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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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

WASHINGTON


JUSTICES CONSIDER WHEN POLICE CAN USE DOGS


Driving 6 mph over the speed limit got Roy Caballes pulled over. But what happened next landed him at the Supreme Court, which considered yesterday when police can use drug-sniffing dogs.


Mr. Caballes was wearing a suit and driving a new Mercury when he was stopped on an Illinois freeway in November 1998. It looked like he would get off with a warning until Krott the drug dog showed up and sniffed out $250,000 worth of marijuana in Mr. Caballes’s trunk. His conviction eventually was overturned on grounds that the police had no reason to search his car. Dogs trained to find drugs and bombs are becoming more common in airports and elsewhere – even the Supreme Court – because of terrorism concerns. Police also often use them for routine traffic stops.


Justices will decide whether people who have given police no reason to suspect illegal activity have a constitutional protection against dog searches. In this case, the court must clarify earlier opinions that found that drug dog use is not necessarily a search that falls under the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches or seizures.


“A sniff is not a search,” justices were told by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.


Chicago attorney Ralph Meczyk, representing Mr. Caballes, countered. “It is accusatory. It is profoundly embarrassing.”


Justice Souter appeared troubled by the prospect of more use of dogs: “We’re opening a large vista for dog intrusion.”


Christopher Wray, a Bush administration lawyer who joined Ms. Madigan to defend dog searches, noted that beagles – generally seen as unimposing – are used in airports to detect illegal vegetables, and that other canines have a long history in crime-fighting.


– Associated Press


HEALTH


NEW APPROACH TO CONTROLLING CHOLESTEROL FOUND


NEW ORLEANS – Taking one drug to boost “good” cholesterol and another to lower its evil twin can slow the progression of heart disease more effectively than one medicine alone, the first study to test this dual approach has found. The study was reported yesterday at the American Heart Association conference here.


The added benefits came from taking niacin, a type of B vitamin, on top of statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs prescribed to millions of Americans and sold under such brand names as Lipitor and Zocor.


“This ushers in a new era of taking a two-pronged approach” to controlling cholesterol, said the study’s leader, Dr. Allen Taylor, director of Cardiovascular Research for the Cardiology Service of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Doctors said the niacin research could give them an entirely new way to treat high cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease, strokes, and other problems.


– Associated Press


EAST


ACCUSED KILLER FIGHTS RETURN TO CITY


PHILADELPHIA – A man accused of beating a medical student to death with a baseball bat refused yesterday to sign a legal waiver that would allow him to be returned quickly from New Jersey, where he was arrested a day after the unprovoked attack.


Nader Ali, 26, is charged with ambushing a former Jefferson Medical College classmate in front of a Philadelphia supermarket on Sunday and bludgeoning her with the bat on a busy sidewalk. Mr. Ali refused to sign the waiver during a brief appearance in a New Jersey courtroom. Prosecutors said the move would delay, but not prevent, Mr. Ali’s eventual transfer to Pennsylvania. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for December 10.


– 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.


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