NORTHEAST

ROWLAND PLEADS GUILT Y TO CORRUPTION CHARGE

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Six months after being driven from office by scandal, a former Connecticut governor, John Rowland, pleaded guilty to a corruption charge yesterday, admitting he traded his office for more than $100,000 in flights to Las Vegas, Vermont vacations, and repairs to his vacation cottage. Rowland, 47, will probably get 15 to 21 months in federal prison, lawyers said. The once-popular three-term Republican had maintained for months that the businessmen and cronies who lavished gifts on him had received nothing in exchange. With a single word yesterday, he changed all that: “Guilty,” he told the court, his attorney’s hand on his back as he spoke. The plea ends a two-year federal investigation of the former politician, though he could still face state charges. “Obviously, mistakes have been made throughout the last few years, and I accept responsibility for those,” he said after court. “But I also ask the people of this state to appreciate and understand what we have tried to do over the past 25 years in public service.” Rowland had not been charged with a crime before yesterday. But he had been secretly negotiating with prosecutors for a couple of months. The guilty plea completed the downfall of a man who was once one of the GOP’s rising young stars, a political boy wonder who first got elected to Congress at age 27 and went on to serve 9 1/2 years as governor.

– Associated Press

NORTHWEST

RECOUNT: DEMOCRAT WINS GOVERNOR’S RACE BY 130 VOTES

SEATTLE – Democrat Christine Gregoire won the Washington governor’s race by 130 votes out of 2.9 million ballots cast, according to final recount results announced yesterday from Seattle’s King County, the last of the state’s 39 counties to report. Hundreds of belatedly discovered ballots helped extend what otherwise would have been just a 10-vote advantage for Ms. Gregoire in her topsy-turvy race with Republican Dino Rossi. The first ballot count showed Mr. Rossi winning by 261 votes, and a subsequent machine recount had Mr. Rossi winning by 42.The latest recount was conducted by hand. “Wooo-hooo!” exulted state Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost moments after the results were announced. “We’re very excited. We always believed she would win.” Secretary of State Sam Reed is scheduled to certify the election December 30. After that, the election results probably will be challenged in court, or possibly the Legislature. State law allows any registered voter to challenge election results, and Republicans have begun asking that elections officials reconsider votes for Rossi that they say were wrongly rejected. “We’re going to be going across the state demanding they make every vote count,” Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said earlier yesterday.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

MEDICARE TO START PAYING FOR ‘QUIT SMOKING’ COUNSELING

Medicare officials said yesterday that the program intends to pay for counseling to help some of the nation’s 4 million older smokers kick the habit. Medicare beneficiaries who smoke and have smoking-related diseases or take certain medicines will be eligible for Medicare-covered counseling when the proposal takes effect next year. Medicare Chief Mark McClellan said coverage would begin no later than the end of March. Medicare would pay for up to four counseling sessions. If that doesn’t suffice, smokers could get a second round of counseling. The decision has broad support among health care providers and patient advocates, although some groups pushed for more extensive coverage, including for nicotine-replacement programs and some prescription drugs. Medicare – the government health program for 42 million older and disabled Americans – will cover prescription medicines beginning in 2006. Smoking is the top cause of preventable deaths in the United States, taking 440,000 lives a year, according to government estimates. Roughly 300,000 of those deaths occur among people 65 and older.

– Associated Press