Nation briefs 09/26/02

Texas parolee executed for drug-deal slaying

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A Dallas man was executed Wednesday evening for a robbery-slaying he committed during a drug deal while he was on parole.

Calvin Eugene King, 48, was the 28th Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year and the second in as many days.

In a brief final statement, King muttered, "I want to say God forgives as I forgive and God is the greatest. Thank you."

King was executed for the fatal stabbing of Billy Wayne Ezell, 21, more than eight years ago.

Court records show Ezell was lured to a Beaumont motel Feb. 26, 1994, where he was stabbed, beaten and robbed by King and a partner, Leonard Johnson, also of Dallas. Johnson pleaded guilty and received a life prison term. King got a death sentence.

U.S. to send envoy to North Korea for talks

WASHINGTON -- President Bush plans to send an envoy to North Korea in the near future, reopening security talks with that country for the first time in almost two years, the White House said Wednesday.

President Bush notified South Korean President Kim Dae-jung of his decision in a telephone call, presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer said.

"The two leaders agreed that real progress with the North depends on full resolution of the security issues on the Korean Peninsula, including the North's possession and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," Fleischer said.

The announcement came after U.S. and North Korean officials held two rounds of talks earlier this week about sending an envoy.

A senior administration official, asking not to be identified, said Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly was likely to undertake the mission.

House passes bill to let hospitals refuse abortions

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a bill Thursday that would let hospitals and insurance companies refuse to perform or pay for abortions without forfeiting Medicare and other federal funding.

Anti-abortion activists hailed the 229-189 vote as a key action that would shield Catholic hospitals and other health providers that oppose abortion.

Supporters of abortion rights accused conservatives of attempting to scale back women's access to the procedure.

It is unlikely the measure will win enough support for passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Wednesday's bill would allow health providers and insurers to refuse to perform, pay for, counsel or refer patients for abortion services.

Artwork of falling Sept. 11 victims removed

NEW YORK -- An arts center has removed a window display of silhouettes depicting people who jumped or fell to their deaths in the World Trade Center attacks.

The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning in Queens said the artwork, which went up Sept. 11, was taken down on Tuesday because of complaints that it was insensitive.

The center had planned to show the work through Oct. 5.

The display -- placed in the window panes of the center's neo-Renaissance building -- is the second artwork depicting falling trade center victims to be removed in less than a week in New York.

U.S. immigration agents indicted in man's death

HOUSTON -- Three U.S. immigration agents were charged with beating a Mexican and denying him medical care during a raid that left him paralyzed from the neck down and led to his death a year later.

Immigration and Naturalization Service deportation officers Carlos Reyna, Richard Henry Gonzales and Louis Rey Gomez are accused of violating Serafin Olvera-Carrera's civil rights in the March 25, 2001, raid.

All three, from San Antonio, were freed on $30,000 bail Tuesday.

-- From wire reports