Free Republic

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects. The vote was 79-14 to pass the bill. Enactment was a foregone conclusion, but it still marked a milestone for a president who spent his first six years with a much friendlier Congress controlled by his Republican Party. Now he confronts a more hostile, Democratic-controlled legislature, and Thursday's vote showed that even many Republicans will defy him on spending matters dear to their political careers. The bill funds...

<p>TAYLORSVILLE - Jana and Ian McDowell think of themselves as law-abiding citizens who follow the advice of state officials.</p> <p>Their conscientiousness has cost them $25,000 and four years of strife. They blame the California Department of Water Resources.</p> <p>At the center of the issue is a ditch on the McDowells' Plumas County property and advice from state officials about who has rights to the water that flows through it.</p>

Drought Drains Rivers, Reservoirs WASHINGTON, DC, September 12, 2002 (ENS) - Continuing drought throughout the western United States has depleted river flows and dried up reservoirs in many areas. The federal Bureau of Reclamation says that while water continues to be delivered in most areas, the storage levels in many Reclamation reservoirs are well below average. From the Missouri River westward to the Pacific Ocean, one half of the contiguous United States is now experiencing drought conditions. In the Southwest, dry conditions are expected to continue at least through autumn, with most basins in southern Colorado, southern Utah, Arizona...