New York City

Clinton continues to recuperate in hospital

Former President Clinton remained in a hospital Sunday while recovering from an operation to remove scar tissue and fluid that developed after his heart bypass surgery six months ago, his spokesman said.

“To the best of my knowledge, he continues to recuperate at the hospital,” spokesman Jim Kennedy said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Kennedy said he had no information regarding when the 42nd president might be released.

Clinton, who had the operation Thursday, was expected to spend three to 10 days in New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Doctors described the operation as a low-risk procedure to relieve a problem that crops up in only a fraction of 1 percent of bypass cases. They said the combination of fluid and scar tissue had reduced Clinton’s left lung capacity by 25 percent.

Surgeons removed a rind of scar tissue nearly a third of an inch thick in some places.

Colorado

Activists seek to limit services to illegal aliens

Colorado activists seeking to curb illegal immigration hope to put a ballot measure before voters next year barring all but emergency services to undocumented immigrants.

The initiative is similar to Proposition 200 passed last November in Arizona that requires proof of citizenship for those seeking to vote or apply for state benefits.

“We are working 24/7 on this,” said William Herron, president of Defend Colorado Now, which is leading the effort. “We need 70,000 signatures but we will aim for 100,000. If it gets on the ballot it will pass by a wide margin.”

Similar legislation stumbled in the state assembly recently, failing to get out of committee. Democrats, who do not support the plan, dominate the Colorado assembly.

New York City

Report: Iraq coverage not biased either way

A study of news coverage of the war in Iraq fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at nearly 2,200 stories on television, newspapers and Web sites and found that most of them couldn’t be categorized either way.

Twenty-five percent of the stories were negative and 20 percent were positive, according to the study, released Sunday by the Washington-based think tank.

Despite the exhaustive look, the study likely won’t change the minds of war supporters who considered the media hostile to the Bush administration, or opponents who think reporters weren’t questioning enough, said Tom Rosenstiel, the project’s director.

“There was enough of both to annoy both camps,” he said. “But the majority of stories were just news.”

The Project for Excellence in Journalism is affiliated with the Columbia University School of Journalism. The study was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.