Around the Nation

Around the Nation

Conservatives attack Governor Bush

The sniping, coming a year before the first primary votes will be cast, was part of a busy day in GOP politics. Among the other developments:

n Bush's Vice President Dan Quayle said last night he will file a formal statement of candidacy next week, the first step in his bid for the presidency. "I've thought about this for a long time. I've wanted to be president for a long time, and the year 2000 is looking like my opportunity," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"When you say compassionate conservatism, you are basically attacking conservatism because you are saying conservatives aren't compassionate," Quayle said.

n The Republican National Committee, opened its three-day winter meeting in Washington. The highlight will be the vote today to determine whether to oust Chairman Jim Nicholson for the party's poor showing in 1998 elections. Supporters of Florida party Chairman Tom Slade, the only challenger, gained some momentum Thursday but needs several Nicholson backers to switch their allegiance in secret balloting.

-A controversial resolution that would have forbidden the RNC from taking money from the gambling industry was rejected by an RNC committee.

-Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, who received three standing ovations at CPAC, warned against playing politics with religion. "If we are going to try to use God as a wedge issue, I think it's wrong and it's dumb," he said.

-Former New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato said he doesn't believe New York Gov. George Pataki has any plans to enter the presidential primaries, but, D'Amato told an Albany radio station, "if the leaders stumble along the way, he could then move to run for president or certainly be selected as the vice presidential nominee."

Pataki announced Wednesday he has formed a political action committee to finance his stepped-up travel across the country for a series of speeches and to make donations to other Republicans.

Bush and Dole did not attend CPAC, but the governor's office quickly responded to the criticism.

"It is somewhat perplexing that fellow Republicans would attack a popular conservative governor of a very conservative state whose overwhelming re-election proved a conservative philosophy can erase the gender gap and attract a record number of minority voters while remaining true to conservative principles," said Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes in a telephone interview from Austin, Texas.

Alexander, Bauer and Forbes compared Bush's "compassionate conservative" slogan to his father's promise to be a "kinder and gentler" Republican. They want the conservative activists, many of whom are still angry at President Bush for raising taxes, to punish the son for the father's missteps.

"Not long after we qualified our language, we were qualifying our principles," Alexander said, referring to the elder Bush. "We accepted a tax increase ... and soon found ourselves vacating the White House for the first time in 12 years."

Bauer didn't criticize Bush in his speech, but told reporters that conservatives "need to know that the last Bush talked about kinder and gentler, and that resulted in an election loss."

Forbes' rhetoric was the toughest.

"If we allow ourselves to be seduced by the siren song of these mushy moderates, make no mistake: They will take us down to defeat once again," he said.

Forbes confirmed later that he had Bush and his "compassionate conservative" slogan in mind when he gave the speech. "The phrase itself is fine. The key is whether it will be followed by substantive issues the public wants," he said. "They've had enough sizzle. They want steak."

Research: cells may alter functionunction

WASHINGTON - A patient's own cells might someday be used to grow new organs - a development suggested by a breakthrough lab experiment that found the building-block cells that normally make brain tissue in adult mice could be changed into blood-making cells.

These so-called stem cells, the foundation source of the body's tissue, have been identified as a way to make new skin, liver and other organs. But in previous research the cells were harvested from embryos, a technique that set off a storm of ethical objections.

The new research suggests that even mature stem cells, such as from the adult brain or bone marrow, can change into the progenitor cells for other types of tissue.

If such a technique also workes in humans, embryos may not be needed for such research.

"You may be able to use your own stem cells to make new tissue," said Angelo Vescovi, head of a team that conducted the mouse experiment. "As a concept, I don't see any problem in adult stem cells being used to make new skin, for instance."

The research shows "there are alternative strategies" to harvesting stem cells from embryos, said Ronald McKay, a National Institutes of Health researcher and a pioneer in stem cell studies.

In a developing embryo, they produce the cells that become the body parts.

After birth, some stem cells are specially programmed to replenish some tissues such as blood and skin.

Researchers earlier had isolated stem cells from human embryos or from aborted fetuses, and grew the cells in a lab. When treated with specific proteins, the cells began to grow different types of tissue cells.

That work set off a frenzy of studies. But the research was shadowed by ethical concerns because it was thought that only stem cells from embryos retained the ability to grow into a variety of organs. Many groups objected to medical experimentation with human embryos and Congress forbade federal money for such studies.

It also led President Clinton to order his National Bioethics Advisory Commission to consider the moral issues of such research. Earlier this week, NIH director Harold Varmus said his agency concluded that research with lab-grown stem cells didn't violate the congressional mandate, even though the cells originated from human embryos.

But Vescovi's work with mice suggests that any stem cell - even from an adult - can be reeducated to make any type of tissue.

Vescovi, of the National Neurological Institute in Milan, Italy, is senior author of a study to be published today in the journal Science.

"This shows that the mature stem cells are a lot more plastic than we imagined ... they can produce a lot more cell types than was previously thought," said Christopher Bjornson, a researcher at the University of Washington, Seattle, on the team.

"A bone marrow stem cell might be able to produce tissue for the brain ... and the skin stem cell might be able to make other cell types," Bjornson said.

In the experiment, researchers used mouse neural stem cells, which normally would develop into three types of brain and nerve tissue.

They injected the cells into the blood stream of a second group of mice whose bone marrow had been killed with radiation. The cells migrated naturally to the void left by the killed bone marrow.

Once there, they transformed from neural stem cells into blood-making cells - a complete change from their original role.

But just what caused the change is unknown.

And it's unclear if adult neural stem cells have been isolated in humans, although mature stem cells for intestines, skin and blood have been identified, Vescovi said. McKay said his lab and one other had found mature human neural stem cells.

Bjornson emphasized that the new work involves only mice and that "huge steps are needed" before stem cell technology can ever be used for humans.

One key problem is learning how to direct stem cells to grow a specific organ. Although researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, had earlier prompted stem cells to start making a variety of tissue cells, the growth was not guided toward a specific cell type.

If that problem can be solved, researchers believe it's theoretically possible that stem cells could be used to grow new livers or skin, make cells to renew a failing heart, or replace nerve cells killed by Alzheimer's.

Four killed in Arkansas storms

At least four people were killed - including a baby in the small town of Beebe northeast of Little Rock. More than a dozen were injured statewide and tens of thousands were without power.

Three people were hurt at the Harvest Foods store that was imploded in a matter of seconds.

"The lights flickered a couple times, then it went black," said Derrick Stallworth, who was on the soda pop and bottled water aisle when the storm hit. "I decided to hit the floor, then I saw the roof coming down."

He said he freed some of the 10 to 20 shoppers who were in the storm when the tornado hit. Firefighters searched for those he missed.

The store pharmacist was among the injured. Witnesses who were outside thore said it was hit by a tornado.

"It was a real one, in the sky and coming down. Black and white. So many different colors," said Michelle Johnson, who watched the storm roll in.

Trees were damaged at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion just south of downtown but the house was spared and Gov. Mike Huckabee and his family were not hurt, said Huckabee's spokesman Jim Harris.

Tornado warnings were issued for more than half of the state's 75 counties in an outbreak that forecasters had been talking about since Monday.

Searcy Schools Superintendent Tony Wood said a member of the school board was killed in the tornado at Center Hill, 45 miles northeast of Little Rock, when a twister struck the victim's home.

Another person was killed in a building at North Little Rock and a woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in the neighborhood south of the Harvest Foods, police said.

Injuries were reported fro many of the 38 counties for where warnings were posted.

Many of the storms followed the same path as a March 1, 1997, outbreak that killed 25.

Hail the size of grapefruits was reported at Sardis, south of Little Rock, and the size of baseballs at Maumelle, northwest of Little Rock. Smaller hail was reported in Hot Springs.

About 60,000 people were without power between Little Rock and the Missouri state line, Entergy Arkansas spokesman Dan Daugherty said.

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