CAMPAIGN 2004

LIEBERMAN DEFENDS KERRY’S ISRAEL RECORD

TAMARAC, Fla. – Former vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman and a group of Jewish leaders said yesterday that Senator Kerry would maintain a strong commitment to Israel, while watching out for the health care and financial concerns of older voters. “I didn’t come to Florida to tell you that George Bush has got a bad record on Israel. He’s got a good record,” Mr. Lieberman said. But he said that after serving with Mr. Kerry for 16 years in the Senate, he could attest “He’s got a good record on Israel, too. A 100% voting record.” Mr. Lieberman said Mr. Kerry would also address the domestic concerns of the elderly audience. “Look at all the other things that you worry about every day, that your children and grandchildren worry about every day. Are we going to have jobs?” he said. Democrats dispatched the Connecticut senator along with Senator Schumer and several Jewish members of Congress to seven synagogues across South Florida to make Kerry’s case before thousands of Jewish voters. With an estimated 500,000 Jewish voters, Florida holds one of the nation’s largest Jewish communities, with the majority of those residents concentrated in South Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate on a major party ticket, was credited with helping Al Gore seize about 80% of the state’s Jewish voters in 2000.

– Associated Press

WEST

DEFORMED FISH DISCOVERED

DENVER – Fish with both male and female sex tissue have been discovered near Colorado wastewater treatment plants on the South Platte River and Boulder Creek. Scientists are trying to determine if chemicals that disrupt hormones, such as estrogen, are responsible for the gender-bending phenomenon. Colorado biologist John Woodling discovered the deformed white suckers about two years ago near two wastewater discharge pipes. Female fish also far outnumber the male fish near the plants. “This is the first thing that I’ve seen as a scientist that really scared me,” said Mr. Woodling, 58, a retired fisheries biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife who is now working with the University of Colorado. Scientists haven’t pinpointed which chemicals might be causing the deformities, but endocrine disrupters that mimic or disrupt hormones, especially estrogen, are a leading suspect. Such chemicals are believed to come from excreted birth-control hormones, natural female hormones and commonly used detergents that are flushed down toilets and drains. “We’re all concerned about it,” said Barbara Biggs, MetroWastewater Reclamation District’s governmental officer. “We don’t want to leap to any conclusions yet. There are a lot of estrogen sources in the environment.”

– Associated Press

SOUTH

MAN DIES AF TER AIRBOAT OVERTURNS

CROWN POINT, La.- A California man died after a Louisiana swamp-tour airboat carrying 16 passengers overturned, authorities said yesterday. One woman was in critical condition and three other passengers remained hospitalized. Daniel Nanna, 31, of Newport Beach, Calif., died just before midnight Saturday, about seven hours after the Louisiana Swamp Tours boat overturned in 3 feet of water. An autopsy is planned, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Colonel John Fortunato said yesterday. Nanna was among 13 people injured when the boat – a flat-bottomed aluminum craft powered by a big fan at the rear – flipped in a swamp around Lake Salvador, about 20 miles south of New Orleans. Tourists flock to the area to see wildlife, including alligators, which often are lured to boats by dangling chicken meat from long poles. Tsai Woo, a California resident, was listed in critical condition at Charity Hospital. Colonel Fortunato said three other people were still hospitalized. The captain, Curtis Silver of Lafitte, was among eight people treated and released at emergency rooms. The Coast Guard was investigating the accident. Lieutenant Commander Greg Depinet of the Coast Guard’s marine safety office wouldn’t comment yesterday on whether the captain had been making quick maneuvers to thrill tourists from nearby Kenner and California.

– Associated Press

MIDWEST

OHIO LIBRARY TO SELL ROCKWELL PAINTINGS

LITHOPOLIS, Ohio – Four original Norman Rockwell paintings will be sold to raise money for an Ohio library whose finances have plummeted so abruptly that the Ohio attorney general is investigating the case. The foundation that operates the Wagnalls Memorial Library authorized the sale of the paintings to raise money after the library’s savings diminished from $10 million in 1998 to $3 million this year. Questions have arisen about what happened to the money. The foundation, which gave out 140 $1,000 scholarships to local students last year, will hand out only two this year. The foundation hopes the paintings will net $1.6 million to $1.8 million and is negotiating with a New York auction house to handle the sale, said Carl Spencer, the foundation’s executive director. “It upsets me to even think about losing these things,” he said. “There is a lot of sentimental and historic value.” The Rockwell paintings to be sold include “Smiles in Belgium Once More,” “The Story of Christmas,” “Man on Dock Fishing,” and “The Old Couple.” The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., does not estimate the value of the artist’s pieces, but his “Rosie the Riveter” was sold by Sotheby’s in 2002 for $4.95 million, the highest amount paid for a Rockwell. “The Watchmaker” sold in 1996 for $937,500, museum spokeswoman Ellen Swan Mazzer said.

– Associated Press