In the Nation
Panel OKs revised antiterrorism law
WASHINGTON - Defying the Obama administration, the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to remove from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracking non-U.S. citizens in terror investigations.The committee, dominated by Democratic liberals, also voted to amend the act to curb the government's surveillance and seizure powers.
The bill went to the full House on a 16-10 vote along party lines; Republicans cast all the "no" votes. GOP lawmakers said the legislation would hinder law enforcement and intelligence agencies in fighting terrorism.
The legislation would allow the act's never-used "lone wolf" provision to expire at year's end. The provision lets the government spy on non-Americans even when they are not linked to a recognized terrorist group. Patriot Act revisions before the Senate would retain the tool, but the House Democrats said normal criminal investigative tools could be used instead. - AP
GOP proposal on census blocked
WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats yesterday blocked a GOP effort to require 2010 census forms to ask people whether they are U.S. citizens.The proposal by Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) sought to exclude noncitizens from the population totals that are used to figure the number of congressional representatives for each state.
Critics said the proposal would discourage immigrants from responding to the census and be hugely expensive. They also said it was long-settled law that apportionment of congressional seats is determined by the number of people living in each state, regardless of citizenship. A separate survey already collects citizenship data.
Louisiana stands to lose one of its seven House seats in the coming round of reapportionment. Vitter said that if noncitizens were excluded, Louisiana and eight other states, including Pennsylvania, would keep or gain seats that would go to California, Texas, Illinois, and New York. - AP
Valuables found in big luggage theft
PHOENIX - Police said they found medicines, passports, stereo and video equipment, laptop computers, and even adoption paperwork in a house holding hundreds of pieces of luggage stolen from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.Keith King, 61, was being held on a $25,000 bond. His wife, Stacy Lynne Legg-King, 38, posted bond and was released from jail, according to police. The couple were arrested Monday.
Yesterday, police said they had found 14 rooms filled floor to ceiling with the stolen items. Officers are trying to contact the theft victims but have found only a handful. - AP
Elsewhere:
The two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles last month have appealed their license revocations to the National Transportation Safety Board.
President Obama assured American Indians yesterday that they had a place in his White House and on his agenda, telling tribal leaders their marginalized community deserved more from its government. "I'm on your side," Obama told a conference at the Interior Department of leaders from 386 tribal nations.
