In the News

House renews USA Patriot Act

WASHINGTON – Law enforcement officials get to keep their anti-terror tools, but with some new curbs, under the USA Patriot Act renewal passed by the House in a cliffhanger vote.

The 280-138 vote Tuesday evening passed by just two votes more than needed under House rules requiring a two-thirds majority for legislation handled on an expedited basis.

The vote ended a long battle over how to balance privacy rights against the need to defeat potential terrorists-a political struggle in which President Bush was forced to accept new restraints on law enforcement investigations.

Bush was expected to sign the legislation before 16 major provisions of the law, which was passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, expire Friday.

“The president looks forward to signing the bill,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Bush faces GOP effort to stop ports deal

WASHINGTON – His presidency already at a low point, President Bush now faces a GOP move in Congress to stop a plan he steadfastly supports: a Dubai-owned company’s entry into U.S. port operations.

House Republicans have united around legislation that would block DP World from taking over significant management of terminals at six U.S. ports, ignoring a veto threat from the president.

“We are going to send a very clear signal that we want to have American interests secured by leaders in America,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.

His House Appropriations Committee planned to attach the legislation Wednesday to a $91 billion measure for states recovering from Hurricane Katrina and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Offering few specifics, Lewis said only that his legislation would not single out any one country or company but would effectively prevent DP World from operating U.S. port terminals.

Filmmaker Gordon Parks dies at 93

NEW YORK – Gordon Parks’ groundbreaking journey from poor high school dropout to black pioneer left a legacy of stark and unblinking photographs, genre-forging movies, novels, poetry, music and even a ballet.

“I think most people can do a whole awful lot more if they just try,” Parks told The Associated Press in 2000. “They just don’t have the confidence that they can write a novel or they can write poetry or they can take pictures or paint or whatever, and so they don’t do it, and they leave the planet dissatisfied with themselves.”

Parks, the first black American photojournalist for Life magazine and the first leading black filmmaker with movies such as “The Learning Tree” and “Shaft,” died Tuesday at his home in New York, according to a former wife, Genevieve Young and nephew Charles Parks. He was 93.

“Gordon was the ultimate cool,” said Richard Roundtree, who starred in 1971’s “Shaft,” which spawned a series of black-oriented films. “There’s no one cooler than Gordon Parks.”

Parks covered everything from fashion to sports during his 20 years at Life from 1948 to 1968, but was perhaps best known for his gritty photo essays on the grinding effects of poverty in the United States and abroad and on the spirit of the civil rights movement.

Book says Barry Bonds used steroids

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Barry Bonds’ alleged steroid use is the story of spring training again, no matter how hard he and the San Francisco Giants try to keep the focus on his pursuit of the home-run record.

According to an upcoming book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, Bonds used a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs-including steroids and human growth hormone-for at least five seasons beginning in 1998.

An excerpt from “Game of Shadows,” which lays out extensive details of the slugger’s alleged doping program, appears in the March 13 issue of Sports Illustrated.

“I won’t even look at it. For what? There’s no need to,” Bonds said Tuesday after a workout at Scottsdale Stadium.

The Giants said Bonds would not comment further.