New York City: GOP picks city to have 2004 national convention

The Republican Party on Monday chose the city that suffered the heaviest blow on Sept. 11 to host the 2004 GOP national convention.

After an intensive monthslong courtship of GOP leaders that included a Broadway show and breakfast at Tiffany’s, New York City beat out New Orleans and Tampa, Fla.

Party strategists said the decision to come to New York City — where Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-1 — is a clear sign President Bush and the party believe the GOP can carry the state in 2004 and wrest its 31 electoral votes from the Democrats.

No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. And while New York City has been host of the Democrats several times, as recently as 1992, it has never been the site of a Republican convention.

Washington, D.C.: Police deaths drop in 2002

Deaths of law enforcement officers resumed a downward trend in the year after the 9-11 terrorist attacks as better training, equipment and medical care helped save more lives.

There were 147 officers killed in 2002, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported Monday. That was a sharp decline from 2001, when 230 lost their lives, including 72 responding to the attacks.

In general, deaths have declined since the 1970s, when an average of 220 officers died each year. In the 1980s, 185 officers were killed on average, while the 1990s saw an average of 155 killed in the line of duty.

Those who died include officers from federal, state and local agencies with arrest powers. They will be honored at a May 13 ceremony in Washington.

Venezuela: Oil industry on rebound

President Hugo Chavez’s government said Monday it was steadily reviving the world’s fifth-largest oil exporting industry a month into a strike led by Venezuela’s opposition.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said production was about 800,000 barrels a day and would reach more than 1 million barrels a day by the end of the week. Venezuela normally produces 3 million barrels a day.

Gasoline imports were helping restock domestic supplies after weeks of long gas lines, Ramirez said. Shipments totaling 1.2 million barrels of gasoline were arriving from the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and Russia, Ramirez said.