First Lady’s Top Priority Is Litter Around White House

Every dog has his day, and in this case the coddled canine is getting several from a doting Barbara Bush as the First Lady begged off a trip with the President so she could stay home and play midwife to their pregnant English springer spaniel. President Bush made no bones about the reason for his wife’s absence on his trip Thursday to Houston and Colorado Springs, Colo., saying he got a flat “No! With Millie expecting?” when he asked his wife to join him. Mrs. Bush also was not on hand to send her husband off as he departed the White House in the morning; she was swimming in the outdoor White House pool. An aide said the First Lady does not expect the pups to arrive before Sunday and is counting on the spaniel to deliver by Tuesday, the dog’s due date.

--Kitty Dukakis was back on the campaign trail, this time to exhort women to become involved in politics. Speaking to students at Villanova University eight days after completing an alcoholism rehabilitation program, she urged: “No area of political involvement is more important for women today than that of fund raising. Here, through networks of friends, associates and neighbors, we have a golden opportunity to make a significant impact all across the country.” The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis said she feels encouraged about her future and frequently described her outlook as “positive.” “There’s a word with my disease and that’s called recovering,” she said. “I’ll always be recovering and I hope I’ll be able to follow the steps of the program. That will be a part of my life.”

--Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young has agreed to blood tests in an effort to clear up the matter of a baptismal certificate that lists him as the father of a 6-year-old boy. Annivory Calvert, 34, claims that she had a relationship with the twice-divorced mayor from 1980-87, when she was assistant director of Detroit’s Department of Public Works, and the archdiocese of Detroit confirmed that she listed Coleman as the father of her child, Joel Loving, on the certificate. A court considering Calvert’s suit for child support said that the 70-year-old Young will take blood tests within 30 days and that genetic material from the samples will be analyzed using tests experts say are virtually error-free.