Speaker may fight ruling on seizure

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Sunday he may challenge a judge’s order allowing FBI agents to examine documents seized at a Louisiana congressman’s Capitol Hill office in a bribery probe.

Hastert said he believed Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was “in big trouble” and that the House would not be joining in support of Jefferson himself. But he said the House separately might seek to make clear its position that the Justice Department cannot randomly and wantonly search lawmakers’ offices.

NEW YORK

U.S. aid sought for powerless Queens

A group of political leaders urged Gov. George Pataki on Sunday to designate a section of the city suffering from a prolonged power failure a disaster area, making it eligible for federal aid.

“Anywhere else it would be,” Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., said at a news conference in the borough of Queens, which officials often complain is overlooked. “If this were an area of 100,000 people in upstate New York, the governor would have declared it a disaster area.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said electricity has been restored to 13,000 of an estimated 25,000 Consolidated Edison customers who lost power during last week’s heat wave and that Con Ed workers were laboring to restore power to the rest. “Are we satisfied with the progress?” he asked. “It is what it is.”

DENVER

Sickness disrupts Las Vegas airport

A section of the Las Vegas airport was closed for several hours after a flight arrived from Denver with 11 sick people on board, officials said Sunday.

Passengers and crew members on United Airlines Flight 1491 were quarantined for several hours Saturday night at McCarran International Airport while the plane, passengers and luggage were checked by hazardous materials experts, said Elaine Sanchez, a McCarran spokeswoman.

Four of the victims were flight attendants, Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the cause was still being investigated.