WASHINGTON

WIRETAPPING SHOULD BE CALLED ‘TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM’

MANHATTAN, Kan. – President Bush pushed back yesterday at critics of his once secret domestic wiretapping effort, saying it should be termed a “terrorist surveillance program” and contending it has the backing of legal experts, key lawmakers and the Supreme Court. Mr. Bush’s remarks were part of an aggressive administration campaign to defend the four-year-old program as a crucial and legal terror-fighting tool. The Senate Judiciary Committee opens hearings on it in two weeks.

In Washington, General Michael Hayden, the former National Security Agency director who is now the government’s no. 2 intelligence official, contended the surveillance was narrowly targeted. General Hayden maintained that the work was within the law.

– Associated Press

GOVERNMENT WAS FOREWARNED ABOUT KATRINA’S POTENTIAL DAMAGE

WASHINGTON – The Homeland Security Department was warned a day before Hurricane Katrina hit that the storm’s surge could breach levees and leave New Orleans flooded for weeks or months, documents released yesterday show. An August 28 report by the department’s National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center concluded that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane would cause severe damage in the city, including power outages and a direct economic hit of up to $10 billion for the first week.

– Associated Press

LAWMAKERS PLEDGE CHANGES IN MINE SAFETY

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers pledged to step up federal oversight of the nation’s coal mines yesterday and accused the agency that has that job with failing to prevent the deaths of 14 miners in West Virginia. Senator Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, chaired the hearing on the accidents at the Sago and Aracoma mines. Mr. Specter said he would try to pass federal legislation this year that would stiffen penalties against coal operators that violate safety rules and would require that up-to-date safety equipment be placed in mines.

– Associated Press

EPA SET TO ACCEPT PESTICIDE TESTS ON HUMANS

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time is establishing criteria for tests by pesticide makers on human subjects. The EPA’s principal deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Susan Hazen, said yesterday the new rule for accepting tests won’t allow “intentional pesticide dosing studies of children and pregnant women.”

– Associated Press

ADL CALLS ON JORDAN TO SOFTEN STANCE ON JEWISH TOURISTS

The Anti-Defamation League yesterday called on Jordan’s foreign ministry to end the practice of barring Jewish tourists with prayer shawls and phylacteries from entering their country. In a letter to Foreign Minister Abdelelah Ilah Khatib, the organization said that its earlier inquiries into this practice in July have gone unanswered. “We are extremely troubled by reports that Jordan is refusing entry to religious Jews for apparent security reasons,” the ADL’s national director,Abraham Foxman said in a statement yesterday.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SOUTH

OPENING STATEMENTS HEARD AT ATLANTA EX-MAYOR’S CORRUPTION TRIAL

ATLANTA – A former mayor, Bill Campbell, treated city contractors like “human ATMs,” taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts in exchange for favors, prosecutors told jurors yesterday in opening statements at his federal corruption trial. Mr. Campbell’s attorneys countered that he would never have abused his elected position because of his lifelong dedication to civil rights and public service.

– Associated Press

NEW ENGLAND

ROMNEY REQUESTS INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF CASE OF GIRL IN COMA

BOSTON – Saying “errors in judgment were made,” Governor Romney yesterday announced an independent investigation into the state’s handling of the case of a brain-damaged 11-year-old girl at the center of a right-to-die battle. Haleigh Poutre was allegedly beaten into a coma last year by her adoptive mother and stepfather.

– Associated Press