USA

President Bush was to deliver a speech to Organization of American States foreign ministers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was expected to use the opportunity to call on Western Hemisphere neighbors to help rescue the region's most tenuous democracies. On Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice singled out Bolivia, Ecuador, and Haiti as countries that need help in overcoming chronic instability.

People who use marijuana for medical purposes in 10 states that allow such usage may still be prosecuted by the federal government, the Supreme Court ruled. Such laws, the justices decided in a 6-to-3 decision, do not protect users from a federal ban on the drug. But they acknowledged that the ban could be reversed by Congress.

The daughter of Mark Felt, the man who acknowledged last week that he was "Deep Throat," the long-secret source in The Washington Post's investigation of the Watergate scandal, said the family's decision to go public was partly driven by financial considerations. Joan Felt told The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif., that her son has incurred $100,000 in college student loans, making acceptance of lucrative book offers all the more attractive. Some literary agents say a book deal could bring the family more than $1 million.

Priscilla Owen, the former Texas Supreme Court justice who won Senate confirmation to a seat on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals last month after a long and heated confirmation battle, took the oath of office Monday in Austin, Texas.

Lea Fastow, the wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow, left a federal prison in Houston early Monday to serve the last month of her year-long sentence for a tax crime in a halfway house, her attorney said. Mr. Fastow, who was by his wife's side as she exited the prison, is a key figure in the Enron scandal.

Brandi Stahr, a Texas A&M University student who disappeared seven years ago, has been found alive and working at a Sam's Club in Florence, Ky. A telephone tip led investigators to Stahr, who went into hiding after an argument with her mother about poor academic performance. The two reportedly have talked on the telephone but have not totally repaired their relationship.