Houston

Millionaire wins mayoral race

A businessman who used his millions to help bankroll a first-time run for political office easily beat out a former city councilman Saturday in a runoff election to become Houston’s next mayor.

With all precincts reporting, Bill White had 136,617 votes to 81,824 for Orlando Sanchez, or 63 percent to 37 percent.

White, 49, a former chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, spent some $2.2 million of his own fortune as part of a record $8.6 million effort in the race against Cuban-born Sanchez, a Republican making a second bid to become Houston’s first Hispanic mayor.

The race was officially nonpartisan, but White’s election gave Democrats a rare victory in President Bush’s home state, where Republicans have every major statewide elected office.

Minnesota

Police warned about kidnapping suspect

The sister of the suspect in the case of a missing University of North Dakota student pleaded with a local police officer to keep tabs on her brother after his release from prison in May because she feared he might strike again.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, has been charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Dru Sjodin, 22. The student has been missing since Nov. 22, when police believe she was abducted from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks, N.D.

Rodriguez’s sister, Ileana, called Sgt. Gerry Moreno several times after her brother’s completion of a 23-year prison term for stabbing and trying to kidnap a woman. She asked Moreno to keep her brother, who had previously pleaded guilty to rape, locked up or away from the community.

Washington, D.C.

New CEO named for Freddie Mac

The board of directors of Freddie Mac named Wall Street and Washington veteran Richard F. Syron on Sunday as the new chairman and chief executive of the mortgage finance giant, which has been mired in a yearlong accounting scandal that has led to the ouster of two chief executives in the past six months.

The announcement of Syron, who will take over from acting chief executive Gregory Parseghian at the end of the year, comes as Freddie Mac’s federal regulator prepares to release this week a highly critical report of the company and its board. The company is pushing to reach a settlement with the regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight so that the agreement could be announced simultaneously with the release of the report, sources said.

Freddie Mac and OFHEO have not yet agreed on the amount of the fine, though sources said some board members believe $50 million would not be surprising.

Los Angeles

Airport to undergo $225 million fix

The city will spend $225 million at Los Angeles International Airport to upgrade the baggage system, fix ailing elevators and escalators and remove peeling paint in the 20-year-old Tom Bradley International Terminal, officials will announce today.

The update, which is separate from Mayor James Hahn’s $9 billion LAX modernization plan, is expected to begin next summer and take about 2 1/2 years. Officials said it would bring the terminal in line with other recently remodeled facilities at LAX by improving security and adding concessions.

“This is very important to our regional economy, to provide a higher level of passenger service and higher level of safety and security,” Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards said.