Nation briefs 10/29/02

'Rudy!' movie to be made in Canada -- not N.Y.

NEW YORK -- Filmmakers are going to Canada to make a movie about former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, angering industry officials who say the film belongs in Giuliani's hometown.

"Rudy!" -- based on an unauthorized biography of the man known as America's mayor -- is set to begin filming Nov. 7 in Montreal. James Woods stars as the Brooklyn-born former mayor and Penelope Ann Miller plays ex-wife Donna Hanover in the film, which intersperses flashbacks from Giuliani's childhood and political career with his performance on Sept. 11, 2001.

Carlton America is producing the film for the USA Networks cable channel, which has scheduled a release for next year. Like the book "Rudy!" it was made without Giuliani's cooperation.

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel declined comment on the film Monday.

Film officials said a few scenes may be filmed in New York City.

Blake's attorney resigns over interview objections

LOS ANGELES -- Harland Braun, the lawyer who has represented Robert Blake since his wife was shot to death last year, announced his resignation Monday, saying he objected to the actor's decision to grant a jailhouse interview to ABC.

Braun said he had met with Blake and expressed his opposition to an interview with Diane Sawyer.

It is up to the judge presiding over the Blake case to decide whether to let Braun resign.

Braun said the ABC interview was set for Friday.

The interview request was being reviewed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, but such requests are usually denied for security and logistics reasons, spokesman Darren Harris said.

Blake is charged with murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, last year outside a restaurant where they had dined. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 11.

Separate buggy crashes kill two, injure seven

LEON, N.Y. -- A horse pulling an Amish buggy apparently got spooked, sending the buggy into a pond and drowning two children. In central Pennsylvania, a van hit a horse and buggy, injuring seven family members.

The Miller family -- two parents and seven children -- were traveling in the town of Leon, about 40 miles south of Buffalo, on Sunday. Their horse apparently was spooked and the buggy went off the roadway and into a pond.

Twelve-year-old Jacob and 4-month-old Veronica drowned, Cattaraugus County sheriff's deputies said.

At Holtwood, Pa., a van plowed into a horse and buggy on a two-lane bridge over the Susquehanna River late Sunday, critically injuring six members of an Amish family, including five children, and seriously injuring a seventh.

Bush approves medical products-review law

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed legislation on Monday that requires manufacturers of medical devices to pay user fees in return for speedier government review of their products.

The House and Senate approved the measure without debate last week. The president signed it without fanfare while on a Western-state campaign swing.

Under the law, manufacturers of devices such as catheters, pacemakers and MRI machines will pay just over $25 million in fees in the next year. In exchange, the government will hire more people and improve review practices to allow for speedier scrutiny.

The bill's congressional sponsors said the new process was necessary because the Food and Drug Administration lacks adequate resources, and the regulatory process unnecessarily slows delivery of too many critical devices to patient use.-- From wire reports