The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Bush meets Israeli president, Lott hits Jeffords, energy divides Congress, terrorists threaten Americans, McVeigh attempts delay, N.J. gov hopefuls file suit, Bush twins find trouble:

• During his first major environmental speech in California's Sequoia National Park on Wednesday, President Bush called for $4.9 billion in spending "to restore the nation's national parks," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "The National Parks Conservation Association... said the president deserved praise for highlighting the needs of the national parks but called his budget 'a bit of a shell game.'"
• Today Bush will meet with Israeli President Moshe Katsav at the White House, UPI reports. Katsav "hopes to... pressure Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to join Israel in an increasingly shaky cease-fire."

• Bush "will ask Congress for extra defense spending of $5.6 billion in the current fiscal year... which is far less than the armed services expected from a new president who campaigned on a promise to substantially increase the Pentagon budget," the Washington Post reports.
• "Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Wednesday that he hopes the government will be able to accelerate the delivery of millions of tax refund checks" that people will receive in the mail because of the recently approved tax cut, AP reports. The checks should begin arriving before September.
• Undersecretary of Agriculture nominee Thomas C. Dorr is being criticized by black legislators for comments he made that seemed "to suggest a link between the economic success of three Iowa farm counties and their lack of ethnic and religious diversity," the Washington Post reports.
• The Bush administration "has dumped an $860,000 federal program that taught public-housing tenants to burn incense, carry lucky gemstones and wear feel-good colors like apricot to reduce stress," the New York Post reports.

• Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., "accused Vermont Sen. James Jeffords on Wednesday of mounting a 'coup of one' that stripped the GOP of Senate control and handed power to the Democrats," AP reports.
• Because of Jeffords' defection from the Republican party and "signs that many voters find... Bush too conservative," the administration "is aggressively seeking ways to hug Democrats tighter and, perhaps more to the point, make sure that the display of affection is vividly public," the New York Times reports.
• Jeffords "has been accompanied by plainclothes officers from the U.S. Capitol Police" because of death threats he has received since announcing his defection, USA Today reports.
• No Senate staffers are expected to lose their jobs after Democrats take over as the majority party in the Senate next week, Roll Call reports.

• A solution to the energy crisis in California "faces a deadlocked Congress and White House when Democrats take control of the Senate and demand wholesale price caps on electricity," the Washington Times reports.
• Energy could be the "wedge issue Democrats need to take control of Congress next year," CNN.com reports.

• On Wednesday the stock market fell based on "investors' growing fears that this spring's rally might have been premature," CBSNews.com reports.
• Today "the government is set to report weekly jobless claims, with economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecasting that new claims edged up to 408,000 last week from 407,000 the prior week," CNNfn.com reports. "Weakness in the job market has been a key factor in the Federal Reserve's move to cut interest rates five times this year."

• After this week's "conviction of four men for their roles in the bombing of two American embassies in Africa in 1998," the State Department on Wednesday "warned Americans worldwide to be alert to possible violence, while the Pentagon said it has upgraded security in Middle East because of terror threats," CBSNews.com reports.
• And "U.S. forces in Bahrain, home of the Navy's 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf, have been put on a heightened state of alert in response to a security threat," FoxNews.com reports.
• Faisal Husseini, 60, "the main PLO official in Jerusalem," died Thursday of a heart attack, AP reports.

• "Timothy McVeigh's lawyers planned to show their client the paperwork requesting a stay of execution this morning and hope to get his approval to file it," the Houston Chronicle reports.
• Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday that he would oppose any effort to delay McVeigh's execution, the New York Times reports.
• Amnesty International on Wednesday criticized "the United States' use of the death penalty" and "singled out the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles... as one of the world's human rights 'scoundrels,'" the Houston Chronicle reports.
• The FBI said Wednesday that "the number of serious crimes in the United States remained steady last year after an eight-year decline," the New York Times reports.
• Accused spy and former FBI agent Robert Hanssen will be arraigned in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., today, AP reports. His lawyers said he will plead innocent.

• Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager (R) yesterday said his GOP rival in the gubernatorial primary, state Attorney General Mark Earley, was "too closely allied with the 'right wing' of" the state party, the Washington Post reports. But Hager acknowledged "that Earley is the front-runner as they head into the GOP convention" this weekend.
• "More than 8,000 Republicans are expected to meet in Richmond tomorrow and Saturday" for the Virginia convention, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. "Earley holds a 954-delegate-vote lead over" Hager.
• Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler (R), who faces former Rep. Bob Franks (R) in the upcoming New Jersey gubernatorial primary, received the backing yesterday of "conservative Republicans in the state Assembly," the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Meanwhile, Franks "pushed education reform in a campaign swing through South Jersey."
• Both Franks and Schundler "are headed to court after trading charges of election law violations," the Trenton Times reports. Franks brings his case before a judge today, and Schundler will have his turn on Monday.
• New Jersey state Sen. Bill Schluter, who is running for governor as an independent, has hired Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's (I) 1998 campaign manager, Doug Friedline, AP reports.
• Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D) "dismisses as absurd any suggestion that he is considering a race other than for re-election in 2002," though his name continues to show "up on lists of presidential mentionables for 2004," the New York Times reports.
• Former Tennessee state Sen. Andy Womack (D) officially announced yesterday that he will run for governor, the Nashville Tennessean reports.
• Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., urged Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., to "stay in Washington and help Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives in 2002" and not run for governor, the Detroit Free Press reports. "Despite Conyers' pleas," Bonior plans to continue his gubernatorial bid.
• "Four of the five rivals for the Democratic nomination for governor" in Michigan "are expected to make appearances at the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual party and policy powwow" on Mackinac Island this weekend, the Detroit News reports. Bonior, who had planned to attend, said he will go to the late Massachusetts Rep. Joe Moakley's (D) funeral instead.

• The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports that though "the issues of Social Security and health-care benefits for seniors" have defined the upcoming special election in Virginia's 4th District, the candidates -- state Sens. Randy Forbes (R) and Louise Lucas (D) -- "are not that far apart" on those issues.
• "Eight Republicans are considering bids to succeed" retiring Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., and "one Democrat has already filed," Roll Call reports. The "GOP nominee will be heavily favored in the Pensacola-based" 1st District.
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said yesterday that Democrats "should not write the 3rd District off" in an upcoming special election, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) "said on Wednesday he had not yet decided whether to sign into law a bill that would ban the execution of convicted killers who are determined to be mentally retarded," Reuters reports.
• The "hard, unglamorous work of containing Florida's biggest wildfire -- the Mallory Swamp fire -- continued Wednesday with the wearying realization that the work may last for weeks," the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
• Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating (R) "declared an emergency Wednesday after days of pounding rains and severe thunderstorms brought widespread flooding and power outages across Oklahoma," the Tulsa World reports.
• Owners of the Perry Package Store & Lounge will lose their liquor license and be fined $15,000 after a February incident "in which a Maryland legislator was told to drink his beer in a back room," the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
• "A 15-year-old boy whose mother says he was 'caught up' in the moment will be formally charged today with committing a hate crime for beating a white truck driver during last month's riots" in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

• Gwen Clare, U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, "quit her post this week for health reasons," Reuters reports.
• "First twins" Jenna and Barbara Bush were refused service at an Austin restaurant after Jenna Bush tried to use someone else's identification to buy alcohol, the New York Daily News reports. Police questioned the 19-year-olds, but no arrests have been made.