House holds ex-official of EPA in contempt

The House voted 413 to 0 to cite former EPA official Rita Lavelle for contempt. The grounds: that she failed to obey a subpoena asking her to testify about the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous waste program that she once headed. She was summoned to testify March 21 - but did not appear - before the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee, one of six congressional panels investigating charges that cleanup efforts were politicized and mismanaged.