SOUTH

FLORIDA COURT: RUSH LIMBAUGH’S MEDICAL RECORDS PROPERLY SEIZED WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Florida appeals court ruled yesterday that prosecutors did not violate Rush Limbaugh’s privacy rights when they paid a surprise visit to his doctors and seized his medical records for an investigation into his use of painkillers. Investigators raided the doctors’ offices last November to see if the conservative radio commentator had engaged in “doctor shopping,” or illegally visiting several doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions.

Mr. Limbaugh, 53, has not been charged with a crime and the investigation had been at a standstill pending a decision on the medical records, which prosecutors have not yet been allowed to examine.

The 4th District Court of Appeal rejected Mr. Limbaugh’s claim that his privacy rights trumped investigators’ power to seize his records, and also said prosecutors did not have to notify him of their search warrants or give him an opportunity to challenge them. “The state’s authority to seize such records by a validly issued search warrant is not affected by any right of privacy in such records,” the three-judge panel ruled.

Mr. Limbaugh’s attorney said he will appeal.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

ASHCROFT: ADMINISTRATION GETTING TOUGH ON COPYRIGHT CRIMES The Justice Department is launching an initiative to crack down on intellectual property theft, Attorney General Ashcroft said yesterday.

Speaking before a conference of computer crime and intellectual property professionals in New York, Mr. Ashcroft pointed out that the theft of copyrighted materials like movies, music, and pharmaceuticals costs the country $250 billion a year and over 300,000 jobs. He was sketchy on the details of the plan, but he promised “new prosecutorial tools” and “new investigative resources.”

“The freedom of the nation is threatened by the theft of intellectual property resources,” Mr. Ashcroft said.

The effort is a part of a new crackdown by the federal government on illegal imitators of patented or copyrighted products. On Monday, the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, announced the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy designed to prevent counterfeit products from entering America. The STOP! Initiative will tighten up customs inspections and bring American pressure to bear on countries that purchase fakes in bulk.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CLINTON FAULTS WHITE HOUSE FOR LACK OF $2B KENNEDY AIRPORT AID Senator Clinton criticized the White House yesterday for the failure of a $2 billion Kennedy airport rail package – saying without such aid, the president’s $20 billion post-September 11 pledge to rebuild the city has yet to be fulfilled.

Mrs. Clinton, a Democrat of New York, voiced her displeasure over the death of a Senate amendment that would have exchanged Liberty Zone tax credits provided after the 2001 attacks for a different set of credits to help build a rail link from downtown Manhattan to the Queens airport.

The Senate approved the swap plan, but House negotiators stripped it out of a larger tax bill, along with a host of other measures. Mrs. Clinton faulted the White House for not making the effort to ensure the House also was on board.

“Clearly, the message never got to the leadership,” she said. “We are still trying to get the money reallocated. … This was a setback because we thought we could get this done.”

– Associated Press

HEALTH

EXPERTS CALL FOR SAFET Y REVIEW OF DRUGS SIMILAR TO VIOXX The safety of Celebrex and other pain relievers was questioned yesterday as scientists in America and regulatory agencies in Europe said they feared such drugs might raise the same risk of heart problems as those blamed on the arthritis medicine Vioxx.

One key researcher charged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not do everything needed to make sure the drug was safe and called for a congressional review of how Vioxx was approved.

Heavily advertised as an arthritis drug, Vioxx was pulled from the market last week after its maker said a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. But the FDA said similar prescription drugs were safe.

The European Medicines Agency in London announced it would review all drugs of this type. And researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine voiced their concerns as well with such drugs as Pfizer’s popular Celebrex and its newer drug, Bextra.

The medical journal published two reports on the issue yesterday on the Internet – more than two weeks ahead of their planned print publication – to help inform doctors and patients considering whether to stop using the drugs.

– Associated Press