WEST

PRESIDENT FORD HOSPITALIZED FOR PNEUMONIA

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Former President Ford was undergoing treatment for pneumonia yesterday at the same facility where he was briefly hospitalized a month ago, his chief of staff said. He was said to be doing well.

Mr. Ford, 92, was admitted Saturday to Eisenhower Medical Center near his home in Rancho Mirage in Southern California, Penny Circle said.

“Based on his age it is prudent for his initial course of treatment – IV antibiotics – to be done at the hospital,” Ms. Circle told the Associated Press.

Mr. Ford was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday or Thursday, she said.

– Associated Press

CALIFORNIA INMATE, 76, SAYS HE IS TOO OLD AND FRAIL TO BE EXECUTED

SAN FRANCISCO – The Supreme Court rejected an appeal yesterday from a 76-year-old convicted killer who argued that he was too old and feeble to be executed.

The ruling cleared the way for Clarence Ray Allen – legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair – to be executed by injection early this morning for a triple murder he ordered from behind bars to silence witnesses to another killing.

Allen, whose birthday was yesterday, stood to become the oldest person executed in California – and the second-oldest put to death nationally – since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.

– Associated Press

SCIENCE

NASA SET TO LAUNCH SPACECRAFT ON NINE-YEAR JOURNEY TO PLUTO

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An unmanned NASA spacecraft the size of a piano is set to lift off today on a nine-year journey to Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system.

Scientists hope to learn more about the icy planet and its large moon, Charon, as well as two other recently discovered moons in orbit around Pluto.

The $700 million New Horizons mission also will study the surrounding Kuiper Belt, the mysterious zone of the solar system that is believed to hold thousands of comets and other icy objects. It could hold clues to how the planets were formed.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

RICE SAYS AGAIN SHE WON’T RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN ’08

Not even a vote of confidence from Laura Bush can change Secretary of State Rice’s mind about running for president in 2008.

Before leaving for Africa, the first lady predicted America soon would have a Republican female president, and maybe even Rice.

“I think it will happen for sure,” Mrs. Bush said Friday about a woman in the Oval Office.

In the year since becoming secretary of state, Ms. Rice has repeatedly dismissed the notion of running for the Republican nomination to succeed her current boss, President Bush.

Asked about the first lady’s comments Sunday, Ms. Rice laughed and good naturedly answered the recurring question about her prospects for president in 2008. No dice, she said for the umpteenth time.

“Obviously, it’s flattering when people say things like that. The first lady is not only a terrific person, she’s my friend. And I was honored that she said that, of course. She’s a wonderful person,” Ms. Rice said.

– Associated Press

GORE CLAIMS BUSH REPEATEDLY BROKE THE LAW

Former Vice President Al Gore called yesterday for an independent investigation of President Bush’s domestic spying program, contending the president “repeatedly and insistently” broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

Speaking on Martin Luther King Jr.’s national holiday, the man who lost the 2000 presidential election to Mr. Bush was interrupted repeatedly by applause as he called the anti-terrorism program “a threat to the very structure of our government.”

Mr. Gore charged that the administration acted without congressional authority and made a “direct assault” on a special federal court that authorizes requests to eavesdrop on Americans. One judge on the court resigned last month, voicing concerns about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of e-mails and phone calls.

– Associated Press