The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Bush's humanity, GOP's last day, lower gas prices, militant cease-fire, WH 2000 report, Calif.-32 election today, Torricelli's potential prosecutor:

• At Florida's Everglades National Park on Monday, President Bush promised to "pay the federal government's share of the $8 billion to be spent over several decades to restore the Everglades," but Democrats "questioned just how secure that important federal and state money is, given that the president has not dedicated a single funding source," the Orlando Sentinel reports.
• In his speech Bush "did not take a stand on" other environmental issues, including "an administration review of a commercial airport in Homestead," which "left activists, including a handful of protesters who dressed as oil barrels, disappointed," the Miami Herald reports.
• An ABC News-Washington Post poll found that confidence in Bush's energy and environmental policies has declined in recent weeks.
• At "a campaign-style rally" at Legends Field on Monday, Bush said his tax cut plan "is evidence of 'a new spirit of accomplishment in Washington,'" the Tampa Tribune reports.
• Bush will help build a home with Habitat for Humanity in Tampa today "while promoting his initiative to support religious groups that perform social services," AP reports.
• On Wednesday Bush will travel to Bedford, Va., to "dedicate a national memorial to the soldiers of D-Day," USA Today reports.
• Health Care Financing Administration head Thomas Scully said Monday that "the federal government is planning for the first time to issue detailed ratings of the quality of care provided by nursing homes, Medicare health plans, dialysis centers and eventually hospitals and doctors," the Washington Post reports.

• In the "last day of power" for Senate Republicans, they will meet "to decide how far to push the incoming Democratic majority on protecting President Bush's judicial nominations," the Washington Times reports. "Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott will meet today with his team of five negotiators before they sit down with Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle to hash out details of reorganizing Senate committees under Democratic chairmen."
• Bush "plans to reach out to three major players in the Senate this week" -- Daschle, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- "as part of an effort to show a commitment to bipartisanship and to calm recent turmoil within the Republican Party," CNN.com reports.
• Arizona Republican voters are urging McCain to stay in the party, the New York Times reports.

• Gasoline prices are beginning to fall slightly, CBSNews.com reports. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the lower prices are a signal that "the worst may be over."
• OPEC begins meeting in Vienna today, and "ministers pledged not to let the loss of about 2.1 million barrels a day disrupt the market, though they made no specific pledges to boost supply," CNNfn.com reports. Wall Street also is watching to see what OPEC will do.

• The Supreme Court on Monday overturned the death sentence of mentally retarded Texas inmate Johnny Paul Penry, saying that jurors must "be given more flexibility in weighing a defendant's mental health and retardation when determining whether that person should be sentenced to death or life in prison," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• The court "asked the federal government to respond to Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols's request for a hearing on whether newly revealed FBI documents might have had an impact on the outcome of Nichols' trial," the Washington Post reports.
• Federal prosecutors said Monday that they opposed delaying Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's execution and that his "'self-declared war against the government' should not be allowed to continue," the Houston Chronicle reports.
• The Supreme Court also "rejected 8-0 a $300,000 cap on civil rights lawsuits," the Washington Times reports.
• AP summarizes the court's actions on Monday.

• "The United States warned North Korea on Monday that progress in bilateral relations would be blocked if Pyongyang lifts a moratorium on tests of long-range missiles," AP reports.
• "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday he has given a limited go-ahead to resume military-to-military contacts with China now that the spy plane incident is being resolved," AP reports.
• Rumsfeld also said "that the American and British pilots who fly patrols over Iraq are under increasingly dangerous fire because of improved Iraqi defenses," the New York Times reports.

• Britian's Labor Party "is likely to retain power in Thursday's national election," the Baltimore Sun reports.
• The militant Palestinian group Hamas "said it joined a cease-fire called by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat," AP reports.
• In Nepal, rioting broke out yesterday after the nation's third king in four days was enthroned, the New York Times reports. "As the street violence neared a boil, the government imposed a curfew."

• The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined in a report on the 2000 election in Florida that 54 percent "of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by black voters" and that the process "was marked by 'injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency,'" the Washington Post reports. The Post has a draft summary of the report.
• "The two Republican appointees who serve on the eight-member commission said they had not been consulted and suggested that with the report being obtained early by the news media today, the report itself could well be overshadowed, making it unlikely that there would be a resolution about what happened in Florida," the New York Times reports. The report was supposed to be released Friday.

• Voters will go to the polls today to choose between former California state Sen. Diane Watson (D) and businesswoman Noel Irwin Hentschel (R) in a special election to fill the 32nd District seat vacated by the death of Rep. Julian Dixon, D-Calif., NationalJournal.com reports.
• Los Angeles residents will choose between James Hahn (D) and Antonio Villaraigosa (D) in a runoff election for mayor today, "with Hahn sounding confident that he can maintain the lead shown in some polls and Villaraigosa predicting that a shift in momentum will deliver him a victory," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• The City of Los Angeles provides election results to be updated all day as voting continues.

• State Sens. Randy Forbes (R) and Louise Lucas (D) squared off last night in their first debate before the June 19 special election in Virginia's 4th District, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The two appeared before about 350 senior citizens and "clashed over Social Security reform and how to pay for prescription drugs for seniors."
• "Within the week, the supporters of Matthew Maxwell Kennedy," who is running in a special election for Massachusetts' 9th District seat, "will sign up one of" the late Democratic Rep. Joe Moakley's "key local aides, district director Fred Clark," the Boston Globe reports.
• Meanwhile, "elections officials in Boston and Taunton said they are worried about the dates reportedly being considered by acting Gov. Jane Swift [R] for the party primaries likely to decide" the 9th District race, the Boston Herald reports. "Officials warned" that the election "could be marred by voter confusion and a poor turnout if set on or near city municipal balloting this fall."
• Kentucky businessman Mike Wiley (R) "is sending minor shock waves through the local Republican establishment by entering next year's GOP primary" for the seat held by Rep. Ken Lucas, D-Ky., the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

• Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Mark Earley (R) "stepped down as attorney general at noon yesterday to concentrate on running for governor," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. His primary opponent, Lt. Gov. John Hager (R), is "contemplating an uncertain political future."
• The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports that Earley "received some sobering campaign news Monday": Democratic candidate Mark Warner "has 30 times more money in the bank."
• South Carolina state Sen. William S. Branton Jr. (R) officially announced his gubernatorial candidacy Monday, becoming "the fifth candidate for the 2002 Republican nomination for governor," the Greenville News reports.
• The Washington state GOP has been running "a faux employment ad... for four days" in the Help Wanted section of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Times classifieds attacking Gov. Gary Locke (D), which reads: "Governor (to) provide leadership on economy, transportation, education, etc. Must be able to get things done (taking credit for others' work not OK). No blame-gamers or buck-passers. www.wsrp.org," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
• "Name recognition alone makes" Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., "a top contender, should he choose to run" for governor in 2002, the Portland Oregonian reports.
• Former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. William W. Scranton (R) has decided not to run for governor in 2002, AP reports.

• Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., "is considering asking Attorney General John Ashcroft to name an independent prosecutor to take charge of the intensive criminal investigation into his personal financial and political activities," the Newark Star-Ledger reports.
• Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said Monday that he "intends to grant clemency to Whitewater figure David Hale, who was convicted in 1999 of falsifying insurance documents," the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
• "Naomi Wolf, who advised Al Gore to act like an 'Alpha male' and wear earth tones, was the 'Lady Macbeth' behind the vice president's split with Bill Clinton," the New York Post reports.

• "Four months after Republicans first accused outgoing Clinton staffers of vandalizing government offices, the White House has provided photos of messy offices as proof," ABCNews.com reports.