Across the Nation

Lobbyists oppose stricter DWI laws

WASHINGTON - Just as Congress appears poised to impose a national drunken driving standard for the first time, opponents are launching a furious, last-minute lobbying campaign to derail the measure.

The proposal - which would define someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent as legally drunk - is under negotiation as part of a broader transportation spending bill and remains one of the most contentious items in this year's budget battle. It has created a serious fissure within the GOP, pitting allies of the alcohol and restaurant industries against some prominent social conservatives.

"We always thought it would be a close vote," said Mothers Against Drunk Driving's Brandy Anderson. "We're optimistic, and we see this as a vote to save lives."

Alcohol is involved in almost 40 percent of fatal crashes and public health experts have argued for years that lowering the legal drunk driving limit to .08 percent blood - alcohol concentration would save hundreds of lives annually.

Canada, Japan, Australia and most European countries have legal limits of .08 percent BAC or lower. Nineteen states, containing more than 45 percent of the U.S. population, have passed laws adopting the .08 percent limit.

An agreement to set a national .08 standard would mark a major victory for traffic safety groups that have relentlessly lobbied for the tougher standard.

After years of frustration in battling the liquor lobby and restaurant owners over the drunken driving issue in state legislatures nationwide, advocates of .08 turned their focus to Washington two years ago, in a bid to add the mandate to the highway reauthorization bill.

The Senate approved the language, providing stiff highway spending sanctions for states that refused to adopt the new standard. But House leaders and the alcoholic beverage and restaurant industries were adamant about killing the measure and prevailed in a final showdown in conference.

Opponents found it much tougher this time, in a crucial election year, to stand in the way of a proposal that advocates claim would save 500 lives a year. Moreover, President Clinton has endorsed the plan and repeatedly spoken out in favor of it.

The Senate led the way again this year, approving as part of a huge transportation spending bill a measure giving states three years to adopt the new standard or face the loss of up to 10 percent of their annual highway funds. While the House hasn't approved similar language, negotiators tentatively agreed Thursday to a compromise plan allowing nearly seven years for states to adopt the standard or lose as much as 8 percent of their highway aid.

Most of the House and Senate leadership opposes the measure on the grounds that it violates states' rights. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, (R-Miss.), and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, (R-Texas), have worked actively behind the scenes to pull the provision off the transportation bill.

N.H. justice testifies in impeachment trial

CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire's chief justice took the stand at his Senate impeachment trial

Yesterday he denied that he lied to investigators or called a lower-court judge more than a decade ago to influence a politically sensitive case.

"My memory is still as it was back in 1989, that I didn't call Judge Gray" David Brock said during the first impeachment trial in state history.

Brock, the chief justice since 1986, faces four impeachment charges. The votes of 15 of the 22 senators participating in the trial are needed to convict him.

The politically sensitive 1987 case was a business dispute between a company owned by Senate majority leader Edward Dupont and another fuel company. Investigator say Brock called a lower-court colleague to remind him that Dupont could help pass a bill raising judges' salaries.

Brock's lawyer, Michael Madigan, asked if Brock tried to influence his Supreme Court colleagues on the business dispute.

"Absolutely not," Brock replied.

Did anyone try to give Dupont special treatment?

"Neither I nor my colleagues did that," Brock said.

Brock has acknowledged calling the court clerk to check on the status of the case after receiving a

complaint. He said that was part of his job as chief administrator of the courts.

Brock's colleagues _ including David Souter, now on the U.S. Supreme Court _ concluded after an

investigation that he had called both Judge Douglas Gray and the clerk. Gray has testified that he

considered the call unethical.

The commission recommended that Chmura be suspended from his judicial duties without pay for 90 days.

The Michigan Supreme Court in March ruled the ethical standard unconstitutionally broad and adopted a new rule, saying judges can be sanctioned only for statements they knew were false or made with reckless disregard of the truth. The court ordered the commission to reconsider the case under the new standard.

In the appeal acted yesterday, Chmura's lawyer said the Michigan Supreme Court adopted an unfairly loose standard for determining whether judges' statements were false or made with reckless disregard of the truth. That standard would lead to self-censorship by judges, his lawyer said.

The case is Chmura v. Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, 99-2086.

Home-made bomb explodes in bedroom

SARASOTA, Fla.- A gunpowder bomb exploded as a 15-year-old was assembling the device in his bedroom, causing injuries that may cost him his left leg and some fingers, authorities said.

Investigators do not know why the teen was building the bomb, "but we don't believe it had anything to do with the vice president being here," said Chuck Lesaltato, sheriff's spokesman.

Vice President Al Gore was in Sarasota preparing for today's debate with George W. Bush.

The boy's parents found him in his room after being awakened by an explosion late Sunday, Lesaltato said.

The bomb was made of gunpowder and match heads packed into a small metal container used to hold compressed carbon dioxide gas, police said. Authorities had not determined where he learned to make the bomb.

The boy, whose name was not released, was in stable condition yesterday at a hospital.