WASHINGTON

BUSH WILL NOT RELEASE MIERS RECORDS

President Bush said yesterday he will not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of the advice presidents get from their lawyers. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding more documents on Ms. Miers, including those from her work as Mr. Bush’s counsel. Senator Baucus, a Democrat of Montana, called for Ms. Miers’s tax records.

– Associated Press

COURT ORDERS PARTIAL RELEASE OF CISNEROS REPORT

The federal court that oversees independent counsel investigations ordered yesterday that most of the final report on the decade-long inquiry into a former secretary of housing and urban development, Henry Cisneros, be released “with all deliberate speed.”

The court ordered the prosecutor, David Barrett, not to disclose to the public one section of the report pertaining to a tax and obstruction-of-justice inquiry that followed the main investigation into allegations that Mr. Cisneros lied to the FBI about payments he made to a mistress. However, the court said the deleted portion of the report should be sent to Congressional leaders who may make it public.

“This report needs to be published and the public has got a right to see this and make their own judgment as to what has happened here,” Mr. Barrett told The New York Sun yesterday. “It raises a real question of why there was so much energy expended in keeping the report from becoming known.”

The Senate passed legislation last week calling for the release of the long delayed report within 60 days. Some of the delay was due to 146 motions filed by various parties seeking to block publication of the report in whole or in part.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

HOSPITAL TO FACE QUESTIONS FROM GRASSLEY

New York’s largest private employer, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, can expect more questions from Senator Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, after a speech delivered yesterday by the chairman of the Senate’s finance committee on the subject of reforming tax-exempt organizations.

During yesterday’s remarks to the Independent Sector Annual Conference, Mr. Grassley said that his review of responses provided by tax-exempt hospitals in response to a committee probe “raises more questions than it answers.” The senator added that he anticipates pressing the hospitals for clarification and more information in the near future.

In May, Mr. Grassley announced that he was expanding an ongoing probe into tax abuses in the charitable sector to include tax-exempt hospitals, including New York-Presbyterian. – Staff Reporter of the Sun

CLINTON TO DELIVER ENERGY SPEECH Senator Clinton will be delivering a “major speech” on energy policy here today while addressing the Cleantech Venture Forum, according to a press release issued yesterday. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, declined to comment on the substance of the senator’s speech yesterday. “We’ll see what we see,” he said.

When addressing energy policy in the past, the senator has often bemoaned the prospect of high home heating costs facing New Yorkers this winter; spoken of the need for Americans to wean themselves off of foreign oil and invest in renewable energy sources; railed against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and repeatedly demanded increased federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WEST

NEW AIR FORCE CHIEF TAKES COMMAND

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – A new superintendent took command of the Air Force Academy yesterday, saying his goal is to make the school a safe environment for cadets amid complaints of sexual assault and religious intolerance. Lieutenant General John Regni succeeds Lieutenant General John Rosa, who was brought in to help the academy recover from a sexual assault scandal. Dozens of female cadets said they were punished or forced out after reporting sexual assault.

– Associated Press