Briefly

Washington, D.C.

Bush, Cheney pay less income tax than in ’02

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney reaped tax benefits last year from the cuts that they pushed through Congress.

The government’s top two executives, both wealthy men, paid smaller shares of their income in federal taxes in 2003 than in the year before, according to returns released Tuesday by the White House.

Bush and his wife, Laura, paid $227,490 in federal income taxes — or about 28 percent of their $822,126 in adjusted gross income. For 2002, the Bushes paid about 31 percent of their adjusted gross income — which was slightly higher at $856,056 — in federal taxes, for a total of $268,719.

The difference from one year to the next was even more pronounced for Cheney. He and his wife, Lynne, owed $253,067 in 2003 federal taxes — about 20 percent of their $1.3 million in adjusted gross income. In 2002, the Cheneys earned less but paid more, owing 29 percent — or $341,114 — of their $1.2 million in income.

Atlanta

CDC will stockpile flu shots for children next year

Caught off-guard last year by a flu vaccine shortage, the government will begin stockpiling flu shots for the first time ever and target them toward children.

“We were caught with our pants down,” Dr. Lance Rodewald, head of immunization services with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday. “The pressure on CDC to find vaccine was enormous.”

The government plans to spend $80 million over the next two years to pay for the 4-million-dose stockpile, which will be set aside for children up to 18 years old, said the CDC’s Dr. Stephen Cochi.

This past winter’s flu season got off to an alarming start with emergency rooms filling up and parents lining up at doctors’ offices seeking the shots for their children.

Idaho

Grad student on trial for terror Web sites

A University of Idaho graduate student went on trial Tuesday on charges he supported terrorism by running Web sites that recruited militants and raised money for groups promoting violence against the United States.

Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national working on his computer science doctoral degree, is charged with three counts of aiding terrorism and additional counts of visa fraud and making false statements.

Al-Hussayen is accused of helping to run Web sites that supported the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and other groups allegedly promoting terrorism.

Federal prosecutors say he provided “material support” to terrorists, a crime that was expanded under the Patriot Act — the federal terrorism law passed after Sept. 11 — to include “expert advice or assistance.”

Al-Hussayen, 34, has gotten strong support from students and faculty on campus, where he had a reputation as a positive leader of the small Islamic community.