Bush Wants Information Requests StreamlinedPresident Bush directed...

Bush Wants Information Requests Streamlined

President Bush directed federal agencies to be more efficient in dealing with requests for government information, but he left in place a 4-year-old policy that restricts access under the Freedom of Information Act.

Bush signed an executive order calling on agencies to take several consumer-friendly steps, including streamlining the handling of requests under the information act and appointing senior officials to monitor compliance with the law.

The directive does not address a complaint of news organizations and other advocates of open government that too much information is withheld from the public.

Four Gunned Down in a Boston Basement

Investigators in Boston were searching for suspects in the city’s bloodiest crime in a decade after four men were fatally shot in a basement that neighbors said was used as practice space by a rap group.

Three men were found dead at the house and a fourth died at a hospital, Police Supt. Bobbie Johnson said. The men were in their late teens and early 20s.

“It’s much too early to speculate on a motive in this incident,” Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole said. “But generally speaking, homicides occurring inside residences are seldom random acts of violence.”

Boston’s 71 homicides this year are the most in a decade.

Catholic Priest Is Given15 Months for Child Porn

A Catholic priest in the upstate town of Greece was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.

The U.S. attorney in Buffalo said in a statement that the case came to light after Michael Volino, 42, contacted an information technology help line for the Diocese of Rochester in January to report problems with his computer.

The diocese said it would review Volino’s case and forward materials on his status to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, which will determine his future as a priest.