Washington briefs

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inhaling diesel exhausts from large trucks and other sources over time can cause cancer in humans, an Environmental Protection Agency report concludes after a decade of study.

The EPA finding, released Tuesday, is expected to buttress the government's push to reduce truck tailpipe emissions by requiring cleaner-burning engines and diesel fuel with ultra-low sulfur content.

Construction spending was flat in July

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Spending on construction projects around the country was flat in July, more evidence of the struggling economic recovery.

That left the level of construction activity at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $834.1 billion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Bush Clean Air Act changes challenged

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Carol Browner and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., joined forces Tuesday to try to block a Bush administration proposal to amend a key provision of the Clean Air Act.

Browner told a Senate subcommittee hearing that the agency she headed for eight years was on the verge of making changes to the Clean Air Act that would make the air "dirtier."

Bush to hand out money to religious groups

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress has yet to approve President Bush's "faith-based initiative," but the administration is preparing to rewrite federal regulations and hand out millions of dollars for social services to religious groups.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, a new pot of money is aimed at helping small churches and other religious groups break into government grants. Officials say there's no problem using tax dollars for a program in which prayer is central, a point that Congress has refused to endorse.