The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page A3

Time: 04-19-2009 22:46 User: lhack PubDate: 04-20-2009 Zone: IN Page Name: A3 Color: Nation MONDAY TODAY, IN 1949 Scientists at the Mayo Clinic announced they'd succeeded in synthesizing a hormone found to be useful in treating rheumatoid arthritis; the substance was named "cortisone." APRIL 20, 2009 www.courier-journal.comnationworld Atlantic Ocean vv to Gulf of Mexiccj 0j Interrogation prosecutions unlikely FROM WIRE DISPATCHES Policy makers from Bush era drew fire torture investigator. Republican lawmakers and others contend that national security was undermined by the release of the memos. Yesterday, Obama administration officials pushed back vigorously against that claim. "We are absolutely confident that we have the tools necessary to get the information we need to keep this country safe," senior presidential adviser David Axelrod said on Face the Nation" on CBS. "And we don't believe and the president of the United States does not believe that this is a contest between our values and our security.

He thinks we can honor both and execute both." der President George W. Bush. In an accompanying statement, he said "it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice, that they will not be subject to prosecution." He did not specifically address the policymakers. Asked yesterday on ABC's "This Week" about the fate of those officials, Emanuel said the president believes they "should not be prosecuted either." Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" that the idea of "crimina lizing legal advice after one administration is out of the office is a very bad precedent." Sen.

Claire McCaskill, said on Fox, "I don't think we want to look in the rearview mirror." But McCaskill, also on the Armed Services Committee, said there probably was a need to ask more questions about how lawyers at the top levels of the Justice Department "could give this kind of advice." The decision not to seek charges against the interrogators has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union and called a violation of international law by the United Nations' top By Douglass K. Daniel Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama does not intend to prosecute Bush administration officials who devised the policies that led to the harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said yesterday. Obama last week authorized the release of a series of memos detailing the methods approved un M0RRILT0N, ARK. Sheriff: 3 children drown as car goes into lake An Arkansas sheriff said three children drowned after the car they were in went into a lake. Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith said the children's mother was driving the car when it went into Brewer Lake near Morrilton just after 3:30 a.m.

yesterday. Smith said the children were ages 2, 7 and 8. Arkansas State Police investigators and sheriff's deputies have questioned the 26-year-old mother. She had not been arrested or charged as of yesterday afternoon and Smith said deputies want to verify her account of what happened. Strong thunderstorms and fog rolled through the area around the time of the crash.

MOURNERS RECALL OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING More US. aid for banks expected Obama adviser: No takeover anticipated OKLAHOMA CITY Homeland Security leaders defend memo on veterans Department of Homeland Security officials yesterday defended an intelligence assessment warning that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan could be susceptible to recruitment by right-wing extremists. Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute, in Oklahoma City for ceremonies marking the 14th anniversary of the bombing, conceded, however, that it should have been "more tightly written and presented." The report, which also warned of veterans engaging in lone acts of violence, was criticized by some who called it offensive and said the agency should apologize to veterans. Photos by Sue OgrockiAssociated Press LaDonna Battle, left, and Jannie Coverdale, second from left, were among those listening to the reading of victims' names during the ceremony at the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. Both lost relatives.

Associated Press WASHINGTON Some big banks will need more bailout bucks, Obama administration officials said yesterday, although it is unlikely the government might need to take over any institution. "We're confident that, yes, some are going to have very serious problems, but we feel that the tools are available to address these problems," senior presidential adviser David Axelrod said. Regulators now are putting the nation's 19 largest banks through tests to determine their ability to withstand worsening economic conditions. The government hopes to make the results public early next month. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel cited first-quarter reports from major banks showing they are making money as an encouraging sign.

"But that doesn't take away that some are going to need resources. We believe we have those resources available in the government as the final backstop," he said. Asked on ABC's "This Week," whether the administration will avoid any temporary nationalization of banks, Emanuel said: "I think we will be able to avoid Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY About 400 people gathered yesterday to observe the 14th anniversary of the bombing of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The nation's worst domestic terrorist attack killed 168 people and injured hundreds.

Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001 and Terry Nichols is serving multiple life sentences on federal and state convictions for their convictions in the bombing. Prosecutors had said the plot was an attempt to avenge the deaths of about 80 people in the government siege at the Branch Davi-dian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier. The crowd observed 168 sec NEW YORK Exxon Mobil unseats Wal-Mart on Fortune 500 Exxon Mobil Corp. unseated Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the 2009 Fortune 500 list, shrugging off the oil price bubble and weathering what the magazine called the worst year ever for the country's publicly traded companies.

Fortune's list, released yesterday, ranked companies by their revenue in 2008. Exxon took in $442.85 billion last year, up almost 19 percent from 2007. Wal-Mart's revenue climbed 7 percent to $405.6 billion. Read the latest at: onds of silence, and survivors and Lisa Hawthorne, right, hugged Betty Hawthorne during the 168 minutes of victims' family members read silence. Thorns Lynn Hawthorne Betty Hawthorne's son and Lisa victims' names.

Hawthorne's father-in-law, was killed in the bombing. LAWMAKERS I Special session looms Controlling diabetes not necessarily a cure cautious plan. But Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, acknowledged the new numbers could make it tougher to say no. "With my counterparts in the House Democratic caucus, I'll be working very, very hard to hold the line," Kenley said. But, he added, "I think we'll find them surprisingly congenial." Schools aren't the only budget sticking point.

Leaders have yet to decide whether they'll fund a one-year or two-year budget. Traditionally, Indiana budgets have covered two years, something Republicans see no reason to change. Democrats, though, remain adamant that the current state of the economy demands the flexibility that would come with writing a one-year spending plan and tackling the 2010 budget next year. Also, the House authorizes more than $750 million in bonds for university construction and sends $1 billion in state and federal money some of it from a highway trust fund to local governments for road projects. It's part of a Democratic effort to create a state stimulus package.

Republicans have authorized far less university construction and refuse to touch the highway trust fund money. Long repeated last week that for Republicans, that's not an option. Despite all the differences, lawmakers still remain optimistic about finding compromises. "All hope is not lost in putting this budget together," Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michi-gan City, said Friday.

But he added: "We have things to talk about. We've got to keep the focus on things that are most important and that's jobs and making sure people are educated and retrained." Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780. Continued from Al much last week. But he said there's no reason to act as if the problem can't be solved before the legislature's April 29 deadline. "We don't talk about special sessions," he said.

"You talk about crossing the goal line in the time available before you need to go to overtime. That's what we focus on getting the job done." In particular, lawmakers say a special session shouldn't be necessary to reach a budget deal. The plans passed by the House and Senate provide boosts of about 2 percent annually in base funding for schools. But the House budget favors districts in low-income areas while the Senate spreads federal stimulus dollars among all schools. The argument is not new, although the stimulus money provides a new wrinkle.

Every two years, Republicans fight for more dollars for their fast-growing suburban districts while Democrats seek more money for urban and rural districts that are losing enrollment but serve especially needy kids. This year, the school funding differences could be further exacerbated by the federal stimulus plan that makes more than $800 million available for schools, money that's to be used first to make up any state cuts in education funding and second for low-income districts. Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, argues the money should be used to provide additional funds to the neediest districts. But one of the budget's Senate architects, Gary Dillon, R-Columbia City, says the money needs to be distributed more evenly across the state.

A further complication is a new revenue projection that forecasts Indiana will have more money available through June 30, 2011, than the Senate included in its budget. GOP leaders say that projection is too optimistic and they want to write a more lin, president of health care and education for the American Diabetes Association. Being overweight is the leading risk for Type 2 diabetes. Genetics also plays a role, and blacks, Hispanics and American Indians are at greater risk than whites. Nearly 57 million Americans are prediabetic.

Another 18 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, while the diabetes association estimates almost 6 million more Americans have diabetes and don't know it. About 90 to 95 percent of diabetics have Type 2, the kind linked to obesity. The future is potentially even gloomier, with one study estimating that one of every three children born in the U.S. in 2000 will eventually develop diabetes. But the news isn't all bad.

Thirty minutes of daily exercise and a 5 to 10 percent loss in body weight can lower the odds of diabetes by nearly 60 percent and is more effective than medicine in delaying its onset, according to a diabetes prevention study. Still, such lifestyle changes are often difficult. "It sounds like such a nonmedical recommendation, and yet it's the thing people say is the toughest to implement," said McLaughlin, the diabetes association official. For Wagner, it meant changing not just her diet, but her lifestyle. A teacher, she now cooks most of her meals at home and avoids the sweets in the school lounge.

She also tries not to stay late at work, using the extra time to exercise and make healthy meals. Dr. Kevin Niswender, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center, said "technically, you could call somebody cured," but that patient still needs to be followed closely. By Jamie Stengle Associated Press JoAnne Zoller Wagner's diagnosis as prediabetic wasn't enough to compel her to change her habits and lose 30 pounds. Not even with the knowledge her sister had died because of diabetes.

"I didn't have that sense of urgency," the Pasadena, woman said. But nine months later, doctors told Wagner her condition had worsened. She, too, now had Type 2 diabetes. That scared her into action. Now, two years later, the 55-year-old woman has slimmed down.

She exercises regularly and her blood sugar levels are back in the healthy, normal range. Thanks to her success, she was able to avoid diabetes medication. Diabetics like Wagner who manage to turn things around, getting their blood sugar under control either escaping the need for drugs or improving enough to quit taking them are drawing keen interest from the medical community. This summer an American Diabetes Association task force will focus on this group of patients and whether they can be considered "cured." Among the points of interest: What blood sugar range qualifies as a cure and how long would it have to be maintained? How might blood pressure and cholesterol, both linked to diabetes, figure into the equation? And what if a "cured" diabetic's blood sugar soars again? "For right now, we're not saying they're cured, but the bottom line is good glucose control, less infections," said Sue McLaugh.