WASHINGTON

VOINOVICH ASKS SENATORS TO REJECT BOLTON

The maverick Republican who denied President Bush’s U.N. nominee a smooth sail through the GOP-led Senate asked colleagues yesterday to vote against a “controversial and ineffective ambassador.” The Senate is expected to vote on John Bolton’s nomination before leaving for a Memorial Day break, and Republicans said they are confident he will be confirmed. The vote would end weeks of wrangling over whether Mr. Bolton mistreated co-workers or took liberties with government intelligence.

“In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to put at risk our nation’s ability to successfully wage and win the war on terror with a controversial and ineffective ambassador to the United Nations,” Senator Voinovich, a Republican of Ohio, wrote to all 99 other senators. “I worry that Mr. Bolton could make it more difficult for us to achieve the important U.N. reforms needed to restore the strength of the institution.” Mr. Voinovich first forced a delay in Mr. Bolton’s confirmation last month and then brokered an unusual compromise that sent Mr. Bolton’s nomination to the full Senate without the customary recommendation from a Senate committee.

– Associated Press

CHIEF ACTUARY, BUSH WARN OF IMPENDING SOCIAL SECURITY CHALLENGES

Social Security’s top analyst said yesterday the nation faces budget challenges in less than four years if Congress does not change the program. At the same time, President Bush warned members of his own party they would join Democrats in facing voters’ wrath if they don’t support his proposed overhaul.

The nonpartisan chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, Stephen Goss, said the nation faces a pinch in 2009 because excess payroll taxes flowing into the program will begin to decline, halting the growth of surplus money that Congress has been tapping to fund other government programs. At that time, lawmakers will face the prospect of budget cuts or tax increases that will only grow more severe each year until 2017, when all the surplus revenues end and the program begins paying out more in benefits than it generates in payroll taxes. That shift would force Social Security to begin cashing in the IOUs Congress has been giving the program since it started spending the excess tax revenue in the 1980s, further increasing the nation’s financial challenges.

– Associated Press

SOUTHWEST

ENGLAND WAIVES RIGHT TO CHALLENGE CHARGES

FORT HOOD, Texas – Private First Class Lynndie England yesterday surrendered her right to challenge the seven charges she faces in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, moving her one step closer to a new military trial.

Her defense attorney, Captain Jonathan Crisp, would not provide details as to why he decided not to go forward with the Article 32 hearing – the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding. He said only that it was part of an “evolving trial strategy.”

Now the decision on Private England’s charges goes to Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, Fort Hood’s commanding general. He’ll decide whether she’ll face any or all of the charges.

Captain Crisp said the waiver was not part of a deal with prosecutors. He said he did not think the sides would reach another plea agreement after Private England’s initial guilty plea was rejected by a judge this month.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

YOUNG MAN WHO WENT TO PRISON FOR KILLING GIRL CHARGED WITH HOLD UP

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Lionel Tate, who was given a second chance after he beat and stomped a little girl to death when he was 12, was back behind bars yesterday – exactly as some juvenile-justice experts had warned. Tate, now 18, was charged yesterday with holding up a pizza delivery man at gunpoint at a friend’s apartment. “We had a real chance. The right thing would have been to get this young man some help,” a forensic psychologist, appointed by a judge to examine Tate after the 1999 killing of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, Michael Brannon, said. Tate made international headlines in 2001 – and touched off a debate over Florida’s practice of prosecuting juveniles as adults – when he became the youngest person in modern American history to be sentenced to life in prison. The hulking, 160-pound boy had claimed at first that he killed Tiffany while imitating pro wrestling moves he had seen on television, then later said he accidentally hurt the girl when he jumped on her from a staircase. His conviction and sentence were overturned on appeal in 2004 – after he had served three years in prison – and prosecutors gave him a plea bargain that placed him under house arrest for a year, followed by probation for 10 years.

– Associated Press

WEST

STREET PREACHER ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING GIRL KICKED OUT OF COURT AGAIN

SALT LAKE CITY – A street preacher charged with kidnapping teenager Elizabeth Smart was removed from court yesterday after shouting Biblical admonitions, the fifth time he has been removed from hearings for such a disruption. Brian David Mitchell was in his defense chair only seconds before the outburst: “Awaken, arise Israel. Come forth, Babylon. Repent, repent for the kingdom.” Mr. Mitchell’s loud voice could be heard from down the hall after he was taken away from the hearing to gauge his mental fitness for trial. The hearing resumed yesterday after a two-month break. Prosecution expert Noel Gardner, who testified in March that Mr. Mitchell was competent to stand trial, was expected to resume his testimony. In spite of Mr. Mitchell’s repeated interruptions, Judge Judith Atherton has allowed the hearings to continue without him. Mr. Mitchell, 51, a self-proclaimed messenger of God, is accused of kidnapping then 14-year-old Elizabeth in 2002, sexually assaulting her, and keeping her as his second wife. Defense mental health expert Stephen Golding has said Mr. Mitchell vowed to do everything possible to disrupt the trial and has said he will not allow Elizabeth – who he contends is his wife – to be questioned on the witness stand.

– Associated Press