The Earlybird: Today's headlines

House votes on income tax cut, Bush visits the Dakotas, education's on the table, school violence runs rampant, Hispanics could surpass blacks, Sharon to visit Bush, Discovery takes off, Largent makes a decision, Jesse can't stay out of the news:

• The House is set to approve President Bush's plan to cut income tax rates today, the Washington Post reports. But the legislation won't pass the Senate as easily: "Five Senate Republicans, along with six Democrats, said they would push to link any future tax cuts to achieving certain levels of debt reduction."
• Democrats "complain" that the legislation has been pushed through the House so quickly and said "it could come back to bite the president when he seeks Democrats' help with initiatives such as his Social Security reforms and prescription drug plan for seniors," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• A Los Angeles Times poll found that "although a narrow majority of Americans now says it would support Bush's proposed $1.6-trillion tax cut, nearly half believe it would not help them personally and a clear majority worries that the plan could throw the federal budget back into deficit."
• House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., "has tapped the conservative Blue Dog Coalition in the Caucus to lead the party's opposition in today's floor debate" over Bush's tax plan, Roll Call reports.
• Bush will be in North Dakota today to rally support for his tax cut and education plans, the Bismarck Tribune reports. The Fargo Forum reports that Bush will recognize a 95-year-old man who moved from Texas at the rally.
• Bush will also travel to South Dakota today, the Pierre Capital Journal reports. Both of that state's senators are opposed to Bush's budget plan.

• During his meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Wednesday, Bush talked about North Korea, saying "he had no immediate plans to resume negotiations on ending its missile program and questioning whether it would honor such an accord," Reuters reports. Dae-jung had "hoped the new administration would quickly restart the talks begun under former President Clinton."
• Bush "has asked the Pentagon to review an Army decision to issue black berets to all soldiers, in response to complaints from disgruntled Rangers over losing the uniqueness of their headgear," the Washington Times reports.
• Vice President Dick Cheney returned to work Wednesday, "keeping a schedule that seemed anything but reduced," the New York Times reports.
• John J. DiIulio Jr., the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, on Wednesday "lashed out at critics on the religious right who oppose President Bush's plan to provide government funds to religious charities," the Washington Post reports.

• The Senate Health and Education Committee on Wednesday began to hammer out the details of Bush's education plan, Reuters reports. The legislation, which the committee is expected to approve today, would "require annual student testing, and would dedicate $5 billion over five years to help all children learn to read by the end of the third grade."
• The education debate "offered a glimpse at how the new balance of power could prove a challenge to enacting policy.... Republicans faced a Democratic firewall on the issues of private-school tuition vouchers and no-strings-attached education block grants to states. Democrats failed to win approval for money devoted to school modernization and teacher development," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• National Journal News Service reports on the committee markup of the education legislation.

• The House voted to repeal former President Clinton's workplace regulation that was "intended to protect as many as 102 million workers from repetitive-motion injuries," the Washington Times reports. The Senate already has approved a similar measure, and now the legislation awaits Bush's signature.
• The Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony about voting machine failures on Wednesday, and committee members "suggested... there are no quick fixes," Reuters reports.
• "Senate leaders are on the verge of bringing a two-year committee-funding measure to a floor vote to put the final touches on the historic 50-50 power-sharing deal reached two months ago," Roll Call reports.
• Fourteen senators helped to build a Habitat for Humanity home in Capitol Heights, Md., on Wednesday, the Washington Times reports.

• Fifteen-year-old Charles Andrew Williams, who is accused of killing two of his classmates during a California school shooting on Monday, was charged as an adult with two counts of murder on Wednesday, the Sacramento Bee reports.
• Students returned to Santana High School in Santee, Calif., on Wednesday, AP reports.
• In unrelated incidents in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, a 14-year-old girl shot a classmate in the shoulder, and four other people were arrested for making threats at schools or bringing weapons to schools, the Philadelphia Daily News reports.
• And "at least 11 California students were arrested and several more suspended for reportedly making threats against classmates or bringing real or fake weapons to schools" on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

• "Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating allegations that former President Clinton's brother, Roger Clinton, solicited payment to help an Arkansas man obtain a presidential pardon in January," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• "A group of lawyers that includes Hugh Rodham" have "submitted a videotaped tribute from Mr. Clinton about its role in tobacco-related lawsuits" as part of an effort to be awarded legal fees by an arbitration panel, the New York Times reports.

• The "biggest surprise yet to emerge from the 2000 census" is that "Hispanics in the U.S. are on the verge of surpassing blacks as the largest minority group in the nation," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• The "Hispanic population has grown by a breathtaking 58 percent over the last decade," the Chicago Tribune reports.
• "The Census Bureau was to send redistricting data to governors and state legislative leaders to 11 states this week." Those states are Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, AP reports.

• An FBI agent testified Wednesday that Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, "a suspect in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa," said the bombings "were intended to weaken the United States so targets inside its borders would be easier to hit," AP reports.
• "The Navy's chief investigator examining the USS Greeneville accident acknowledged yesterday there could be flaws in some of the information that led him to conclude there were problems inside the sub's control room before the collision with a Japanese fishing vessel," the Honolulu Advertiser reports.

• Taking over the reins as Israeli prime minister on Wednesday, Ariel Sharon said "his primary objective was pragmatic: to provide security to Israel while fighting diligently against violence and terrorism," the New York Times reports.
• Bush has invited Sharon "to visit him on March 20," Reuters reports.
• "Rescue workers combed the rubble" Wednesday "looking for clues about the cause" of an "explosion in a school in central China" that "killed 41 people, mostly children, on Tuesday," the New York Times reports.
• "U.S. soldiers in Kosovo" wounded two gunmen Wednesday as they "traded fire" on Wednesday "with gunmen near the Macedonian border, where American troops have been working to contain an ethnic Albanian insurgency," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• On Wednesday the United Nations Security Council "called for NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo to increase security in response to ethnic Albanian guerrilla attacks on Macedonian territory," UPI reports.

• The space shuttle Discovery took off this morning "on a mission to replace the weary crew of the international space station with three fresh workers," AP reports.
• "Russia will take out $200 million in insurance against the chance of its Mir space station raining debris onto populated areas when it plunges to Earth this month," Reuters reports.

• Roll Call reports that Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., "has decided to give up his seat to run for governor in 2002, setting the stage for a potential primary fight with fellow" Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla. "Largent discussed his plans last month in Oklahoma City with" Gov. Frank Keating (R), "state GOP legislative leaders and top party officials and is expected to announce his decision publicly within the next few weeks."
• "Less than a day after taking him out of the race for California governor, a Hollywood publicist put Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the speculative mix Wednesday by saying the actor's mind 'is not made up,'" the Los Angeles Times reports.
• The New York state chapter of the AFL-CIO "will hold an unprecedented campaign fund-raiser for" Gov. George Pataki (R), the New York Post reports. The event is expected to "raise about $50,000 at a $500-a-ticket event" Monday.
• New Jersey state Sen. Bill Schluter (R) "announced he has formed an exploratory committee to determine if he should run as a grass-roots candidate" in the 2001 gubernatorial race against acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco (R) and Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler (R), the Trenton Times reports.
• Alexandria businessman Mark Warner, the "last great hope of the Democratic Party of Virginia," is "set to launch his campaign for governor today with a centrist message emphasizing his ability to lead Virginia in a high-tech economy," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
• Minnesota state auditor Judi Dutcher (R) "could be close to announcing a bid for the governor in 2002," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

• In Massachusetts, Sen. John Kerry (D) says he is concentrating on winning re-election in 2002, yet he "is constantly asked whether he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004," the Boston Globe reports. And "as Kerry works on taking care of business at home, he is clearly plotting a future beyond Massachusetts."
• Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, "is actively considering a challenge to first-term" Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Roll Call reports. Allen has already "talked with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Maine Democrats about the possibility of running and said he is being urged to make the race by party leaders."
• International trade lawyer Ira Shapiro (D) "said Wednesday he would seek the Democratic nomination" to run against Rep. Constance Morella, R-Md., CongressDailyAM reports.

• The Iowa state Senate voted 27-23 to make English the state's official language, joining 26 other states with such legislation, the Des Moines Register reports.
• Founder and former chairman of Prodigy Greg Carr "has bought neo-Nazi Aryan Nations' former headquarters" in Idaho "and plans to turn it into a museum and human rights education center," AP reports.

• "The American Conservative Union said on Wednesday it would file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Rev. Jesse Jackson, questioning funds two of his tax-exempt groups received from the Democratic National Committee," Reuters reports.