Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

'mm Anny Secretary White t)uitsA7 UW spring game comes FOUNDED IN 1891 toCasperfl) WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER N. Korea talks called 'futile' All options open to Bush have problems Groups: Isolated waters' rule dangerous By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star- Tribune energy reporter GILLETTE A coalition of environmental groups has raised concerns over .1 proposed rule-making by the Armv Corps ol Engine rs condemn North Korea and even consider sanctions. But that approa like every option open to President Hush -has problems. China has blocked the live permanent members ol the U.N. Security Cfiuncil from formally discussing the issue, diplomats said.

"The Chinese would have to change I don't see that happening," said a I I.S diplomat After the talks among the I Inited Please see N. KOREA, A7 The apparently fruitless two days of talks in Beijing have reopened a fend among President Hush's advisers over the value of negotiating with North Korea. Hawks, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald II Rumsfeld argue that the outcome of the Beijing talks "show this whole approach is futile." said a senior U.S. official in By WARRKN P. STROBEL Knight Rkklci Newspapers WASHINGTON The Hush administration is debating hether it is worth holding further nucleai talks with North Korea following Pyongyang's vague threats toa envoy this week that it 1 1 i 1 test or even export nuclear weapons, senior U.S.

officials said Friday. volved in the discussions. He spoke on condition ol anonymity Secretary of State Colin Powell has argued for trying to engage the prickly North Korean regime. ne U.S. response to North Korea's claim that it possesses nuclear weapons is to renew a push lor action by the United Nations, officials said Administration hard-liners would like the world body to Day of devotion White House expresses confidence in Santorum (implied from Star-Tribune wire sei vh r.s i 1 SH' flfriljj ISP 4fflB 1 and Environmental Protection geni to lai ify federal jurisdiction ol isolated waters The coalition, which includes the voiding Outdoor Council, the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the Powder River Basin Re-source Council, worries the action could strip Clean Water Act protections from 'til pen en) ol the West's waterways ac ording to a pu ss release.

"Isolated waters" described in the rule making might include ephemeral streams and therefore remove federal protections from many of the small waterways being impacted by coalbed methane gas development, the coalition said. "The federal agencies are looking to create a new category called 'isolated lie cause these waters do not typically How year round, the Bush administration may try to remove them from the definition of waters ol the United States' and place them under state rather than federal protection. Melinda Harm Benson. Wyoming representative for the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, said in a prepared statement The coalition submitted comments lo the EPA and Corps ol Engineers warning if the possible far-reaching effects of the ruling In 2001. the Supreme Court dec ided the "Migratory Bird Rule" could not be used as a means to assert Clean Water Act protections on isolated waters.

That rulinu opened some gaps in federal water quality authority, according to federal officials. However, the federal agencies' attempt to fill in those gaps is not expected to affect ephemeral streams and certainly not to the extent thai the coalition has purported, according to federal officials. Essentially, the Corps of Engineers and the EPA must decide exactly what are isolated waters" so their programs can comply with the Supreme Court ruling EPA spokesman John Millet! said the EPA and Corps of Engineers solicited public comment on "whether the regulations should define Please see ATER, A 14 Are schools still at risk? Results mixed on 20th anniversary of landmark report By BEN FELLER AP education writer WASHINGTON Students are taking more advanced math and scien lasses, and graduation requirements have been in reased. in the 20 years since a commission found the United States to be "A Nation at Risk" because of educational mediocrity Other results are mixed "Have we made The answer is yes." said Milton Goldberg, who directed the federal commission that produced the landmark "A Nation at Risk" WASHINGTON The White House said GOP Sen. Rick Santorum is doing a good job as party leader and is "an inclusive man," despite his controversial remarks on homosexuality.

Planned Parenthood. hristian pro-family leader Dr. James Dobson, and a gay rights organization chimed in Friday with their opinions of Santorum's remarks and the White House's reaction "The president has confidence in the senator and believes he's doing a good job as senator" and in his No. 3 Senate (OP leadership post. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press. Santorum compared homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. He also said the right to privacy does not exist in the Constitution. "The president believes the senator is an inclusive man. And that's what he believes." Fleischer said.

Asked for the president's views on homosexuality. Fleischer said Bush "doesn't ask that question about people. He judges people about who they are. He judges people lor how they act and how they relate." Fleischer said Bush's judgment of people "has nothing to do with their sexuality." "When it comes to legal matters. it's a question of different groups, homosexual groups, gay groups should not have special rights or special the spokesman said.

His statement about Bush's view of Santorum brought criticism from the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian and gay advocacy organization. "If this is how the president defines inclusion, then it clearly calls into question the depth of compassion in his conservatism." said executive director Elizabeth Birtn. Dobson, psychologist and founder of Focus on ttie Family, used a daily radio broadcast Friday to condemn attacks launched by homosexual activist groups and liberals who are calling for the removal of Sen. Rick Santorum from his leadership position. Tom Min-nery, Vice President of Public Policy for Focus on the Family, said, "Senator Santorum is Please see SANTORUM.

Alt HUSSEIN MALLAAP A boy leans on his father as Iraqi Shiite men pray at the Al-Rohman mosque, which is currently under construction in Baghdad. Iraq, after noon prayers Friday. The construction began in 1997 and is expected to be completed in 2009. Muslim clerics call for unity Want Islamic state in Iraq On the Net: A Nation at Risk': ed.go pubsNatAtRisk report. "Have we accomplished the mandate'' The answer is no." The ideas behind the report sounded more basic than bold: make sure GOP lawmakers defend Santorum By TED MONOSON Star-Trilnme Washington bureau WASHINGTON Republican Sens.

Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Conrad Burns of Montana are defending Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. whose comments about homosexuality and a Supreme Court case on a Texas sodomy law have set off a firestorm. In an April 7 interview with an Associated Press reporter. Santorum said the court should uphold the Texas sodomy law.

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your own home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery." Please see DEFEND, AM hands of Saddam's henchmen. "They tortured my son in front of my cell to put (ires-sure on me. They tore apart my the sheik said, and he burst into tears Hundreds of his followers wept along with him. Clerics from both of Islam's main groupings Sun-nis and Shiites called for unity and equality in a new Iraq But the Shiite messages are the ones attracting the most attention these days. The Shiites, long repressed under Saddam's Sunni-domi-nated regime, comprise fit) percent ol the country's Please see UNITY, A 14 It has been a long time." said Mohamed Ghalib, a 22-year-old student among the 2.000 worshippers filling two blocks of a main thoroughfare in Nasiriyah.

the southern city that saw some of the fiercest fighting during the war. At one Baghdad mosque, worshippers listened to a white-turbaned cleric. Abdel-Hadi al-Muhammadawi. demand that foreign "occupiers" leave Iraq, an apparent reference to the United States and Britain. Then the cleric, a Kalash-nikov assault rifle before him.

recounted a tale of imprisonment and torture at the By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS Associated Press writer NASIRIYAH, Iraq Hundreds of white-clad worshippers sat cross-legged on a boulevard in this war-shattered city Friday and listened to a cleric's exhortation: Iraqis must unite to create an Islamic state. The same message resounded across Iraq on the main day of Muslim prayers, as clerics spoke about the need to come together after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Some urged the United States to leave Iraq. "It is a happy day for us because we can pray freely. high school students graduate with core skills they will need in life.

Among them: being able to write a well-organized paper, compute elementary statistics, grasp the scientific method and understand democratic government The bold part came in the warning The country was compromising its future with a curriculum that had no central purpose. What's happened since1 Please see SC HOOLS, A4 Today The grouch Casper inside Walk America today in CasperEl "Futile" isn't the word I want to hem when we're talking about nukes. Markets. CI Movies. C3 Obituaries.

B3 Religion, E7 Sports, Dl Weather, B6 World. A5 Wyoming, Bl Inside: Advisers, C2 Calendar. B6 Casper Area. A3 Classified. C4 Comics, E6.

C5 Crossword, C5 Forum, A 10 Hfndv ml And a thunderstorm in f'r 6629 Wyoming's statewide newspaper. Subscribe today: (800) 442-6916, (307) 266O550 or http:www.casperstartribune.net 1.