Washington, D.C.

Portable cribs recalled

About 364,000 portable wooden cribs are being recalled because the bottoms can fall out if not tightly assembled, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.

The cribs, made by two Ohio firms — Hufco-Delaware Co. of Miamisburg and Evenflo Company Inc. of Vandalia — have resulted in 41 reports of mattresses and mattress-support platforms falling through the bottom, causing bumps, bruises or scratches to 17 children, the commission said.

The cribs were sold for about $99 under the brand names Gerry and Evenflo at department stores and baby product stores nationwide from January 1991 through December 2002.

The commission advises consumers to immediately stop using the cribs and call 1 (800) 582-9359 for a free repair kit. More information is available at www.portablewoodcrib.com.

California

Fraternities suspended after fatal brawl

Both Asian American fraternities involved in Wednesday’s deadly predawn melee in San Jose will be suspended and those students found to have participated in the violence will be expelled, San Jose State University President Robert L. Caret said Thursday.

Police said Alam Kim, 23, was slain by a single stab wound in the heart, and several others were wounded when members of the university’s Pi Alpha Phi and Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternities brawled shortly after midnight at a neighborhood park. Police said they questioned dozens of participants, but there were no arrests.

As many as 100 people may have been involved in the brawl, including some students recruited from the Pi Alpha Phi chapter at the University of California, Santa Cruz, investigators said. Several of the participants were armed with sticks and knives.

Officials said the brawl may have stemmed from an argument Monday night at a billiard hall in nearby Santa Clara.

Virginia

GOP director faces eavesdropping charges

The former executive director of Virginia’s Republican Party was indicted Thursday on federal charges he eavesdropped on conference calls among Democratic legislators last year.

Edmund A. Matricardi III, 34, was accused of using a telephone number and access codes to listen in on the teleconferences.

He was charged with five counts involving the interception of electronic communications. Each count carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Matricardi resigned over the scandal but was later hired as operations director of the South Carolina Republican Party. Thursday, after he was indicted, he resigned that post, too.

Matricardi was indicted in April on state charges, but the charges were dropped when state and local authorities asked federal investigators to take over the case.

Washington, D.C.

Polls: Bush remains popular despite doubts

Doubts are growing about President Bush’s handling of the economy and Iraq, though Americans support his campaign against terror and he remains personally popular, polls suggest.

Bush’s job approval was at 58 percent in a Pew Research Center for the People & the Press poll and 54 percent in a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, both released Thursday.

Several other polls have shown Bush’s approval rating in the 50s, still relatively healthy but down from the 90 percent levels it reached after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The public has grown increasingly skeptical about Bush’s handling of the economy, with 44 percent approving of his economic stewardship and 49 percent disapproving in the NBC-WSJ poll.