National Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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WASHINGTON


ALMOST HALF OF FEDERAL SPENDING GOES TO ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS


Three growing entitlement programs consumed nearly half of all federal spending in 2004, and budget analysts expect them to make up an even bigger share in the future. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid accounted for more than $1 trillion in the 2004 budget year, according to the Consolidated Federal Funds Report being released today by the Census Bureau. Overall federal spending was $2.2 trillion, an increase of 5% from 2003.


“The total federal spending increase is actually down a bit from recent years,” chief of the Census Bureau’s federal programs branch, Gerald Keffer, said. “It had been running 6% to 8% in the past several years.”


For years, Washington has been fighting over how to manage the growth of entitlement programs. Analysts think the fight will continue for years to come.


“I think it’s absolutely essential and inevitable that we are going to reform those programs,” Rudolph Penner, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a social issues research organization, said. “How is another question. There’s very little interest now.” – Associated Press


HEALTH


ACCIDENTAL ACETAMINOPHEN POISONINGS RISE


Think popping extra pain pills can’t hurt? Think again: Accidental poisonings from the nation’s most popular pain reliever seem to be rising, making acetaminophen the leading cause of acute liver failure.


Use it correctly and acetaminophen, best known by the Tylenol brand, lives up to its reputation as one of the safest painkillers. It’s taken by some 100 million people a year, and liver damage occurs in only a small fraction of users.


But it’s damage that can kill or require a liver transplant, damage that frustrated liver specialists insist should be avoidable.


The problem comes when people don’t follow dosing instructions – or unwittingly take too much, not realizing acetaminophen is in hundreds of products, from the over-the-counter remedies Theraflu and Excedrin to the prescription narcotics Vicodin and Percocet.


– Associated Press


SOUTH


MAN WHO SHOT FOUR ON CHRISTMAS HAD HISTORY OF MENTAL PROBLEMS


FAIRFAX, Va. – Police said yesterday that a Virginia man who killed four people, then himself, on Christmas Day had a history of mental problems.


Still, police were trying to determine a motive for the rampage. “Perhaps we’ll never be able to answer the question that is most prevalent, and that is why,” the chief of the Fairfax County, Va., Police Department, Colonel David Rohrer, said.


“This is obviously a complex investigation with separate crime scenes and five victims. The events … have certainly shocked and saddened us all,” Colonel Rohrer said.


– Associated Press


WEST


PERMAFROST COULD BE MELTING, STUDY FINDS


ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Climate change could thaw the top 11 feet of permafrost in most areas of the Northern Hemisphere by 2100, altering ecosystems across Alaska, Canada, and Russia, according to a federal study.


Using supercomputers in America and Japan, the study calculated how frozen soil would interact with air temperatures, snow, sea ice changes, and other processes. The most extreme scenario involved the melting of the top 11 feet of permafrost, or earth that remains frozen year-round.


– Associated Press


OREGON SURFER PUNCHES SHARK IN NOSE


SEASIDE, Ore. – A surfer says he reacted on instinct when he punched a great white shark that grabbed his leg near the northern Oregon coast. Brian Anderson expects to make a full recovery from the lacerations he suffered on his ankle and calf.


– Associated Press

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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