Nation digest 04/10/02

Panel votes no on second term for LA police chief

LOS ANGELES -- Police Chief Bernard Parks' bid for a second five-year term was rejected Tuesday by a civilian panel whose president said the understaffed and oft-criticized police department is in a crisis.

"The department is suffering a profound loss of confidence," said Rick Caruso, head of the Police Commission that oversees the department.

The panel's 4-1 decision can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the city council.

Parks, 58, was selected as chief in 1997 by former Mayor Richard Riordan and enjoyed broad support in the city council.

But Parks got into trouble with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which had opposed his appointment. The 8,300-member union issued a no-confidence vote in January, and claimed his approach to discipline was harsh, lowered morale and drove officers away.

Prison officials to take DNA samples by force

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- State prison officials said Tuesday they plan by January to begin using reasonable force to take DNA samples from inmates, though a bill giving them that power stalled in a Senate committee.

More than 900 inmates have refused to provide samples to the state's DNA database, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

One inmate was scheduled for parole Sept. 29, but hasn't been released because he has refused to provide a sample.

More than 60,000 samples have been collected since 1999, many by prisoners who were on the verge of release, she said.

The state has sought court orders against more than 30 inmates that would let them take samples by force. All but two inmates relented when force was threatened, Thornton said.

Senate Republican Leader James Brulte said 13 other states already allow taking samples by force.

Louis Rukeyser to return to TV opposite old show

NEW YORK -- Financial journalist Louis Rukeyser, ousted by PBS after 32 years, will return to the air on CNBC next week in a manner seemingly designed to make things difficult for his old show.

The new program, "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street," debuts at 7:30 p.m. April 19 on the cable news financial network.

That's the same Friday time slot that Rukeyser occupied on PBS, and he will directly compete with the revamped "Wall $treet Week" that fired him last month.

CNBC is also making Rukeyser's new show available to any PBS station that wants to rebroadcast it, although it won't be available on Friday nights. His CNBC show will run without advertising and with underwriter support -- the same format used by PBS shows.

The 69-year-old Rukeyser's ugly exit from PBS began when his producers, Maryland Public Television, said they wanted to make a new version of "Wall $treet Week" with partners Fortune magazine and include Rukeyser in a reduced role.

-- From wire reports