News Digest
Hillary's brother paid in pardon I
■Hugh Rodham received
money that has since been
returned for work in two cases.
THE ASSOCIATED PHESS
WASHINGTON-Bill Clinton's
brother-in-law received about
$200,000 for successfully lobby
ing for a pardon and a prison
commutation that the former
president granted on his last day
in office, The Associated Press has
learned.
The money has been
returned. Clinton and his wife,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, said
Wednesday they were unaware of
the arrangements with Hugh
Rodham. They said they had
asked him to return the money
and were “deeply disturbed” by
what had happened.
Rodham, brother of Mrs.
Clinton, returned the money in
the past 24 hours, sources familiar
with the arrangement said
Wednesday.
The sources, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said
Rodham was paid for months of
work on the prison commutation
request of Carlos Vignali and
received a “success fee" for help
ing win the pardon of Almon
Glenn Braswell
“Yesterday, I became aware of
press inquires that Hugh Rodham
received a contingency fee in con
nection with a pardon applica
tion for Glenn Braswell and a fee
for work on Carlos Vignali’s com
mutation application,” the for
mer president said in a statement
“Neither Hillary nor I had any
knowledge of such payments. We
are deeply disturbed by these
reports and have insisted that
Hugh return any moneys
received,” he said.
A source close to Clinton,
speaking on condition of
anonymity, said then-White
House adviser Bruce Lindsey had
been contacted and was aware of
Rodham's involvement with the
Vignali request, but no White
House officials were aware of the
presidential relative's involve
ment in the Braswell matter.
The decisions on both men
were made on the merits of their
situations, die source said.
The Braswell pardon has gen
erated controversy because after
“Neither Hillary nor I had any knowledge of
such payments. We are deeply disturbed by
these reports and have insisted that Hugh
return any moneys received
Bill Clinton
former president
it was granted on Jan. 20, it was
disclosed that the businessman
was under investigation on new
allegations.
Justice Department spokes
woman Chris Watney declined
comment Wednesday.
Braswell did not apply for his
pardon through the Justice
Department, while Vignali
applied for his commutation
through the department in
August 1998. Watney refused to
say whether the Justice
Department recommended that
Vignali be pardoned.
In the Vignali matter, numer
ous political figures lobbied to
commute his drug sentence,
including a Roman Catholic car
dinal, a sheriff and community
leaders.
Outbreak
hits British
livestock
THE ASSOCIATE) PRESS
LONDON-An outbreak of highly infectious foot
and-mouth disease in British pigs prompted a gov
ernment ban Wednesday on exports of meat, milk
and livestock and threatened serious damage to the
country’s beleaguered farming industry.
The European Union quiddy announced its own
ban on British exports to other member countries
until March 1. ■■■■■■■■■■■
The disease, which is not This
regarded as a threat to humans, , ,
affects cloven-footed animals, OUWKCdK
including sheep, goats and cows. hdS
It is not usually fetal to the ani- mtentinih/
mal but can cause weight loss poicnllduy
and reduced dairy production in CdtdStTOphiC
c^^rborneandca" implications
“This outbreak has poten- for the
aal^camstroohicimpUcadons wh0Je0fthe
for the whole of the British live- » *
stock industry,” said Ben Gill, BtltlSh
president of the National livestock
Farmers’Union. Last summer’s . , . *
outbreaks of swine fever and the IndUSuy.
long-running mad cow crisis
have badly hurt farmers in Ben Gill
Britain. president of the
The government Food National Farmers’
Standards Agency said ynlon
Wednesday that transmission of ■ ■
foot-and-mouth disease to
humans is extremely rare but may be possible if they
are in dose contact with an infected animal. It said the
disease cannot be caught by humans eating meat or
drinking pasteurized milk.
Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said the out
break was “potentially a very serious situation.”
“These measures are not an issue of human
health but are designed to prevent the spread of die
virus in livestock,” he said. “The government will not
allow anything which is dangerous to be fed to peo
ple."
The EU said it would review its ban at a meeting of
the Standing Veterinary Committee on Feb. 27.
The last foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain
occurred in 1981. An outbreak in 1967 led to the
slaughter of more than400,000 animals.
The disease was discovered Monday in 27 pigs at
a slaughterhouse in Essex county, northeast of
London.
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t Photo Chief: Scott McClurg
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Paula Bronstein/Newsmakers
TAKEN DOWN: Striking Daewoo Motors Co. workers, their supporters and the police dash near the Daewoo plant as police arrest a man who tried to
attack them Wednesday. Intense protests continue against the Daewoo layoff of600 employees in Bupyon^ a few miles west of Seoul, South Korea.
Census dispute stirs debate
■The Commerce Department may
havetheiinal say on how more than
$185 billion in funds are redistributed.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The city of Los
Angeles asked a federal court Wednesday
to issue a temporary restraining order to
keep the U.S. Commerce Department
from having the final say over 2000 cen
sus numbers.
The lawsuit alleges that Commerce
Secretary Don Evans violated federal
regulations by not seeking public com
ment before transferring final authority
over adjustments to the raw population
count from career scientists at the
Census Bureau back to his office.
Evans' decision is a politically sensi
tive one that could determine whether
millions of Americans across the country
go uncounted.
San Antonio; Inglewood, Calif.;
Stamford, Conn.; and Santa Clara
County, Calif., joined Los Angeles in fil
ing die lawsuit in die U.S. District Court
for the Central District of California. New
York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said
Wednesday he was considering joining
the lawsuit
Evans’ spokesman, Jim Dyke,
defended the decision, saying lawyers
with the Commerce and Justice depart
ments advised that no public comment
period was needed.
Commerce supervises the Census
Bureau.
Adjusted data, if approved, could
affect the way political districts are
redrawn and how more than $185 billion
in federal funds are redistributed across
the country.
Republicans, in general, believe
adjusting the data could inject more
errors into the count, and that the
Constitution specifically calls for an
“actual enumeration” without sampling.
Democrats and civil rights groups
contend that without adjustments,
about three million Americans could be
left out of die count - mostly minorities,
the poor and children.
The issue has long been controver
sial in Congress, where Democrats
maintain they could potentially overturn
die GOP's narrow majority in die House
if adjusted data were used for redistrict
ing.
Evans decided late Friday to reverse a
Clinton administration plan, which put
the decision of whether to adjust the
data in the hands of the Census Bureau’s
director. ^
Evans’ plan calls for the Census
Bureau’s acting director- career civil ser
vant William Barron - and a committee
of agency statisticians to give their rec
ommendation on adjustments to Evans
by March 1, but Evans would have the
final say.
Music industry shuns Napster proposal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Music executives on
Wednesday shook off Napster’s offer
to settle a copyright infringement
lawsuit, saying it didn’t offer a viable
TODAY
Partly cloudy
high 42, low 20
TOMORROW
Snow
high 39, low 32
business model and failed to address
concerns over the security of online
music.
The timing of Napster’s proposal
late Tuesday also struck many music
industry watchers as odd, coming the
night before the Grammy Awards, the
biggest annual event on the music
calendar.
Music executives also expressed
displeasure at Napster’s decision to
reveal its offer at a news conference
rather than in direct talks with them.
Sony Music Entertainment, one of
the four record labels still at war with
the online music-swapping service,
said in a statement Wednesday that
Napster's offer to pay $150 million a
year in royalties "does not make
sense” for an industry with annual
revenues of $40 billion.
“Delivering their proposal to the
entire industry through the media is
not a valid way to address our many
concerns,” Sony said. “They have still
not answered questions we have
about a secure system which prevents
unauthorized trading or about how
they intend to create a business
model that respects the rights of
record companies, artists and pub
lishers.”
Warner Music Group, a unit of
AOL Time Warner Inc., EMI and
Universal all issued statements call
ing the Napster proposal inadequate.
“If there’s a compelling and con
vincing business model, we would be
interested in participating,” EMI said.
Alone among the major music
labels, only BMG Entertainment is
supportive of Napster's proposal.
The Associated Press
■ New Hampshire
Teen charged in murders
of two college professors
LEBANON - One of the two
teen-age suspects in the stabbing
deaths of two Dartmouth College
professors was arraigned
Wednesday on first-degree mur
der charges and ordered held
without bail. The other remained
in Indiana, where he may fight
extradition.
Robert Tlilloch, 17, said “yes"
when a judge asked if he under
stood the charges against him. He
shook his head “no” when the
judge asked if he had any ques
tions.
Under New Hampshire law,
there is no plea at the arraign
ment. First-degree murder
charges “carry the presumption of
no bail,” a prosecutor said.
Tlilloch and James Parker, 16,
are accused of killing Half and
Susanne Zantop in their Hanover
home last month.
A hearing for Parker was set
for Tuesday in New Castle, Ind.,
after his lawyer said he is consid
ering fighting extradition.
■ Washington, D.C
Oregon lawmakers urge Bush
not to overturn suicide law
As Oregon reported that 27
terminally ill people used the
state’s assisted suicide law to end
their lives last year, one of the
state’s senators urged the Bush
administration Wednesday not to
do anything that would thwart
the unique statute.
“There is no evidence of a cri
sis that would compel the federal
government to pursue extraordi
nary means to overturn Oregon’s
law,” Democrat RonWyden wrote
to Attorney General John
Ashcroft, amid indications that
some Republicans may try again
to undo the law.
“There has been no substanti
ated claim of abuse of Oregon’s
law, nor has there been a rush to
use the Oregon law,” Wyden
wrote
Oregon is the only state that
allows terminally ill patients to die
with a doctor’s help. The state
Health Division announced that
27 people used the law in 2000,
die same number as die previous
yean
At least 70 people have ended
their lives under the care of doc
tors since the Death With Dignity
Act took effect in October 1997,
according to a report published in
Thursdays New England Journal
of Medicine.
■ Maryland
U.S. seafood company fined
for illegal smuggling scheme
BALTIMORE - A seafood
company has been fined $10 mil
lion and three executives sen
tenced to prison for a caviar
smuggling scheme that bilked
specialty food chains and an air
line catering to big spenders.
U.S. Caviar & Caviar was fined
$10.4 million Tuesday for smug
gling black market caviar into the
United States using forged labels
and health certificates, federal
prosecutors said. In other cases,
domestic caviar from protected
species was passed off as Russian.
Prosecutors say the misla
beled caviar was sold to American
Airlines for its first-class passen
gers and to Fresh Fields and
Sutton Place Gourmet stores.
U.S. District Judge Alexander
Williams Jr. said he had never
seen “such sheer lawlessness and
total disregard for the laws
designed to protect our precious
natural resources.”
Caviar is the lightly salted roe
of sturgeon, a protected species. A
1998 treaty requires accurate
species identification and per
mits from the country of origin or
re-export
U.S. Caviar president Hossein
Lolavar, 46, was sentenced to
three years and five months in
prison and ordered to pay $8,500
in fines and $81,000 in restitution.
The company’s sales manager
Faye Briggs, 54, was sentenced to
21 months in prison.
Because of an editing error,
a story about a legislative bill
that would make tattooing
minors illegal without parental
permission stated the bill would
also make piercing minors’ ears
illegal. Hie bill would not make
piercing minors' ears illegal.