Howard M Metzenbaum

The condition of Shirley Metzenbaum, the wife of Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), has been upgraded from serious to fair, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday. She suffered a head injury in a bicycle accident Sunday.

Quick, what do golfers and environmentalists have in common? That's easy, says Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, one of the nation's most powerful advocates for environmental concerns but not one of its best golfers: a shared appreciation of nature. "As an occasional duffer," the Ohio Democrat says, "I appreciate the natural beauty of golf courses. I'm very aware of the true link between nature and golf, having spent a great deal of time behind trees, in tall grass and fishing golf balls out of water."

Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), acting a day after a university scientist warned NutraSweet may be linked to behavioral changes, announced he will hold a hearing on the safety of the popular artificial sweetener. Metzenbaum has long questioned whether NutraSweet was adequately tested before its 1981 approval.

Judge Clarence Thomas had only begun to describe the anguish that Anita Faye Hill's allegations of sexual harassment had caused him when a voice from the Senate Judiciary Committee dais broke in. "I know exactly what you mean," Sen. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona blurted out.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Stephen S. Trott, a top Justice Department official, as a judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ending a four-month hold on the nomination by two senators. The nomination, approved without debate and by voice vote, had been held up by Sens. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) since it was reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 3. The senators delayed action on Trott's nomination in retaliation for Atty. Gen.

Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.), head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, apologized Wednesday to Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) for a campaign strategy report urging that Metzenbaum be depicted as a communist sympathizer. Boschwitz said on the Senate floor he agreed with Metzenbaum that the committee report "has no place in politics and indeed demeans the political process."

Millions of dollars in charity donations go to sophisticated hucksters who prey on the generous to line their own pockets rather than helping the needy, a Senate panel was told Friday. "In some cases, these vultures simply create their own charity for the sole purpose of putting out a heart-tugging mailing and cashing in on the forthcoming checks," Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Here are excerpts from opening statements by Senate Judiciary Committee members on the first day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas: * JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. (D-Del.), COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Judge Thomas, you come before this committee in this time of change with a philosophy different from that which we have seen in any Supreme Court nominee in the 19 years since I have been in the Senate.

In an extraordinarily harsh exchange, Assistant Atty. Gen. William Bradford Reynolds was accused Thursday of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee during 1987 testimony about his role in a Louisiana voting discrimination case. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), shouting at Reynolds during a hearing by the same panel Thursday, said: "I wasn't being casual when I asked the chairman to swear you in."

Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.) called Sunday for an investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine whether a black law professor was intimidated from testifying last month in favor of Judge Robert H. Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court. The professor, John T. Baker of Indiana University Law School, decided not to testify as scheduled Sept. 28 after a phone call from Linda Greene, a lawyer appointed to the Judiciary Committee staff last year by Sen. Howard M.

Playing the role of liberal point man, Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) is achieving new prominence as the Senate considers the controversial nominations of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court and Robert M. Gates to head the CIA. Always aggressive, sometimes abrasive, Metzenbaum has been untiring in his critical cross-examinations of the two nominees despite vehement Republican protests that he is vilifying the President's men.

Here are excerpts from opening statements by Senate Judiciary Committee members on the first day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas: * JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. (D-Del.), COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Judge Thomas, you come before this committee in this time of change with a philosophy different from that which we have seen in any Supreme Court nominee in the 19 years since I have been in the Senate.

The chairman of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating the government's sales of failed savings and loans in late 1988 said Monday that regulators would save "millions and possibly billions of dollars" if they sought to reopen some of those deals. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), the panel chairman, said federal regulators "couldn't possibly have known what they were doing" as they rushed to complete the selloff of troubled S&Ls in the final days of 1988.

Millions of dollars in charity donations go to sophisticated hucksters who prey on the generous to line their own pockets rather than helping the needy, a Senate panel was told Friday. "In some cases, these vultures simply create their own charity for the sole purpose of putting out a heart-tugging mailing and cashing in on the forthcoming checks," Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now that President Bush has awarded the Medal of Freedom to Solidarity union leader Lech Walesa maybe Bush and the radical right will stop bashing unions in this country.

A controversial law requiring America's large companies to give workers 60 days' notice of plant closings or mass layoffs takes effect today, with organized labor praising it and business decrying it. "I hope companies will view this law as the beginning of a new era of cooperation and good will between employers and their workers," said Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), the principal author of the law.

A Senate opponent of William Lucas' nomination to be the nation's chief civil rights enforcer questioned his respect for the law Wednesday, citing a 1985 incident in which Lucas and family members tried to conceal $8,800 worth of jewelry and clothing from U.S. Customs Service agents when returning from a trip abroad. "How do we know there will be a new Mr. Lucas if and when you're confirmed?" asked Sen. Howard M.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, urging Congress to ban the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons like the AK-47, Friday stormed Capitol Hill with an arsenal of tough talk, spraying his critics with blunt warnings about the dangers of such weapons. During sometimes fiery testimony before a Senate panel considering a ban on such firearms, Gates, a staunch conservative, scolded Congress for not getting tough on the issue.