- In a surprise move Attorney General John Ashcroft recuses himself from the investigation of the Bush Administration’s leak of the identity of a CIA agent – but there will not be an outside independent special prosecutor – the probe will be headed by a Justice Department career federal attorney in Chicago
- The Agriculture Department announces new rules to combat the spread of Mad Cow Disease, including banning so-called downer cows from the slaughter house – critics applaud the moves but fear they’re too late and too little
- A probe of hiring practices in the State’s temporary employment agencies asserts that white applicants are routinely hired much more often than more highly qualified black job seekers
- A ballot measure to help break California’s annual legislative budget gridlock under attack from business and anti-tax groups as the blank check initiative
- In San Francisco the Union of Concerned Santas demonstrates against the use of electronic voting machines without safeguards
- Islamic women and girls arround the country rally at French consulates to decry a ban on religious headscarfs in French public schools