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


VICE PRESIDENT HAS NOTHING MORE THAN A COLD Vice President Cheney, back home after a brief hospital visit, has nothing more than a bad cold, and his heart is fine, his wife and an adviser said yesterday.


Also doing well is former President Clinton, who had heart surgery in September, a former aide said.


Mr. Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, had three hours of tests Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath. They showed no problems with his heart – “none whatsoever,” said Mary Matalin, a former top White House aide to the 63-year-old vice president.


Mr. Cheney’s most recent heart attack was in November 2000, just before he assumed the vice presidency. He had a pacemaker implanted in his chest in June 2001.


Ms. Matalin, who acted as Mr. Cheney’s spokeswoman this weekend, said he was just following the orders of his “very cautious” doctors who recommended that he have tests at the hospital. Mr. Cheney returned Thursday night from a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with a cold that left him short of breath.


– Associated Press


NUMBER OF DEATH SENTENCES HITS 30-YEAR LOW The number of people sentenced to death reached a 30-year low in 2003, when the death row population fell for the third year in a row, the government reported yesterday.


Some 144 inmates in 25 states were given the death penalty last year, 24 fewer than in 2002, and less than half the average of 297 between 1994 and 2000, according to the Justice Department. Death penalty opponents say the report shows how wary the public is of executions, heightened by concerns about whether the punishment is administered fairly and publicity about those wrongly convicted. Illinois emptied its death row in 2003 after several inmates were found to be innocent.


Supporters doubt the decline signifies a major shift in public opinion about the death penalty, which is in effect in 38 states and the federal justice system.


– Associated Press


WEST


CUBAN ENTERTAINERS REPORTEDLY TO SEEK ASYLUM AT LAS VEGAS About 44 members of a Cuban troupe of dancers, singers, and musicians said that they planned to seek political asylum in America, the Web site of the New York Times reported last night. It would mark the largest mass defection of Cuban performers to date.


Most of the entertainers – cast members of a show called “Havana Night Club” at the Stardust Resort and Casino – planned to deliver their applications for asylum personally today at the Federal Building in Las Vegas, according to the Times report. The Web site also said that Pamela Falk, a law professor at City University of New York, who worked to reunite the family of Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez, also worked behind the scenes as a legal adviser to the Cuban performers.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


HEALTH


REPORT: RADIO ANTENNAS ON BOTTLES WILL FIGHT MEDICINE FRAUD Several major drug makers and the Food and Drug Administration plan to put miniscule radio antennas on medicine bottles to fight counterfeiting and fraud, the New York Times reported on its Web site last night.


Viagra, frequently counterfeited, will likely be tagged, along with OxyContin, a pain-control narcotic that is one of the most abused medicines in America, according to the Times.


Experts say the new technology could have a ripple effect, and ultimately rid grocery stores of checkout lines, streamline warehouse processes, and simplify finding lost items, like luggage. Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense have mandated that their top 100 suppliers put antennas on delivery pallets in January, the Times reported. The labels cost 20 to 50 cents each.


Tags on vehicles and passports could also assist the government in its effort to track visitors to America, according to the report.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


ANTI-OBESITY PILL MIGHT FIGHT DRUG ABUSE A pill that helps you lose weight and quit smoking? That was amazing enough to capture headlines last week. But scientists say the experimental drug might be even more versatile, providing a new tool to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.


It’s called rimonabant, or Acomplia, and last week researchers reported it could help people not only lose weight but keep it off for two years. That burnished the drug’s reputation after two studies in March, which suggested it could fight both obesity and smoking, two of humanity’s biggest killers. The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis plans to seek federal approval for rimonabant next year.


– Associated Press


SOUTH


PLANE CRASHES AT APARTMENT COMPLEX, FIVE DEAD SAN ANTONIO – A small plane crashed here yesterday near an apartment complex for seniors, killing one passenger. But federal officials said it appeared four other people aboard the aircraft were also killed. A Piper Navajo was headed to San Antonio International Airport from Dodge City, Kan., when it crashed about three miles away from the airport shortly after 5 p.m., said John Clabes, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. “Our flight standards investigator on the scene said we can assume there are four additional fatalities,” Mr. Clabes said. No one on the ground was hit by the wreckage, although “good-sized pieces” of the plane were on the floor of an apartment, District Fire Chief Randy Jenkins said. Several people had to be treated at the apartment complex for smoke inhalation, he said.


– 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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