CAMP DAVID, Md. – Doctors removed five small growths from President Bush’s colon Saturday after he temporarily transferred the powers of his office to Vice President Dick Cheney. The polyps, extra tissue growing inside the large intestine, were found during a routine colon cancer scan performed at Camp David. “All were less than 1 centimeter (about four-tenths of an inch) and none appeared worrisome,” a White House spokesman said. Nothing occurred during the 2 hours and 5 minutes of the transfer that required Cheney to take official action, he said.
Colorado: Demos move up primary
Colorado Democrats voted Saturday to move their presidential caucuses to February, a month earlier than planned, in hopes of gaining sway with presidential candidates. The state’s Democratic Party head said the move would win attention for Colorado’s nine electoral votes. “I’ve been told by presidential candidates that they aren’t coming to states that are not in the early window. They don’t have the resources,” he told delegates to the party’s central committee.
Utah: Firefighters wait for help
High temperatures and low humidity prevented firefighters from extinguishing a fire Saturday that threatened at least two dozen homes in the small central Utah town of Indianola. Fire crews were waiting for more firefighters to arrive so they could work to put out the fire rather than just protect cabins, homes and trailers threatened by the 22-square-mile fire. Temperatures reached nearly 100 degrees, while humidity hovered around 10 percent in many of the areas where the state’s 10 wildfires were burning.
Texas: Flooding blocks train
Storms dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of Texas on Saturday, stranding more than 170 passengers on an Amtrak train for hours and forcing rescue crews elsewhere to pull at least 50 people to safety. Water covering the tracks in Knippa, about 75 miles west of San Antonio, stopped a westbound Amtrak train carrying 176 passengers around 9 a.m. CDT. Buses were expected to arrive around 7:30 p.m. to take passengers to El Paso, where they would board another train, an Amtrak spokeswoman said.
Pennsylvania: Mayor helps at blaze
Philadelphia’s mayor and two of his bodyguards happened upon a house fire and ended up rescuing a cat, helping a victim and warning neighbors, witnesses said. Mayor John Street and two bodyguards, who had been walking to City Hall when they saw the burning home, rushed over to help, a neighbor said. The bodyguards carried a boy who suffered minor burns into a home and went into the burning house to rescue a cat. The mayor began banging on doors and urging people to leave their homes.
From Herald news services
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