Nation digest 12/14/04

Bush nominates EPA chief to head HHS

WASHINGTON -- President Bush selected Michael Leavitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, as secretary of Health and Human Services on Monday, filling one of the last two openings in his second-term Cabinet. Bush praised Leavitt as a "fine executive" and "a man of great compassion ... an ideal choice to lead one of the largest departments of the United States government." Leavitt, Utah's governor for 11 years before joining the administration in late 2003, would succeed Tommy Thompson if confirmed by the Senate. Before becoming governor, he was chief operating officer of the Leavitt Group, a family insurance firm.

Chief justice bows out of voting on some cases

WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has bowed out of voting in some of the Supreme Court cases he missed this fall while receiving treatment for thyroid cancer, a court spokeswoman said Monday. Rehnquist, who has been absent from the bench for nearly two months, will not vote in cases that were heard in November, unless the remaining eight justices are deadlocked. He does plan to participate in the cases argued in December, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

McCain lacks confidence in secretary of defense

PHOENIX -- U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday that he has "no confidence" in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, citing Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and the failure to send more troops. McCain said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation, explaining that President Bush "can have the team that he wants around him." "I have strenuously argued for larger troop numbers in Iraq, including the right kind of troops -- linguists, special forces, civil affairs, etc.," said McCain, R-Ariz. "There are very strong differences of opinion between myself and Secretary Rumsfeld on that issue."

Medicare payment errors nearly $20 billion in '03

WASHINGTON -- The private companies that process health claims for Medicare made nearly $20 billion in erroneous or questionable payments last year, an error rate of 9.3 percent, the government said Monday. The performance was a slight improvement over last year. The error rate measures claims that were paid despite being medically unnecessary, inadequately documented or improperly coded. In some instances, Medicare asked health-care providers for medical records to back up their claims and got no response.

FBI: Murders down in first half of year

WASHINGTON -- Murders in the United States dropped by nearly 6 percent in the first half of the year after rising for four straight years, the FBI reported Monday. Almost all other crimes declined, too. Overall, violent crime was down 2 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same period of 2003, according to preliminary figures provided to the FBI by more than 10,700 state and local police agencies. Violent crime includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crimes also declined about 2 percent, and arsons fell by nearly 7 percent. The only crime that increased was rape, which was up 1.4 percent nationwide and 6.5 percent in cities with populations of 1 million or more.

-- From wire reports