


Antidepressants should come with the nation’s strongest warning – in a black box on the label – that they can sometimes spur suicidal behavior in children and teenagers, the government’s scientific advisers decided yesterday.


It’s a rare risk, and therefore families need detailed information on how to balance that concern with the need to treat depression, which itself can lead to suicide, cautioned advisers to the Food and Drug Administration.


So antidepressants prescribed to minors also should come with an easy-to-read pamphlet that explains how to decide if the child is an appropriate candidate for the drug and what are the warning signs of suicide, the panel concluded. Also, FDA should consider the extra step of making parents sign a form that they understand the risks before the child receives the first pill.


There may be a backlash to such strong warnings, cautioned FDA advisory committee chairman Dr. Wayne Goodman, psychiatry chairman at the University of Florida.


“It will make prescribing more difficult. I anticipate there will be alarm from parents and the child,” said Dr. Goodman, who still backed the big step. “I think that’s worth that complication, because it will raise the threshold to prescribing” these drugs to minors.


On the other hand, the drugs seem to help some desperately ill children, said panelist Jean Bronstein, a California nurse who opposed the black-box warning.


– Associated Press


INCUMBENTS WIN BIG IN PRIMARIES NATIONWIDE


Incumbent governors and senators nationwide easily turned back challenges yesterday as eight states decided primaries, including a divisive contest for an open governor’s seat in Washington state. In the nation’s capital, former Mayor Marion Barry – infamous for being caught on an FBI video smoking crack during his third term – won the Democratic nomination to a city council seat in his second comeback since his drug conviction. In the strongly Democratic city, a fall victory is virtually guaranteed.


The last big day of primary elections before November also saw a handful of contested House seats. Other states voting were Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.


In New England, five-term Democratic Senator Leahy of Vermont easily won his nomination, as did two-term GOP Senator Gregg of New Hampshire. So did two first term GOP governors – Vermont’s James Douglas and New Hampshire’s Craig Benson. In the hardest-fought primary race, the contest for the Democratic nomination for governor in Washington state pitted Attorney General Christine Gregoire against Ron Sims, the King County executive and the state’s most prominent black leader.


Dino Rossi, a former state senator, was favored to win the GOP nomination. Two term Democratic Governor Locke chose not to seek re-election.


– Associated Press


SENATE DEFEATS LATEST BID FOR MORE NEW YORK TERROR FUNDS


The U.S. Senate yesterday shot down an effort to get more funding for cities at high risk of terror attack, another setback in New York’s long-running request to change the way such funds are distributed.


Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, offered an amendment to a spending bill that would shift $625 million to a fund for urban areas considered at high risk of attack, but the Senate rejected it by a 50-43 vote.


Mrs. Clinton and Senator Schumer, another New York Democrat, have pressed for the measure to correct what they and other Empire State lawmakers say is an unfair method of distributing anti-terror funds that sends too little to urban areas.


“We’re once again fighting for the obvious, the common sense prudent approach to security funding, which is once again running into pork barrel politics,” Mr. Clinton said.


She derided the Bush administration’s claims that it supports a similar shift in funding, charging if that were true the president could make it happen very quickly. “This is nothing but a shell game,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It’s outrageous.”


– Associated Press


WEST


LOS ANGELES, WASHINGTON HOTEL WORKERS STRIKE


LOS ANGELES – Thousands of hotel workers in Los Angeles voted to authorize a strike, their union said yesterday, joining in an effort that could lead to walkouts in three cities.


About three-fourths of the 3,000 housekeepers, bellmen, and other workers at nine prominent Los Angeles hotels took part in the vote Monday, and union spokesman Danny Feingold said yesterday that 83% of them chose to authorize a strike. No date was set for a walkout.


In Washington, about 94% of 2,100 workers voted Monday to authorize a strike, said John Boardman, secretary-treasurer of the union in that city, Unite Here Local 25.The labor contract covering workers at 14 hotels expires today and negotiations continue. In San Francisco, about 4,000 hotel workers were also expected to vote yesterday in favor of authorizing a strike, said a union spokeswoman, Valerie Lapin.


Besides the usual issues over wages, benefits, and workload, the key demand for Los Angeles workers is a contract that would expire at the same time as those for hotel workers in six cities and Hawaii – an expiration that employees said would give them more leverage at bargaining time.


“That would level the playing field,” said Donald Wilson, a banquet chef and shop steward at the Century Plaza. “Our goal is to get into the middle class, to break in.”


– Associated Press


GOVERNMENT FINES UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX


PHOENIX – The nation’s largest for-profit university was fined $9.8 million by federal regulators who concluded it was so focused on boosting enrollment that it pressured recruiters to accept unqualified students.


The fine against the University of Phoenix was the largest ever imposed by the Department of Education. The federal investigators’ 45-page report detailed several examples of compensation and sales practices that the government said were illegal or unethical, according to yesterday’s editions of The Arizona Republic, which obtained the report.


The Department of Education oversees federal financial-aid programs and has strict rules against paying recruiters based on the number of students they enroll. It found the school evaluated recruiters and set salary incentives for them based on how many people they signed up and then tried to hide those practices from the government. About 60% of the school’s tuition revenue comes from financial aid.


– Associated Press

NY Sun
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.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use