Bush outlines $7.1 billion flu-fighting strategy
WASHINGTON – Faced with how to stretch scarce vaccines and where to put hacking patients when hospitals overflow in the next super-flu crisis, cities and states are awaiting instructions on how to make President Bush’s $7.1 billion plan work.
States already got an unpleasant surprise Tuesday when Bush said he wants them to purchase millions of doses of an anti-flu drug with their own money to supplement the federal government’s stockpile.
“They expect us to pay 75 cents on a dollar for flu medicine-that’s going to be a tough pill to swallow,” Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, chairman of the National Governors Association, said through a spokesperson.
Bush outlined his strategy to get ready for a possible worldwide flu outbreak, emphasizing better early warning systems to spot super-strains of influenza before they reach the United States and better ways to brew vaccines to protect against them.
Colorado voters give up $3.7 billion in tax refunds
DENVER – Colorado residents have voted to suspend their Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the strictest government spending limit in the nation, and give up more than $3 billion in tax refunds to help the state bounce back from a recession.
Fiscal conservatives were dismayed at the outcome Tuesday night and worried about its impact on other states considering similar spending limits.
But supporters said Colorado couldn’t afford to vote no, not with higher education, health care and transportation already suffering from millions of dollars in budget cuts.
“It means we can join 49 other states recovering from the recession, we can make up some of the cuts,” said Republican Gov. Bill Owens, who stunned his own party by joining Democrats in crafting the ballot measure.
Australia receives threat of terror attack
CANBERRA, Australia – Australian authorities have received specific intelligence that terrorists are planning an attack on the country, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to increase the powers of Australia’s intelligence agencies.
Howard refused to give any details of the threat, saying he did not want to jeopardize counterterror operations, but he introduced a minor amendment to counterterrorism laws in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“The reason for this amendment is that the government has received specific intelligence and police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat,” Howard said at a nationally televised news conference in Canberra.
Conductor Skitch Henderson dies at 87
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Skitch Henderson, the Grammy-winning conductor who lent his musical expertise to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby before founding the New York Pops and becoming the first “Tonight Show” band leader, died Tuesday. He was 87.
He got his big break in 1937, when he filled in for a sick pianist touring with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. When the tour wrapped up in Chicago, he used the original pianist’s ticket and went to Hollywood.
In 1954, NBC hired him as the bandleader for Steve Allen’s “Tonight Show.” Even as the hosts changed from Allen to Jack Paar to Johnny Carson, Henderson was a constant.
He founded the New York Pops in 1983, using popular tunes to make orchestral music exciting. “People come to hear music that’s accessible to them – old songs that are powerful and don’t go away,” he said.