The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Bush will attend opening of Olympics

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said Thursday. The announcement quashed any talk of a presidential boycott over China’s violent crackdown after anti-government riots and protests in Tibet.

The White House had been reluctant to confirm Bush’s plans for the opening event, although there was no doubt he would attend the Olympic Games. While other world leaders have talked of boycotting the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies, Bush’s aides have signaled for weeks he was unlikely to do so.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush will travel in August to South Korea, Thailand and China and will attend the opening ceremonies of the games with first lady Laura Bush. The specific dates of travel were not released.

Affirmative action ban gets enough signatures

PHOENIX—Supporters of a state constitutional amendment banning affirmative action programs have met the filing deadline to get the measure on the November ballot.

The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative filed 334,658 signatures with the Secretary of State’s office Thursday, surpassing the necessary number by more than 100,000.

Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne says it will take more than a month to verify that enough signatures are valid and certify it for the ballot.

Health services chief Gerard steps down

PHOENIX—The head of Arizona’s Department of Health Services is stepping down after three years on the job, most recently marked by a political back-and-forth over problems her department discovered at the state nursing home for veterans.

Susan Gerard’s decision to resign was announced by Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office, which said she will be replaced on an interim basis by attorney January Contreras, the governor’s chief health care policy adviser

Gerard complained in letters obtained by The Arizona Republic last month about a “shoot the messenger” mentality at the Department of Veteran’s Services, which runs the state Veteran Home.

A new director was also named for that department Thursday as a replacement for retired National Guard Brig. Gen. Richard Maxon. Maxon was appointed last year to clean up the nursing home mess and left this week.

Maxon is being replaced Joey Strickland, a retired Army colonel who most recently worked for the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs.

9 Mexican gray wolves died in wild in 2008

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Nine Mexican gray wolves have died in the wild so far this year, including three females that were illegally shot, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.

The latest shootings raise the toll to 28 wolves that have been illegally shot since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began reintroducing the endangered species in the Southwest in 1998, agency spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said.

The killings will not stop the reintroduction program, said Benjamin N. Tuggle, director of Fish and Wildlife’s Southwest Region.

Penalties for killing a Mexican gray wolf include fines of up to $75,000 and up to a year in jail.

Passport snooping likely rampant

WASHINGTON, D.C.—An internal State Department investigative report suggests that employees may have been snooping on the passport records of celebrities far more than previously disclosed. It urges new steps to secure the files.

A report from the department’s inspector general released Thursday said a survey of the records of 150 notable politicians, athletes and entertainers found that 127 of them, or 85 percent, had been accessed 4,148 times between September 2002 and March 2008.

Of the 150 files, nine had been viewed more than 101 times, according to the report. Thirty-three others had been viewed more than 26 times, and 85 files had been looked at at least once, it said.

The report did not say if the files had been viewed for legitimate reasons, but it noted that the number “appears to be excessive.” It added that it could not yet determine if the 85 percent “hit rate” was “inordinately high.”

Wall Street firms cut, banks step up Fed loans

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Wall Street companies sharply scaled back their borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks boosted it slightly, the Fed said Thursday.

Investment firms averaged $1.7 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending July 2. That compared with $6.1 billion the previous week. The reduction suggested the Wall Street firms are feeling less of a need to turn to the Fed for quick source of cash, an encouraging sign.

The investment houses were given similar loan privileges as commercial banks in March after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the nation’s fifth-largest investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy and raised fears that other Wall Street firms might be in jeopardy. The company was taken over by JPMorgan.

Banks, meanwhile, averaged $14.9 billion in daily borrowing for the week. That compared with $14.7 billion in the previous week. The pickup indicated that banks are still going to the Fed to help them overcome credit stresses.

The identities of commercial banks and investment houses are not released.