HEALTH REFORM . . . TOP DEM ADMITS IT'S DEAD

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell declared health care reform dead for this session of Congress, joining Republicans who rang the death knell last week -- and blaming them, too. The Maine Democrat on Friday made a last-ditch effort to round up a filibuster-proof 60 votes for a moderate health package, but the GOP and a few opposing Democrats held firm. Mitchell also ignored a group of liberal lawmakers who wanted a stripped-down reform package that would cover children. The next chapter: November, when the Election Day blame game begins.

Quotes of the Day »

RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.