WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PROPOSES NEW SUV FUEL STANDARDS

The Bush administration yesterday proposed new rules to compel auto manufacturers to make pickup trucks, minivans, and some sport utility vehicles more fuel efficient. Environmentalists said the plan would do little to wean the nation from its dependence on foreign oil.

The proposal would require the auto industry to raise standards for most vehicles other than cars beginning in 2008. All automakers would have to comply with the new system by 2011.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, speaking at news conferences in Atlanta and Los Angeles, said the program was expected to save about 10 billion gallons of gasoline over the life of vehicles built from 2008 through 2011. America currently consumes about 140 billion gallons of gasoline a year, according to Energy Department statistics. The plan would not apply to the largest SUVs, such as the Hummer H2. Passenger cars, already required to maintain an average of 27.5 miles a gallon, also would not be covered by the changes.

Environmental advocates panned the approach, saying it failed to go far enough to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil while creating new loopholes that would weaken the requirements. Passenger cars and light trucks, a vehicle category that includes pickups, minivans, and SUVs, account for about 40% of the nation’s oil use.

– Associated Press

WEST

INTERROGATOR PLEADS GUILTY IN AFGHAN CASE

EL PASO, Texas – A military intelligence interrogator was sentenced yesterday to two months in prison after he admitted abusing an Afghan detainee who later died.

Specialist Glendale Walls pleaded guilty earlier yesterday to dereliction of duty and assault. In addition to the prison sentence, Walls was reduced in rank and pay and will receive a bad-conduct discharge.

Walls admitted that he stood by as former Sergeant Selena Salcedo lifted a detainee known as Dilawar by his ear and as former Specialist Joshua Claus made another detainee roll around on the floor and kiss Walls’s boots.

Walls also admitted to pushing Dilawar against a wall during the interrogation in which Sergeant Salcedo abused him. Dilawar’s death has led to charges against a number of service members.

Salcedo, a military intelligence interrogator who worked with Walls at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to similar charges earlier this month.

– Associated Press

BUSH SUPPORTERS, ACTIVISTS CLASH IN CALIF.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Supporters of President Bush clashed with anti-war activists as they wound their way through California after rallying in the hometown of Cindy Sheehan, the mother who started a protest camp outside Mr. Bush’s Texas ranch.

Conservative activists and military families embarked on the tour Monday, calling it “You don’t speak for me, Cindy!” A verbal confrontation erupted when the caravan arrived in Sacramento and was met by anti-war protesters chanting for Mr. Bush to bring home the troops.

Sheehan supporter Dan Elliott, 71, confronted caravan members by waving a sign reading “Death is not support” and heckling one of the tour’s organizers as she addressed the crowd. “You are ruining the morale over there,” responded Greg Parkinson, a Bush supporter.

The pro-Bush caravan planned rallies in several California cities before heading to Crawford, where Sheehan opponents have formed their own camp.

– Associated Press

SHOOTING LEAVES TWO DEAD AT ARIZONA WAL-MART

Two Wal-Mart employees were shot to death yesterday in the parking lot of one of the retail stores in suburban Phoenix, police said. The shooting occurred in the middle of the lot, at least 50 yards from the store entrance. Police spokesman Mike Pena said authorities were searching for the gunman. He said there were several witnesses to the shootings but would not identify them.

“This is an extremely tragic situation. It has been confirmed that we have lost two of our associates,” company spokeswoman Sharon Weber said from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Police cordoned off much of the parking lot, telling anyone whose car was within a perimeter that they would have to leave their vehicles there. Authorities initially said a third victim had been wounded, but Mr. Pena later said that was not the case.

– Associated Press

EAST

NINE NORTHEASTERN STATES AGREE TO REDUCE POWER PLANT EMISSIONS

Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have tentatively agreed to keep power plant emissions at their present levels and then cut them by 10% by 2020, the New York Times reported on its Web site last night.

The draft proposal follows the Bush administration’s decision not to regulate greenhouse gases, which are believed to contribute to global warming. Once the agreement is finalized, each state will have to enact it, which is likely, the Times said.

The eight other states in the agreement are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Governor Pataki brought the coalition together in 2003 after he became frustrated with the Bush administration’s handling of greenhouse gases and Washington’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocols earlier this year.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun