Montana senator to return $150,000
Washington Republican Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana is attempting to cut his ties to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, saying he will return about $150,000 in donations he received from Abramoff and the lobbyist’s clients and associates.
The decision was a reversal from earlier in the week, when a spokesman for Burns said the senator would not return the money because it had already been spent.
Democrats have criticized Burns, who is up for re-election next year, for his connection to the lobbyist at the center of a federal probe that has entangled at least a half dozen lawmakers and Bush administration officials.
Burns’ link to Abramoff has created a flurry of headlines in his home state. Burns had a 48 percent approval rating in a November poll conducted by Montana State University-Billings, one of his lowest approval ratings since the university started asking the question.
More than 500,000 still without power
Charlotte, N.C. Widespread damage from a deadly ice storm left more than half a million customers still in the dark Friday night, and utility officials said the electricity might not be fully restored in parts of the Carolinas until Tuesday.
The storm blew through Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia on Thursday and was blamed for hundreds of traffic accidents and at least four deaths. Ice built up on tree limbs, causing them to snap and pull down power lines.
Duke Power, the leading electricity provider in the hard-hit areas, said the storm inflicted “extreme structural damage” that kept 481,000 customers in the Carolinas without power Friday evening, down from 683,000 at the height of the storm; other utilities reported more than 30,000 still without power.
NYC transit strike delayed until next week
New York Friday, the city’s bus and subway workers put off a potentially crippling strike until at least next week, leaving a cloud of uncertainty hanging over New York at the height of the Christmas rush.
Negotiators for the 33,000-member Transit Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority planned to resume talks this morning.
Both sides had failed to agree on a new contract when the old one expired at midnight Thursday, but the trains and buses kept running, and the union set a new deadline of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Reserve pilot accused of vandalizing cars
Denver The Air Force Reserve plans to discharge a lieutenant colonel accused of defacing cars that had pro-Bush bumper stickers, the military said Friday.
Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau, a pilot with 500 combat hours in the first Persian Gulf war and the Balkans, is charged with criminal mischief for allegedly using paint stripper to write a profanity about Bush in 18-inch-high letters on cars at Denver International Airport.
The cars had bumper stickers supporting President Bush and conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.
Fecteau is charged with 13 counts of criminal mischief, five of them felonies because the damage to five vehicles was estimated at more than $500 each.