WASHINGTON

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES NEW FBI POWERS IN PATRIOT ACT

The FBI would get expanded powers to subpoena records without the approval of a judge or grand jury in terrorism investigations under Patriot Act revisions approved yesterday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Some senators who voted 11-4 to move the bill forward said they would push for limits on the new powers the measure would grant to law enforcement agencies. Ranking Democrat Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat of West Virginia, supported the bill overall but said he would push for limits that would allow such administrative subpoenas “only if immediacy dictates.”

– Associated Press

U.S. TO N.Y.: RETURN $44M IN 9/11 AID

A congressional inquiry has found New York failed to follow instructions from Congress on the spending of $44 million in September 11, 2001 aid and should give the money back or get lawmakers to pass a law allowing the expenditure. A New York official countered last night that if the federal government persists with the effort, it would have to take the money back directly from September 11 victims. “The federal government authorized these funds to go to 9/11 victims and their families in the first place, and given that they originally approved it, it would be wrong for them years later to take the money back from victims,” a spokesman for the state workers’ compensation board, Jon Sullivan, said.

– Associated Press

SENATE ENDS BROWN NOMINATION FILIBUSTER

The GOP-controlled Senate yesterday ended a nearly two-year Democratic filibuster of California judge Janice Rogers Brown, putting her on track to become the second black woman on what many people consider to be the nation’s second highest court. The 65-32 vote virtually assures the conservative jurist and Alabama native’s confirmation this evening to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, part of a historic deal to avert a partisan showdown over judicial filibusters. It takes 60 votes to bypass a filibuster.

– Associated Press

EAST

CORZINE AND BUSINESSMAN WIN PRIMARIES IN NEW JERSEY

A millionaire businessman won New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial primary yesterday and earned the right to face Senator Corzine, a Democrat, in November – the state’s first race for governor since James McGreevey resigned in a gay-sex scandal.

Doug Forrester edged former Jersey City mayor, Bret Schundler, after spending millions of his own fortune to finance a campaign that took aim at the state’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes. Mr. Corzine easily won the Democratic primary after facing only token opposition. With 94% of precincts counted, Mr. Forrester had 102,417 votes, or 36%, to 88,841 votes, or 31%, for Mr. Schundler in the sevenway primary. Mr. Corzine had 88% of the vote.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

FLORIDA’S HARRIS TO RUN FOR THE SENATE IN 2006

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Republican Rep. Katherine Harris, who as Florida’s secretary of state was both praised and vilified for her part in the 2000 presidential recount, said yesterday she will run for the Senate next year against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

Her announcement brings a major name to the race – along with the potential to attract huge infusions of cash from Republicans and Democrats alike because she is such a polarizing figure.

– Associated Press

WEST

DEAN CALLS REPUBLICAN PART Y ‘MONOLITHIC’

The Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, said that Republicans are a “pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party.” Mr. Dean made his comments in San Francisco earlier this week, in response to a question during a meeting with minority leaders and reporters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people,” Mr. Dean reportedly said. “We’re more welcoming to different folks, because that’s the type of people we are. But that’s not enough. We do have to deliver on things: jobs and housing and business opportunities.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun