Thursday News

• Congress looking at police spying

  Federal lawmakers are scrutinizing the Homeland Security Department's role in efforts by Maryland State Police to spy on peace activists and death penalty protesters, raising concerns that the operations were supported with federal dollars.

• Housing rescue bill OK'd

  The House approved a sweeping plan yesterday that responds to the most serious housing crisis since the Depression by providing a federal backstop for struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and aid to homeowners facing foreclosure.

• 'Father of medical genetics' dies at 86

  Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a Johns Hopkins professor who pioneered the study of medical genetics and spent his career exploring how patients' genes predisposed them to medical disorders, died of cancer Tuesday at his home in Towson. He was 86.

• Hornsby guilty of corruption

  After four years of investigations, two trials and a determined effort by federal prosecutors, former Prince George's County schools Superintendent Andre J. Hornsby was found guilty yesterday of six of the 22 counts of corruption with which he was charged.

• Driver called close to bin Laden

  A Guantanamo prisoner on trial for war crimes was so close to Osama bin Laden that he attended a meeting of top al-Qaida aides the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a former FBI agent testified yesterday.

• Rice in talks with N. Korea

  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed North Korea yesterday to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program as the two countries held Cabinet-level talks for the first time in four years.

• Statement on timing of surge was no mistake, McCain says

  Republican John McCain pushed back yesterday against Democratic criticism that he misstated when the troop buildup ordered by President Bush began, saying elements were put in place before Bush announced the strategy in early 2007.

• Caution on cell phone use

  An international group of 23 prominent doctors and public health researchers and officials is warning that cell phone use may increase the risk of brain cancer.

• Correction

  A news digest item in some editions of yesterday's editions of The Sun included an incorrect figure for the January balance in Gov. Martin O'Malley's campaign account. The balance was $909,737.

• Fading Dolly rakes Texas with wind, rain

  Hurricane Dolly barreled into South Texas yesterday, lashing the coast with winds of up to 100 mph and dumping heavy rain that threatened to flood low-lying areas but spared levees along the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

• U.S. seeks to intensify efforts in Afghanistan

  As violence in Afghanistan escalates, the U.S. is responding by scrambling to get in more troops. But it's far from clear how the strategy will work in a vast, rugged land where hiding places are many and suspicion of foreign forces is deep.

• Research links gene to statin side effects

  Scientists may have found a way to test for and possibly avoid the most serious side effect of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, one of the top-selling medicines in the world.

• More older children said to have ADHD

  ATLANTA More older children are being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder while the rate is holding steady for children under 12, according to a government report released yesterday. Some experts called the finding surprising, noting that most childhood diagnoses traditionally occur by age 11. The study didn't investigate why the increase in one age group was so much higher than in the other. It found the percentage of older children diagnosed with ADHD has been rising by 4 percent each year. Some experts say the increase might reflect that doctors are increasingly considering the possibility of ADHD in older kids who have concentration problems - a trend that coincides with the marketing of ADHD medications to teens and adults.

• Ky. lowering flag for native soldiers only

  FRANKFORT, Ky. Kentucky has started lowering flags to half-staff only for fallen soldiers from the Bluegrass State, upsetting veterans and lawmakers who say the policy dishonors tens of thousands of service members from other states stationed at installations such as Fort Campbell and Fort Knox. Gov. Steve Beshear last month changed the old policy of lowering state and U.S. flags to half-staff from the announcement of any Kentucky-based soldier's death until his or her funeral. Now the flag will be lowered only for Kentucky natives, and even then only on the day they are buried. Maj. Gen. Edward Tonini, Kentucky's adjutant general, said the previous policy made it impossible to tell who was being honored and led to lengthy stretches where flags were lowered for multiple people.

• Disease attacking Florida's state tree

  MIAMI The sabal palm, Florida's state tree, is under attack by a microscopic killer that has scientists stumped. An unknown but growing number of sabal palms in the Tampa Bay area have died from a mysterious disease that researchers are struggling to identify. Even after scientists pinpoint the disease - and that could take years - they will have to learn what insect spreads it. The disease will be tough to stop. "It's not simply a matter that we will be able to eradicate," said Monica Elliott, a University of Florida plant pathologist. "That's not very likely." Sabal palms, also known as cabbage palms, can grow to 50 feet. In the United States, they can be found from the Florida Keys to parts of North Carolina and can grow in marshes, woodlands or along the coastline. The palm was designated the state tree in the 1950s.

• Swiss citizens urged to stay out of Libya

  GENEVA Switzerland warned its citizens yesterday not to travel to Libya, saying the North African nation has been retaliating ever since Swiss police arrested the youngest son of Libyan leader Col. Muammar el Kadafi for allegedly beating two of his servants. Libya has recalled some of its diplomats in Switzerland, suspended the issuing of visas for Swiss citizens, cut down the number of flights to Switzerland and has detained two Swiss nationals on various charges, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said.

• Terror funds to be reduced for U.S. cities

  WASHINGTON Dozens of U.S. cities will see cuts in the anti-terrorism money they receive from the government this year, because of spending decisions to be announced tomorrow by the Homeland Security Department. According to an early copy of the list obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, 43 cities will get slightly less money in 2008 than they did the previous year. Three major metropolitan areas - New York, San Francisco and Houston - will get more money. Fourteen other cities were added to the list of recipients and will get fresh infusions of cash for anti-terror programs such as new equipment and training. In most cases, the cuts are not severe.

• Japanese quake injures more than 90

  TOKYO A powerful earthquake struck off the northern Japanese coast early today, injuring at least 91 people, triggering landslides and cutting power to thousands of people, officials said. Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the temblor, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8. It struck shortly after midnight about 65 miles underground and centered just off the coast of Iwate, 280 miles northeast of Tokyo. The 91 people injured were mainly suffering from cuts and bruises from broken glass and falling objects, and none of the injuries were life-threatening, said National Police Agency official on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

• U.S. probes big subprime lenders

  A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has begun investigating three of the nation's largest subprime mortgage lenders in the clearest sign yet that prosecutors are investigating whether fraud and other crimes contributed to the mortgage debacle.

• Six killed in crash of bomber off Guam

  HONOLULU The Air Force says all six crew members aboard a B-52 bomber that crashed Monday off Guam were killed. An announcement from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam says a wide search effort has shifted focus from rescue to recovery of the aircrew. Two bodies have been found. The Air Force has released the name of only one crew member: 33-year-old Maj. Christopher Cooper of Austin, Texas. The crew was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Flags are being flown at half-staff at the Louisiana state Capitol to honor them. The unarmed bomber was taking part in Guam Liberation Day celebrations marking liberation of the island from Japan in World War II.