Cheney predicts Democrats will cave

Vice President Dick Cheney in a TV interview Sunday added to the chorus of pressure that the White House hopes to exert on Democrats to approve a new war-spending bill.

“I’m willing to bet” the Democrats eventually will concede, Cheney said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” recorded the day before.

“If they don’t have the votes to override the president’s veto … they will not leave the troops in the field without the resources they need to be able to carry out their mission,” Cheney said. “There may be some people who are so irresponsible that they wouldn’t support that, but I think the fact of the matter is that the majority of Democrats … will in fact give us the bill that’s absolutely essential.”

Of the threat of terrorist attacks at home, Cheney said, “The fact is that the threat to the United States now of a 9/11 occurring with a group of terrorists armed not with airline tickets and box cutters, but with a nuclear weapon in the middle of one of our own cities is the greatest threat we face,” he said. “It’s a very real threat. It’s something that we have to worry about and defeat every single day.”

Asked about this, President Bush downplayed a specific threat. “I’m not going to predict to you the methodology they’ll use,” he said. “Just you need to know they want to hit us again.”

QUINCY, Ill.

Relative held in fire that killed 5

A man was arrested on charges of setting his cousin’s house on fire in western Illinois early Sunday and killing her five children, authorities and a relative said.

Four other people were injured in the blaze, including one who was airlifted to a Springfield hospital in critical condition, said Quincy police Sgt. Doug Schlueter. A relative said the children’s parents, who tried vainly to save them, were among the injured, and that their father was the most seriously hurt.

The bodies of four boys and a girl – ages 5 months to 10 years – were found on the second story, officials said.

Authorities said they arrested Zachary Q. Meeks, 27, after he was questioned about the fire that began around 3 a.m. in this community along the Mississippi River and about 90 miles west of Springfield.

Meeks was arrested on five counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated arson and one count of arson, police said. A prosecutor said formal charges would be filed today.

PORT HURON, Mich.

Police say pilot used drugs, drove

An off-duty Northwest Airlines pilot was suspected of driving under the influence of cocaine when he headed the wrong way on an interstate to avoid the U.S.-Canada border and led deputies on a chase, authorities said Sunday.

Investigators said Walter L. Dinalko, a veteran pilot of 20 years, had flown to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Saturday afternoon and then rented a Hummer that he drove about 70 miles to Port Huron.

Sheriff’s Lt. Jim DeLacy said a “user’s quantity” of a substance suspected to be cocaine was found in the vehicle, including one opened package and one sealed package. Toxicology tests on a sample of the pilot’s blood were pending, DeLacy said.

Dinalko was arraigned Sunday on charges of cocaine possession, eluding police, resisting officers and operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs, DeLacy said. He was released Sunday after posting $10,000 bond.

Shawn Brumbaugh, a spokeswoman for Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines Corp., confirmed that Dinalko was an off-duty Northwest employee but declined further comment.