In the News

Bush plan would cut survivor benefits

WASHINGTON – If President Bush gets his way, the venerable $255 Social Security death benefit will fade into history. And 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts will lose their monthly survivor payments.

Not, however, if Democrats get their way.

“The Republican Congress has given a whole new meaning to the term ‘women and children first,'” Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic campaign committee, said Tuesday.

“There they go again,” said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the party’s Senate campaign effort. “They can’t resist trying to cut Social Security, and to cut a survivor, a widow or widower’s benefits, it just shows how warped the priorities are in this budget.”

White House officials defended the proposals, included in the budget that Bush submitted to Congress on Tuesday and estimated to trim costs by $3.4 billion over the next decade.

State tax burdens jump across the nation

WASHINGTON – If it seems like your taxes have been going up, they probably have-at least at the state level.

State taxpayer burdens increased by an average of 41 percent from 1994 to 2004, according to newly released data from the Census Bureau. Only one state, Alaska, saw the amount it collects per person decline.

Even when the numbers are adjusted for inflation, the individual tax burdens increase in 43 states.

Hawaiians last year paid the most to state government-$3,050 per person on average. Texans paid the least-an average of $1,368.

Rising education and Medicaid costs have fueled spending growth, which has led to higher taxes, analysts said.

Four Dead in Afghan Protests Over Drawings

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s top Islamic organization on Wednesday called for an end to the violent protests over drawings of the prophet Muhammad, as police shot four protesters to death to stop a crowd from marching on a U.S. military base in the southern part of the country.

“Islam says it’s all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop,” senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. “We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam.”

Other members of Afghanistan’s Ulama Council went on radio and television Wednesday to appeal for calm.

Hundreds rioted outside the U.S. military base in the southern city of Qalat on Wednesday, throwing rocks at Afghan police. Police tried to clear the crowd by firing shots in the air, then were forced to fire into the crowd, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, the provincial police chief.

Less fat may not lower cancer risk

CHICAGO – Eating less fat late in life failed to lower the risk of cancer and heart disease among older women, disappointing news for those who expected greater benefits from a healthy diet.

Even so, scientists say the results from the government study of 48,835 women don’t mean dieters should just throw up their hands and eat cake.

Researchers suggested that the women in the long-running study-with an average age of 62-may have started their healthy eating too late. They also didn’t reduce fats as much as the diet demanded, and most remained overweight, a major risk factor for cancer and heart problems.

“These results do not suggest that people have carte blanche to eat fatty foods without health problems,” said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a co-author of the study and respected nutrition authority.

The eight-year study showed no difference in the rate of breast cancer, colon cancer and heart disease among those who ate lower-fat diets and those who didn’t.