Nation briefs 3/4/06

Car plows through crowd at N.C. university

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Authorities planned to charge a former University of North Carolina student with attempted murder after he allegedly drove a sport utility vehicle through a popular gathering spot on campus Friday, clipping and scattering startled bystanders. No one was seriously hurt. Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, who graduated in December, was in the custody of campus police. They intended to charge him with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, said police Capt. George Hare. The FBI joined the case because Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims," said agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.

After meds on market, studies left pending

WASHINGTON -- Drug companies sometimes are allowed to hurry medicines to market in exchange for a promise to continue studying their safety and effectiveness. Those studies haven't begun in two-thirds of cases, the government reported Friday. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that drug companies had pledged to conduct 1,231 drug studies. But as of Sept. 30, 65 percent of the studies were still pending. Federal regulators often grant new drugs expedited approval on condition that their manufacturers then carry out so-called "post-marketing" studies. The outcome of those studies can lead to changes in how a drug is made, prescribed and used.

Agencies withheld $471 million in funds

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency was among seven federal agencies that improperly impounded appropriations by Congress last year in violation of rules. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog agency, discovered that $471 million worth of funds had been withheld by various agencies after Bush proposed cutting previously appropriated funds to help pay for hurricane relief. The EPA improperly withheld $166 million in clean water grants to states and Indian tribes for almost two months, while the Labor Department has yet to release $45 million in grants for job training and other programs for youthful offenders. The clash with Congress comes as Bush is proposing to kill 91 programs in the upcoming fiscal year to save $7.3 billion.

Lawmakers to expand oversight of surveillance

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers have agreed to expand the House Intelligence Committee's oversight of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance program -- a deal that would open a review of whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act needs to be modernized. The House committee will seek full briefings for select members of the panel. The deal was worked out Thursday between House Intelligence chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. The two lawmakers sent the Justice Department a list of 27 questions they want answered.

Bush: Outsourcing hurts U.S. workers

WASHINGTON -- You lost your job. It's probably one of the most dreaded things you'll ever hear from your boss. Then you find out that your white-collar position moved to the other side of the globe -- to India. President Bush says he feels your pain and that education -- not trade protectionism -- is the answer to deal with the increasing globalized world in which we live and work. Bush discussed the politically sensitive issue in New Delhi on Friday. "It's painful for those who lose jobs," Bush said. "But the fundamental question is, how does a government or society react to that. And it's basically one of two ways. One is to say, losing jobs is painful, therefore, let's throw up protectionist walls. And the other is to say, losing jobs is painful, so let's make sure people are educated so they can find -- fill the jobs of the 21st century," he said. Last year, 11,375 U.S. workers were laid off because their jobs were moved overseas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2004, 16,197 workers were laid off because their job was moved overseas.

-- From wire reports

12 years for tearful 'cell phone bandit'

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- After tearfully apologizing to the bank tellers she robbed, the young woman dubbed the "cell phone bandit" was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison. Candice R. Martinez, 20, gained notoriety when a surveillance camera video showed her calmly chatting on her cell phone while a nervous teller complied with a typed note demanding cash. That Oct. 12 heist -- the first of four -- netted about $14,000, and was followed by robberies in Springfield, Manassas and Ashburn. In the final robbery, a teller reported that Martinez flashed a gun. U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee sentenced Martinez to five years for conspiracy to commit bank robbery and seven years for using a firearm in a crime of violence. The sentence was identical to one Lee handed down a week earlier to Martinez's boyfriend, Dave C. Williams, 19.

-- From wire reports