WASHINGTON IN BRIEF

Temperatures have risen twice as fast in the West as in the rest of the country over the past 50 years, said Theo Spencer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Rising temperatures, drought, wildfires and diminished snowfalls endanger wildlife and threaten hiking, fishing and other recreational activities" in the parks, Spencer said at a news conference. "Imagine Glacier Park without glaciers or Yellowstone without any grizzly bears."

The report released by the council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization stressed the connection between global warming and environmental damage at the parks, including the loss of specific wildlife, and called on the U.S. government to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly in 10 years.

Glaciers and ice caves have melted in North Cascades and Mount Rainier parks, and mountaintops in Western parks could be snow-free in summer within decades, said Stephen Saunders of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.

U.S. Records a Drop In Border Arrests

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The number of illegal immigrants caught trying to sneak into the United States from Mexico has dropped since President Bush ordered 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, the head of the Border Patrol said yesterday.

Border Patrol chief David V. Aguilar reported a 45 percent decline in the number of people arrested along the U.S.-Mexican border, when comparing the 69 days before Bush's mid-May announcement with the 69 days after.

That is a much greater decline than normally seen in the summer months, officials said, and they surmise that part of the reason is because fewer people are trying to enter the country because they are discouraged by the increase in efforts against them.

Immigrant rights advocates think the migrants may just be shifting entry points, crossing at more remote and dangerous areas.

-- From News Services