The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Bush's missile defense speech, Cheney's energy plan, Senate's education debate, DeLay's plan of attack, Nader's court loss, Hager's options, Swift's war chest, Florida's voting laws, Ford's award:

• Today President Bush will give a speech at the Pentagon's National Defense University proposing "a defense missile shield to protect the United States and allies from rogue attacks, linking its deployment with cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal," Reuters reports.
• A Bush administration official said the President "would not discuss the budget, schedule or the likely architecture of a new missile defense system" in his speech, the New York Times reports.
• Bush called the leaders of several friendly nations, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, "to give them advance notice" about the speech and to try to convince them of the need for a missile defense system, Financial Times reports.
• On Wednesday Bush is expected to announce a Social Security commission "to develop a specific plan that for the first time would let workers put part of their payroll taxes into their own private investment retirement accounts," the Washington Times reports.

• About 200 people showed up for Bush's lunch for Congress Monday to mark his first 100 days in office, the Dallas Morning News reports. "None of the top Democratic congressional leaders showed up, and most of their rank-and-file stayed away."
• Meanwhile, "a crowd of chanting environmentalists marched at the White House on Monday" to accuse Bush "of doing more in his first 100 days in office to harm the nation's land, air and water than any previous president," Reuters reports.

• During a speech to the Associated Press' annual meeting in Toronto on Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney said that "there are no quick-fix solution to America's energy problems and the country will have to rely on oil and coal and consider broader use of nuclear power," Reuters reports.
• California Gov. Gray Davis (D) said Monday that he will attempt to bypass Pacific Gas & Electric in trying to purchase its energy grid and attempt "to build support for the deal in Bankruptcy Court," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• A new Los Angeles Times poll shows most Americans think protecting the environment "should take precedence over economic development."

• Today the Senate is scheduled to begin debating the education reform plan, Reuters reports. The bill "would test students each year, overhaul failing schools, and give states more leeway in spending federal education dollars," but it does not include Bush's plan for vouchers.
• On Monday "negotiators in the House and Senate announced tentative agreements designed to increase chances of passing the legislation," the Boston Globe reports. One of the agreements is a plan "to cut by two-thirds the progress toward academic proficiency that students would be required to make on standardized tests."
• A House committee will begin considering campaign finance reform today, the Houston Chronicle reports. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, will launch a "campaign of attack" against the proposal.
• House and Senate leaders hope to have an "agreement on a budget resolution" today, CNN.com reports.
• "The Treasury Department said it expects to pay down $187 billion on the federal debt in the current quarter, with a cash balance of $60 billion on June 30," Dow Jones Newswires reports.

• On Monday a group of U.S. defense contractors "headed to Hawaii... to prepare to fly to China's Hainan island and determine how to disassemble the Navy surveillance aircraft that landed there April 1," AP reports.
• Clark "Sandy" Randt Jr., "a Hong Kong-based business lawyer and... onetime college fraternity brother" of Bush, will be the next U.S. ambassador to China, the Los Angeles Times reports.
• On Monday a Pentagon report "of a U.S. bombing accident in Kuwait that killed six servicemen concluded that the pilot was confused about his position and that the training site was prone to visibility problems," AP reports.
• "Tens of thousands of undocumented foreigners packed U.S. immigration centers" on Monday "as they scrambled to apply for residency under a special program that expired at midnight," the Washington Post reports.

• Explosions in the Gaza Strip and West Bank on Monday killed six Palestinians "and a seventh Palestinian died in a clash with Israeli soldiers," AP reports.
• At least four people died Tuesday as "supporters of ousted leader Joseph Estrada... tried to storm the presidential palace," CBSNews.com reports.
• On Monday the Indonesian Parliament voted "to censure President Abdurrahman Wahid, moving one big step closer to impeachment proceedings and heightening calls for his resignation," the New York Times reports.
• A State Department report said "Iran was the most active sponsor of terrorism worldwide last year," AP reports.

• On Monday the Supreme Court "let stand a California court decision... that religious organizations are exempt from local landmark preservation laws," AP reports.
• The court also turned down a lawsuit from former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader "to bar corporate underwriting of presidential and vice presidential debates," AP reports.
• The California Supreme Court "overturned a death sentence Monday of a man who killed three people in Los Angeles County during a 1984 murder spree" because Hispanics were excluded from the prospective jury pool, AP reports.
• "A federal judge yesterday approved a settlement in a lawsuit that accused the FBI of discriminating against black agents," the Washington Post reports.

• "A source said" Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager (R) "may make up his mind within the next day or so" on whether to continue his bid for governor or to run for re-election instead. Meanwhile, Del. Jay Katzen (R), who is running for lieutenant governor, "was backed by a group of Hager supporters in Northern Virginia," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
• New York gubernatorial candidate Comptroller Carl McCall (D) "ordered his auditors to look into more than $800,000 in contracts" received by a company "headed by a neighbor and relative by marriage of" Gov. George Pataki (R), who is expected to run for re-election, the Albany Times Union reports.
• Rep. Robert Ehrlich Jr., R-Md., said he will not make a decision until this summer on whether to enter Maryland's gubernatorial race, the Baltimore Sun reports. Meanwhile, "the Republican dream candidate has been getting around the state and laying the groundwork for a potential campaign."
• Teamsters Union President James Hoffa "yesterday threw the union's support behind" Pennsylvania state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr.'s (D) "expected campaign for governor next year," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• Massachusetts acting Gov. Jane Swift (R) "raised $402,000 in campaign funds in her first month in office"--"the clearest sign yet that she intends to" run for a full term in 2002, the Boston Globe reports. She now has $1.1 million on hand.
• The Boston Herald reports that Swift "has boosted her once dismal political standing with Massachusetts voters," and a new poll shows "41 percent of voters approving of her job performance."

• Retired Pennsylvania Rep. Bud Shuster's (R) "legacy is one of William Shuster's [R] biggest assets in his campaign to succeed his father in the May 15 special election," AP reports.
• Maryland state Sen. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D), "one of the Democrats' rising stars in Annapolis," announced yesterday that he will challenge Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md., the Baltimore Sun reports.

• The Florida state Legislature has passed legislation that would outlaw the use of punch-card ballots by 2002, a cost that would mostly be incurred by the individual counties, the Miami Herald reports.
• The Mississippi River crested twice yesterday in both St. Paul, Minn., and Newport, Minn., where it hit levels higher than last week's crests in Iowa, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The river is "expected to drop a bit by today as it slowly recedes to below flood stage."
• The D.C. financial control board "transferred management of D.C. General Hospital to a private firm that will phase out inpatient care" yesterday, the Washington Post reports. The Washington Times reports that the board was forced to convene a second meeting to make the decision after "protesters shouted down" the board "at a first meeting."

• Former president Gerald Ford received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award yesterday for pardoning former president Richard Nixon in 1974, the Boston Herald reports.
• California millionaire Dennis Tito reached the international space station yesterday, where he will stay for six days as part of his $20 million vacation, AP reports. "'I love space,' he said with a big grin."