Washington, D.C.

Judge allows Hinckley to have unsupervised trips

A federal judge said Wednesday that the man who shot President Reagan could make unsupervised visits with his parents away from the mental hospital where he has lived for more than two decades.

Hinckley, 48, has lived at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington since he was acquitted in 1982 by reason of insanity in the shootings of Reagan, presidential press secretary James Brady and two law enforcement officers. Reagan was nearly killed, and Brady was permanently disabled. Hinckley said he shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster.

Washington, D.C.

State Department issues warning on Saudi Arabia

Nonessential American diplomats and the families of all U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia should leave, the State Department said Wednesday, stepping up its warnings about risks in the country.

Private U.S. citizens should consider leaving as well, the department said. And Americans making plans to go to Saudi Arabia were advised to defer any such travel in light of “the potential for further terrorist activities.”

The departure of U.S. officials and family members was not ordered, but was voluntary. Expenses were to be paid by the U.S. government.

New York City

National crime database subject of lawsuit

Immigrant and ethnic minority groups sued Wednesday to stop the federal government from entering immigration data into a national crime database, saying the practice illegally targets immigrants under the guise of post-Sept. 11 security.

Congress authorized the database, the National Crime Information Center, in 1930 as a clearinghouse for local, state, federal and international criminal records. It typically is used for criminal records such as warrants and “rap sheets,” according to the lawsuit.

But since Sept. 11, the lawsuit says, the Bush administration has entered immigration data such as orders of deportation.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to block entry of such records and to erase the thousands of civil immigration records that already have been entered.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller are named as defendants.