The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Bush pumps up education funds, Blair en route to Camp David, Clinton-Rodham chronicles continue, Senate holds spy hearings, N. Korea issues warning, Strom's wife wants in, another Dem makes Illinois gov bid, Davis may use eminent domain:

• President Bush visited an elementary school Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn., where he proposed an increase of $1.6 billion to the Department of Education's budget, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports. Bush said that "schools should be controlled locally" and that education will receive the biggest boost in the next federal budget.
• Bush said schools should be held accountable for students' progress "through yearly checks of student learning in grades 3-8 with a locally designed test," the Nashville Tennessean reports.
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair is speaking to the Canadian Parliament today before visiting Camp David to meet with Bush on Friday, BBCNews.com reports.
• A group of 80 Nobel laureates has sent Bush a letter "urging him to not block the first flow of federal dollars for research on human embryo cells," the Washington Post reports.
• House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., "will deliver a joint response to Bush's Tuesday evening address" to Congress, "which is expected to focus mainly on his forthcoming budget," Roll Call reports.
• Bush said he will "stay out of negotiations" if major league baseball players strike next year, AP reports.
• Bush made his social debut in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night, as the guest of honor at a "dinner in the Georgetown home of" Washington Post executive Katharine Graham, the Washington Post reports. The bipartisan guest list included Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan and Diane Sawyer.

• Lutheran, Catholic and Jewish groups "are raising concerns" that Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives could result in "potential religious discrimination and coercion," AP reports. The groups are "echoing arguments from civil libertarian quarters."
• Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson is criticizing Bush's faith-based plan because he said "such groups as the Unification Church, the Hare Krishnas and the Church of Scientology 'could all become financial beneficiaries of the proposal to expand eligibility for government grants to religious charities,'" the Washington Post reports.

• Two felons pardoned by former President Clinton paid about $400,000 to Clinton's brother-in-law, Hugh Rodham, "to lobby the White House to pardon or commute" their sentences, CBSNews.com reports. Clinton and wife Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., denied knowing about the payments, and Hugh Rodham returned the money Wednesday.
• "A congressional investigative committee immediately demanded documents and answers" in light of the information about Hugh Rodham's role, AP reports.
• In Switzerland, recently-pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich is "appreciated for his contribution to government coffers as well as for his private patronage of Zurich's opera, Lucerne's culture center and Zug's hockey team," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• Rich donated $25,000 to the first mayoral campaign of Ehud Olmert, "the mayor of Jerusalem and one of many prominent Israeli supporters of... Rich's successful quest for a presidential pardon," the New York Times reports.
• Slate has a "Who's Who" of other fugitive financiers.

• The Senate Intelligence Committee will conduct a closed hearing next Wednesday "to press FBI Director Louis Freeh and CIA Director George Tenet for some specifics" on the case of alleged spy Robert Philip Hanssen, AP reports. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said the committee will be looking into "how we can prevent a repetition."
• Several of Hanssen's associates said Wednesday that he had a great deal of access inside the FBI and was "among the most technologically sophisticated officials" there, the Washington Post reports.
• Former FBI and CIA chief William H. Webster, who is helping to assess the damage from the case, "said Wednesday that he plans to examine whether the FBI -- long reluctant to require periodic polygraph testing of its agents -- should use polygraphs more aggressively to ferret out possible spies," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• The case "has exposed weaknesses in FBI internal security, including document-handling procedures," the Washington Times reports.

• "Most of the bombs dropped by U.S. warplanes on Iraqi radar stations during last week's airstrikes missed their mark," the Washington Post reports.
• North Korea "has warned that it may end its promise to suspend long-range missile tests" because of what it calls the United States' "hard-line stance in its relations," BBCNews.com reports.
• Colombian officials said Wednesday that a group of guerrillas fired at "an armed rescue team that included several American civilians... when the rescuers plucked the crew of a downed police helicopter from the middle of a firefight with guerrillas Sunday," the Miami Herald reports. A pilot was wounded.
• The State Department may send "a special envoy to Japan to talk about the sinking of" the Japanese teaching boat by the USS Greeneville, Reuters reports.
• Several members of Congress visiting India on Wednesday "indicated that economic sanctions imposed by Washington on India after it conducted nuclear tests in 1998 may soon be lifted," UPI reports.
• Russia is becoming more open to the possibility that "antimissile defenses might eventually be needed to protect American territory," the New York Times reports.
• The United Nations on Thursday "agreed... on a step by step plan for the withdrawal of all foreign troops" from Congo, the New York Times reports.

• The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday "that states may not be sued by workers seeking money damages" under the Americans With Disabilities Act, Reuters reports.
• The court also ruled that the federal government broke its promise to veterans by denying them military medical coverage after the age of 65, AP reports.

• New York State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro, who has "a reputation as a Republican team player and an inside track as a member of a Bush administration transition team," is "under consideration to head the National Park Service," the Albany Times Union reports.
• Robert Fabricant, former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman's (R) chief counsel, will be named general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.
• Bush has nominated Massachusetts Turnpike Chairman Andrew Natsios to become administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, the Boston Herald reports.
• Pennsylvania Education Secretary Eugene W. Hickok has been mentioned as a possible undersecretary to Education Secretary Rod Paige, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Potential 2004 Primary Rivals

• Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., continues to let his name be floated as a potential White House 2004 contender. Roll Call reports that he "pumped another $52,000 into the coffers of dozens upon dozens of state and local candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire in the final three months of 2000."
• During his second class at Columbia University yesterday, former Vice President Al Gore "went as far as suggesting it was a cop-out for journalists to include skeptical views in reports about global warming," the Boston Globe reports.

• Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., officially kicked off his bid yesterday to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., in 2002, Roll Call reports.
• Amidst rumors of Thurmond's failing health, his estranged wife, Nancy Thurmond, asked South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D) to let her finish her husband's term if he is not able to do so himself. "She pitched the idea in a private meeting in Hodges' office, and showed a brief video of" the senator "supporting her proposal," the Columbia State reports.
• A "crowded field of Democrats is considering making a run for" Thurmond's seat. "Potential Democratic contenders include Rep. Jim Clybern, multimillionaire financier Darla Moore and former U.S. Ambassador to Britain Philip Lader," CNN.com reports.

• Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Jane Swift (R), "who has approximately $600,000 in her political war chest, is moving to tap into money from out-of-state contributors and rev up her campaign operation" for 2002, the Boston Globe reports. Swift will take over for Gov. Paul Cellucci (R), who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to Canada.
• In Illinois, John Schmidt (D), a former Justice Department official, said Wednesday he plans to run for governor in 2002. "Schmidt made it clear he plans to exploit the license-for-bribes scandal that has engulfed" Gov. George Ryan (R), the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
• Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., said he will make a decision early next month on whether to run for governor of Oklahoma in 2002 to replace term-limited Gov. Frank Keating (R), Roll Call reports. And the Daily Oklahoman reports Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin (R) "is facing political pressure to bow out of a campaign for governor after recent visits from" Largent "as well as from several Republican lawmakers who told her they will support him for governor."
• Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R) "would have a tough re-election race next year against either Attorney General Richard Blumenthal" or Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., according to a new poll. Neither Blumenthal or Dodd "has announced an intention to run," the Hartford Courant reports.

• California Gov. Gray Davis (D) "suggested Wednesday that as a last resort the state could seize" Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s "prized electrical transmission system through eminent domain," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• The city of Los Angeles is "filing a lawsuit to stop the U.S. Commerce Secretary" from making a decision on whether to use adjusted census numbers, claiming that that power should remain with the Census Bureau, Reuters reports.
• The Virginia state Senate voted 21-20 -- with a tie-breaking vote by Lt. Gov. John Hager (R), who is running for governor in 2001 -- against "legislation requiring sponsors of political ads to appear and speak in their ads," the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports.

• "A winter storm warning is in effect for the Washington area today, and instances of 'thundersnow' could bring between three to six inches of accumulation by the evening rush hour," the Washington Post reports. For more weather updates, click here.