Nation briefs 9/27/05

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday he had no insider information when he sold stock this summer in HCA Inc., the hospital company founded by his father and brother. The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into the sales. Also Monday, the chairman of the SEC, former Rep. Christopher Cox, said that to avoid a potential conflict he would take no part in the agency's investigation. Questions have been raised about whether Frist had special information before the sale because insiders in HCA also sold stock during the first half of the year -- and the stock price dipped soon after Frist sold his stock.

Judge releases 'Junior' Gotti on $7 million bond

NEW YORK -- A federal judge agreed Monday to free the son of late mob boss John Gotti on $7 million bond, less than a week after declaring a mistrial on the bulk of the racketeering case against the son of the late Gambino crime boss. Under bail conditions approved by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, John A. "Junior" Gotti will be released but remain under house arrest in his own home on Long Island. Gotti, 41, remained in custody while paperwork was being finalized. His attorneys said he could be home as early as today.

Survey: Retail gas prices drop 20 cents nationwide

CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Gasoline prices that reached all-time highs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina fell by an average of 20 cents a gallon in the past two weeks as some Gulf Coast refineries resumed production, according to a nationwide survey. Self-serve regular averaged $2.81 a gallon nationwide. Mid-grade was pegged at $2.91, while premium-grade was at $3.01 on Sept. 23, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations. Decreased demand also played a role in the decline, Lundberg said Sunday. Sales were virtually nonexistent in flooded and storm-ravaged areas like New Orleans, while the price spike prompted drivers in other parts of the country to reduce consumption.

Study: Weight loss might precede Alzheimer's

CHICAGO -- Unexplained weight loss in older people might be an early signal of Alzheimer's disease, appearing several years before the memory lapses that define the illness, according to an intriguing but unproven new theory. Researchers at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center base the theory on their study of 820 Roman Catholic priests, nuns and brothers aged 75 on average who were followed for up to 10 years. Otherwise healthy participants whose body-mass index fell the most were the most likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Study co-author Dr. David Bennett, director of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, says the results raise the possibility that the disease attacks brain regions involved in regulating food intake and metabolism, as well as memory, and that weight loss is an early symptom.

-- From staff reports