Across the Nation

Democrats threaten to block Ashcroft

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats said yesterday that they will block a key vote scheduled for today on the fate of beleaguered attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, a move sure to rile Republicans.

Democrats are frustrated because they say Ashcroft has been slow to turn over material requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee related to his finances, political speeches and policies. As a result, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's senior Democrat, told Republicans late yesterday that he plans to put a hold on the much-anticipated vote.

The Republicans have no power to stop the move because committee rules allow any member to force a one-week delay in a vote.

"I don't think we have a full record" of Ashcroft's career, said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass). "We want to make sure we have all the material first."

The delay will give Democrats more time to look for vulnerabilities in Ashcroft's voluminous 25-year record in Missouri and Washington, a record that has sparked outrage among civil-rights leaders, abortion activists and others. But the procedural move also could further damage their frayed relations with Republicans, who have charged that Democrats are beating up on Ashcroft to embarrass President Bush.

"I think it would be a bit unkind to drag this out. People are ready to vote and we know John Ashcroft," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a committee member and one of Ashcroft's strongest defenders.

Bush intervenes in Caif. power crisis

WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered a two-week extension yesterday of federal directives requiring power and natural gas companies to keep supplying California's cash-strapped utilities. A senior official said it would be last such order.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the temporary extension was approved to give California "sufficient time to ... restore the financial health of the utility companies and develop other sufficient sources of energy" to meet the state's needs.

California Gov. Gray Davis, who asked that the federal power mandates be continued, assured the administration no further extensions would be necessary, Abraham said.

The president has no plans to extend the directives beyond the two weeks, said a senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The directives, first imposed by the Clinton administration in December, require electricity generating companies to continue shipping power into California and for natural gas suppliers to sell fuel to Pacific Gas and Electric.

Supremacist to plead guilty

LOS ANGELES - White supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr. has agreed to plead guilty to federal hate-crime charges in the killing a Filipino-American postman and the shooting spree at a Jewish community center filled with children, a U.S. Attorney spokesman said.

"Buford Furrow is expected to be in court tomorrow morning to plead guilty," spokesman Thom Mrozek said Tuesday night. He would not provide details of the plea agreement because it had not yet been filed with the court.

But sources close to the case said Furrow will plead to all 16 counts in the indictment against him.