Nation Digest
Hastert riled over adviser's job remarks

	Dennis Hastert
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The unusual attack by Hastert, R-Ill., on an administration official of his own party underscored the sensitivity the issue of jobs has acquired in the early stages of this year's presidential and congressional elections.

Hastert criticized Gregory Mankiw, the chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, who made his remarks Monday as the White House released its annual report on the economy.

"I understand that Mr. Mankiw is a brilliant economic theorist, but his theory fails a basic test of real economics. An economy suffers when jobs disappear," Hastert said in a statement.

The economy has lost 2.2 million payroll jobs since January 2001, giving Bush the worst job-creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover.

Health-care spending grew 7.8 percent in '03

WASHINGTON — Health-care spending in the United States grew to an estimated $1.7 trillion in 2003 — more than $5,800 for every American — but the pace of growth was slower than in recent years.

Health care also for the first time was estimated to make up more than 15 percent of the national economy last year, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said yesterday.

The CMS report said health-care spending grew an estimated 7.8 percent in 2003, down from 9.3 percent in 2002.

Health-care spending, however, is projected to outpace growth in the rest of the economy for the next 10 years, CMS said. By 2013, annual spending on health is expected to reach $3.4 trillion and be more than 18 percent of gross domestic product.

Massachusetts bishop resigns in wake of allegations
 
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Dupre resigned yesterday, citing health problems. The move coincided with a newspaper story containing allegations the cleric molested two boys.

The Springfield newspaper, The Republican, quoted a woman as saying her son and another boy were sexually abused by Dupre when he was a parish priest in the 1970s. The newspaper did not identify the woman or the alleged victims.

Monsignor Richard Sniezyk issued a statement saying he was unaware of allegations against Dupre, 70. who he said was hospitalized with a heart ailment.

"I can assure you that if any individual brought forth a complaint against any member of the diocesan community, including the bishop, it would be thoroughly investigated," said Sniezyk, who will run the Springfield-based diocese until an interim administrator can be appointed.

Man executed in Texas for triple murder in 1991

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convicted killer was executed yesterday for a 1991 triple slaying in which one victim was a 10-year-old girl pregnant with his child.

Shakeisha Lloyd was 17 weeks pregnant when Edward Lagrone barged into her family's home before dawn and began shooting with a double-barreled shotgun. Shakeisha had completed the fourth grade the day before the shooting.

Two of the girl's great-aunts also were killed. An uncle was wounded.

Authorities believed Lagrone was enraged because Shakeisha's mother wouldn't drop a sexual-assault complaint she filed against him for impregnating her daughter.

Sen. Hillary Clinton named in list of '25 toughest guys'

NEW YORK — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been called many things, a savvy politician, a devoted wife. But Men's Journal magazine is adding one more description to that list: Tough Guy.

In its March issue, already on newsstands, the magazine publishes its annual list of "The 25 Toughest Guys in America" — and Clinton weighs in at No. 25, just behind human crash test dummy Rusty Haight, who has been in 740 car wrecks.

It's the first time Men's Journal has put a woman on the list, senior editor Tom Foster said. "I think just looking at what she's been through and what she represents, that sort of stood for itself," Foster said. "Would you mess with her?"

Telephone calls to the Democratic New York senator's office were not immediately returned yesterday.

Snow, wind rip through northern Plains states

Snow driven by wind gusting to 77 mph closed schools and made highway travel hazardous yesterday on the northern Plains, and halted an Amtrak train.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven declared a snow emergency, saying the northwest part of the state had drifts of up to 20 feet.

A stretch of about 100 miles of Interstate 94 was closed from late Tuesday until midday yesterday in eastern Montana, from Miles City to the North Dakota state line.

At the height of the storm, wind gusted to 77 mph at Glendive, in eastern Montana.

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