Washington, D.C.

Bill requires 60 days before VA closings

Congress would get 60 days to review any decisions by Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi to close VA hospitals under legislation Congress sent to President Bush on Friday.

The bill by Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., was passed by the House without opposition as part of a package of measures authorizing the construction of veterans facilities. The Senate passed the bill last week.

The Department of Veterans Affairs proposed a plan in August to close seven aging or underused hospitals and open new facilities and shift services closer to where veterans live.

A 15-member panel studying the proposals met for three days this week. The panel is expected to make its recommendations in mid-December. Principi said he would decide within 30 days after receiving recommendations whether to accept them.

Salt Lake City

Burger King adopts breast-feeding policy

Burger King adopted a corporate policy Friday allowing women to breast-feed their babies in restaurants — a day before a threatened “nurse-in” at the fast-food chain’s facilities.

The new policy says Burger King welcomes mothers who wish to breast-feed their children.

A furor erupted Nov. 8, when a customer at a suburban Salt Lake City franchise complained about a woman breast-feeding her baby. An employee then allegedly asked the nursing mother, Catherine Geary, to either go to the bathroom to breast-feed or leave.

Under the new policy, employees are told: “If a customer complains about a mother who is breast-feeding, kindly explain that breast-feeding is permitted in the restaurant and suggest to that customer that he or she relocate to another section of the restaurant.”

Washington, D.C.

Bill outlines methods to reduce wildfire threat

Ending a three-year impasse on wildfire legislation, Congress approved a compromise bill Friday to reduce the risk of fire in national forests, focusing much of the effort on areas near homes and towns.

Supporters called the bill, the first major forest management legislation in a quarter-century, a landmark step to improve forest health and protect communities near public lands.

Critics called it a giveaway to the timber industry that will limit public participation and leave old-growth trees and remote, roadless areas of forests at risk of logging.

The bill resembles President Bush’s “Healthy Forests Initiative,” which he proposed in August 2002. Both plans would streamline approval of projects to thin overgrown forests, so they can be completed within months rather than years. Much of the president’s forest plan has already been implemented through administrative actions.

Alabama

Judge reduces estimate in HealthSouth fraud

A federal judge rejected a key government claim in the fraud case against HealthSouth Corp., ruling the scam cost shareholders $66 million rather than the $2.8 billion suggested by federal prosecutors.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson, made public Friday in Birmingham, could affect the sentences she has scheduled for next month for five HealthSouth workers.

Prison terms are based in part on the value of the loss, and a lower estimate could mean lesser penalties for the five, who are among 15 former HealthSouth executives who have agreed to plead guilty and await sentencing. The estimated loss could change in subsequent cases.

Fired CEO Richard Scrushy is free on $10 million bond after pleading not guilty to 85 criminal counts in the fraud. A judge has delayed his trial indefinitely.