Cheney passes annual physical

Vice President Dick Cheney’s high-tech pacemaker is working properly and has not been activated by any irregular heartbeats, according to his annual physical on Saturday that showed his overall heart condition was stable.

The 65-year-old Cheney, who has a long history of heart ailments, had an electrocardiogram and imaging to check on repaired aneurysms on the back of his knees, his spokeswoman said. Doctors also checked the condition of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which was placed in his chest in June 2001.

Cheney has had four attacks; the first in 1978, when he was 37, and the fourth on Nov. 22, 2000, after the election that made George W. Bush president.

New York

Potential walkout halts construction

Contractors called off work at the World Trade Center site and more than 100 other spots across the city Saturday in anticipation of a strike by more than 3,000 heavy equipment operators, officials said.

A spokesman who answered the telephone at the International Union of Operating Engineers’ Local 15 office Saturday said no contract agreement was in place with the General Contractors Association of Greater New York.

Contractors shut down their sites in anticipation of a walkout, said Chris Ward, managing director of the contractors association. The sites affected included a road rehabilitation project and a sewer repair project. After the July Fourth weekend, more than 1,000 sites could be affected, he said.

Ward said earlier that the operating engineers, who make as much as $82 an hour, rejected an offer of 6 percent salary increases each year over five years.

Hollister, Calif.

Bikers still rally, but in smaller numbers

Thousands of bikers roared into the town made famous by Marlon Brando’s 1953 film “The Wild One” on Saturday, defying a city council decision to cancel one of the country’s most celebrated motorcycle rallies.

The bikers cruised Hollister’s streets on personalized choppers, racing bikes and tricked-out Harley-Davidsons.

Dozens of police officers, many from other cities, patrolled the streets. Bars were packed before noon.

The Hollister Independence Rally has been a summer destination for bikers for decades, much like the Sturgis rally in South Dakota. But earlier this year, the Hollister City Council voted to cancel the 4th of July weekend event, saying it was too expensive and too dangerous.

Bikers showed up anyway, though in much smaller numbers. Police Capt. Bob Brooks estimated 5,000 people attended Saturday compared to 15,000 to 20,000 in previous years.

Sacramento

Security office denies monitoring

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s anti-terror office said Saturday that it has never monitored the activities of political groups in California, denying a newspaper report that it had tracked rallies and protests.

Matthew Bettenhausen, director of the state Office of Homeland Security, said consultants had twice included upcoming political events in a daily security briefing they were developing, but they were told to stop the practice.

“It’s not our policy,” Bettenhausen said in an interview Saturday. “It’s not part of our values to engage in the violation of civil rights and civil liberties.”

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that intelligence reports prepared for the Office of Homeland Security had included details of the rallies. The reports were prepared by SRA International, a company hired to provide counterterrorism analysis.