Across the Nation

More gas price hikes on the horizon

WASHINGTON - Already facing sticker shock at the gas pumps, motorists likely will experience more price jolts this spring and summer, energy experts said yesterday.

With crude oil prices high and supplies low, refiners are not producing as much gasoline as normal, a recipe for costlier fill-ups in the months ahead.

''There's going to be some finger-pointing if we enter the summer with $2-a-gallon gasoline,'' predicted Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

While heating oil prices are beginning to ease, the Energy Department said similar price spikes could flare in the summer, a heavy driving time, and the American Automobile Association warned of possible short supplies then.

Many motorists are paying nearly $1.50 a gallon and even $2 for regular gasoline, according to various studies.

The national average this week was $1.41, a nickel higher than the week earlier.

''We will likely see even higher prices this spring,'' John Cook, petroleum director at the Energy Information Administration, testified.

Cook said low inventories of crude oil and heating and diesel stocks, combined with soaring crude prices, led to the extremely sharp and sudden price increases in heating oil late January and early February.

Peacekeeper role could have more risk

WASHINGTON - NATO's struggle for ethnic calm in northern Kosovo has raised the stakes for U.S. involvement in a peacekeeping operation that has no end in sight.

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, aboard ships in the Mediterranean, is standing by as potential U.S. reinforcements, although Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said yesterday that NATO commanders have not asked for the Marines.

Expanding the U.S. troop presence in Kosovo would raise the risk for a force that has largely escaped casualties.

In Washington and other allied capitals, there is no appetite for a major additional buildup of troops in Kosovo. But NATO feels it cannot let the flare-up of ethnic violence in the city of Mitrovica go unanswered.

Defense Secretary William Cohen has said he expects the Mitrovica problem to be resolved shortly, possibly without U.S. reinforcements.

France, whose peacekeepers are in charge of the ethnically divided Mitrovica area, is preparing to send 600 to 700 more troops to the area.

Plan could increase Medicare premiums

WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration renewed its criticism of a Medicare overhaul plan favored by Senate Republicans, saying it would substantially increase out-of-pocket costs for retirees.

The plan could drive Medicare premiums up by as much as 47 percent - not including extra charges for a new prescription drug benefit, according to a letter from Health and Human Services Department actuary Richard Foster.

The letter, dated Feb. 23, arrived in time for Democratic lawmakers to distribute it at a Senate Finance Committee hearing yesterday, where the legislation was under discussion.