The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Ashcroft's hearing begins, Dole could be U.N. ambassador, Clinton to give another farewell, earthquake kills hundreds, Bush talks MLK and education, Motorola plans layoffs, Wisconsin could have another Gov. Thompson, Reagan's recovering:

• President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for attorney general, John Ashcroft, will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for "hearings that could be the most contentious confirmation proceedings since Bush's father successfully nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court a decade ago," the Associated Press reports.
• The Federation of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition of religious groups, has come to Ashcroft's defense. "More than 100 representatives of the groups will hold a Capitol Hill rally at 11:30 this morning," the Washington Times reports.
• Meanwhile, the Interfaith Alliance "has raised questions" concerning "the rights of religious minorities and" Ashcroft's "willingness to use the Department of Justice to promote or advance his personal religious beliefs," CNN.com reports.
• "Ashcroft spoke out Monday against racial profiling by police," AP reports.
• U.S. News and World Report's "Washington Whispers" reports that "the buzz" on Ashcroft "is that the Bush team considers him the top eventual choice to replace U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist."
• Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Judiciary Committee chairman, said "he hopes" the hearings will end on Friday, the New York Times reports.
• Secretary of State designate Colin Powell will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, and "few senators are likely to take the political risk of grilling a respected retired general," the Washington Post reports.
• On Monday, Republicans and Democrats received copies of an "infamous" picture of New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), Bush's choice for EPA secretary, "frisking an African-American suspect," the Newark Star-Ledger reports.
• A hearing for Whitman will begin on Wednesday, the Trenton Times reports.
• Former presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole "is on a short list of choices to serve as" ambassador to the United Nations, CNN.com reports.
• Reuters reports that Bush "is expected to name former State Department and White House budget official Kenneth Dam as deputy treasury secretary." Paul Wolfowitz is expected to be named deputy defense secretary and veteran U.S. diplomat Edward Djerejian as deputy secretary of state.
• Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., "is lobbying Bush transition officials for a senior post at the" Department of Health and Human Services, Roll Call reports.

• The Rev. Billy Graham, "sometimes called 'the nation's pastor' because of a 50-year ministry and close association with nearly a dozen Presidents, is ill and unable to attend" Saturday's inauguration ceremonies. His son, Franklin Graham, will fill in, the Washington Post reports.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that the "watchword at this, the nation's 54th presidential inauguration, is restraint." The Florida recount is "an experience that this week will be ignored--at least officially."

• President Clinton will give a "farewell speech" Thursday night, AP reports. The networks have not yet decided whether to air it.
• On Monday, Clinton said he supports statehood for the District of Columbia, the Washington Post reports.
• In an editorial published Sunday in the New York Times, Clinton said he supports making Election Day a national holiday and restoring the right of felons to vote, AP reports.

• The Clinton administration plans to offer $3.9 million in grants to help fight child labor in sweatshops, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today will "release three studies criticizing the state of competition in air travel and laying out a blueprint for how the government can improve the situation," the New York Times reports.

• After an earthquake Saturday in El Salvador, more than 600 people have been found dead, Houston Chronicle News Services reports. "At least six people died in neighboring Guatemala, and hundreds of people were still believed to be buried."
• The Washington Times reports that "members of the Washington area's large Salvadoran community took to the streets" on Monday to collect emergency supplies for the families affected by the earthquake.
• AP has a list of agencies that "are accepting contributions for assistance in El Salvador."

• "Senior NATO generals, United Nations officials and Western diplomats" are questioning President-elect Bush's wish to pull American troops out of Kosovo, saying it would be "damaging to Western goals in the region," the New York Times reports.
• Israeli and Palestinian negotiators may resume peace talks this afternoon after Monday's violence in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.

• Americans weren't the only ones celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that King "may be the only person, other than Jesus Christ, whose birthday is celebrated around the world."
• "At a mostly black elementary school" in Houston Monday, President-elect Bush said he would honor King by by working to improve public schools, the New York Times reports.
• Several thousand people rallied at the South Carolina statehouse Monday to protest the confederate flag, the Columbia State reports.

• The Supreme Court today will hear the case of disabled golfer Casey Martin, who wants to use a golf cart on the PGA Tour, AP reports.
• The court also will hear the case of an Alabama woman who wanted to take her driver's license test in Spanish, the Birmingham News reports.

• As California's energy crisis continues, "a major power supplier threatened Monday to force Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric into bankruptcy court unless the utilities pay their bills due this week," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• A group in Iowa is working to turn grass into fuel, AP reports.

• The FBI on Monday chipped in $140,000 toward the reward for the seven escaped Texas inmates, bringing the total to $440,000, the Dallas Morning News reports. It is "unusual" for the FBI to contribute money to a reward.
• Two inmates escaped from an Oklahoma maximum-security prison Monday, the Oklahoma City Oklahoman reports.

• Motorola plans to lay off 2,500 Illinois employees by June, and plans to end "all production of mobile phones in the United States," the Chicago Tribune reports.
• Nine "experienced" Utah skydivers died Monday after a plane crash, the Deseret News reports.
• Roy Moore, a judge who once wanted to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, was sworn in as Alabama's chief justice on Monday, the Birmingham News reports.

After These Four Years

• Roll Call reports that "no fewer than a dozen Democratic Senators are expected to at least quietly explore the idea of a run for the presidency in 2004." That list includes Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joseph Biden of Delaware, John Edwards of North Carolina, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Thomas Daschle of South Dakota, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Bob Graham of Florida, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.

• The front-runner in New Jersey's 2001 gubernatorial race, state Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, "has proposed a cornucopia of tax relief and environmental and health initiatives that could add as much as $710 million to the next state budget," the Newark Star-Ledger reports.
• In Wisconsin, Libertarians are asking Ed Thompson, brother of Gov. Tommy Thompson (R), to run for governor in 2002, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
• William Shuster, son of Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., "who is set to resign his House seat at the end of this month, is no shoo-in to succeed his father," Roll Call reports. The county's GOP chair "said he would prefer to nominate a candidate other than Shuster's son."
• The Washington Post reports that a study done at the University of Pennsylvania finds that "while campaigns continue to treat the Web as little more than an online billboard, the Internet public has come to expect a good deal more."

• After former President Ronald Reagan had surgery on Saturday to repair a broken hip, he was able to sit up in a chair Monday, AP reports.
• A defamation case against Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy goes to court this week, the Baltimore Sun reports.
• If he is selected to be the U.S. attorney for South Carolina, Strom Thurmond Jr. also will be the youngest U.S. attorney in the country, the Columbia State reports.