Hearings on possible Patriot Act revisions

NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with NPR senior editor Ron Elving about Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on provisions of the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire at the end of 2005. Attorney General Antonio Gonzales is urging the Senate to approve the provisions, but other groups such as the ACLU say the law gives the federal government too much power.

ACLU info

Bill? What bill? Oh that kind of bill...

It's a distant memory for most of the country, but President Bush's campaign swing through Southern Oregon is fresh for hotel owners still waiting to get paid nearly $19,000 for expenses incurred by the administration last fall.

Three hotels, including the Rogue Regency, the Red Lion and the Jacksonville Inn, report they have been waiting almost six months for bills generated mostly by the U.S. Secret Service during President Bush's whirlwind tour through Jackson County, according to an article by the Mail Tribune newspaper.

Owed $3,332.72, the Red Lion Hotel in Medford sent a letter on March 28 to the president at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The letter written by the hotel's accountant Kirsten Yunuba Stephens, said: "My question to you: Is this how you help balance the budget at the White House by ripping off retailers in the towns you visit? If that is the case please do not come back to the Rogue Valley."

A White House representative said the hotels should direct their inquiries to the Secret Service rather than the president.