Mike Leavitt

Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, President Bush's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said after facing hostile questioning from Senate Democrats that he had decided to accept the position because he felt deeply about improving the country's environment.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urged each state on Monday to prepare for the possibility of a deadly bird flu pandemic by holding its own planning summit within the next four months.

Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, nominated by President Bush on Monday to head the Environmental Protection Agency, is the longest-serving governor in the country and a man who devised his own eight-point philosophy for governing. Leavitt, 52, is considered a moderate Republican who has served 11 years as governor and was looking at a fourth term before the announcement.

A "national conversation" is needed so that seniors and disabled people make wise decisions during the upcoming enrollment for the Medicare prescription drug program, the Bush administration's top health official said in Los Angeles this week. Relatives, doctors, clergy, pharmacists and caregivers should be prepared to sit down with Medicare recipients and go through benefits that will be offered through private insurers beginning Nov. 15, said Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S.

President Bush nominated Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt on Monday to head the Environmental Protection Agency, again turning to his fraternity of governors to help him address the nation's problems. In Leavitt, Bush chose a like-minded Republican who wants to shift authority over pollution control from the federal government to the states and who favors voluntary cleanups by industry rather than mandatory government regulations.

The 18-year-old son of Gov. Mike Leavitt pleaded guilty to charges related to an alleged "fight club" in a Mormon meeting house and was ordered to serve 40 hours of community service. Chase Leavitt and scores of mostly high-school age youths sneaked into a church gymnasium in December to stage the fights, charging admission to spectators, authorities said. Police found a video camera, which showed Leavitt and a younger boy wearing boxing gloves and punching each other.

Re "Pin Him Down on Pollution," editorial, Sept. 25: It matters little what former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt commits to in relation to the environment. Leavitt is a Utah extractionist and a utilitarian, and he will enforce only those policies that George W. Bush commands that he support. To say that former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Leavitt are both moderates is to paint with an awfully broad brush. Whitman's frustration over the Bush administration's constant, heavy-handed intrusion into her ability to implement common-sense environmental approaches led to her resignation, not her desire to spend more time with her family.

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, ending an effort by six senators to block the vote in protest of Bush administration environmental policies. The 88-8 vote came after a polarized two-day debate over the president's environmental record, which some Republicans praised as the best and some Democrats denounced as the worst.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt on Thursday defended the Bush administration's handling of a proposed rule to limit mercury emissions from power plants, despite a request from 45 senators and 10 state attorneys general that he scrap the proposal and start over. "There are a number of fictions that have crept into our discussion of mercury regulation," Leavitt told the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on clean air, climate change and nuclear safety.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urged each state on Monday to prepare for the possibility of a deadly bird flu pandemic by holding its own planning summit within the next four months.

The Bush administration plans to confront state governments over Medicaid costs in an effort to slow the growth in federal spending on healthcare for the poor, disabled and elderly, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Tuesday. In a speech before a healthcare meeting here, Leavitt said Medicaid, the federal-state partnership to provide medical care for the needy, was "not financially sustainable."

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly confirmed Michael Leavitt as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, setting aside partisan divisions that have roiled debate over some of President Bush's other nominees. Leavitt, who turns 54 next month, most recently headed the Environmental Protection Agency and served three terms as governor of Utah.

Shifting his Cabinet reorganization back into high gear, President Bush on Monday nominated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt to head the Department of Health and Human Services, which faces a fiscal crunch over the massive medical costs of the elderly and the poor.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt on Thursday defended the Bush administration's handling of a proposed rule to limit mercury emissions from power plants, despite a request from 45 senators and 10 state attorneys general that he scrap the proposal and start over. "There are a number of fictions that have crept into our discussion of mercury regulation," Leavitt told the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on clean air, climate change and nuclear safety.

In his first major speech since becoming Environmental Protection Agency administrator four weeks ago, Mike Leavitt pledged Tuesday to lead the country toward the "most productive period of air-quality improvement in American history." Speaking to several thousand EPA employees in an ornate downtown Washington auditorium, Leavitt sought to improve the impression some Americans have of Bush's commitment to protecting the nation's air, water, lands and wildlife.

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, ending an effort by six senators to block the vote in protest of Bush administration environmental policies. The 88-8 vote came after a polarized two-day debate over the president's environmental record, which some Republicans praised as the best and some Democrats denounced as the worst.

A Senate committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination as head of the Environmental Protection Agency after Democrats on the panel ended a boycott of the vote. Although most Democrats joined all the Republican members on the Environment and Public Works Committee in the 16-2 vote, President Bush's pick to run the agency is not likely to take the job soon.

The eight Democrats and one Independent on a Senate committee boycotted a scheduled vote Wednesday on Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, delaying the panel's action by at least two weeks. The nine senators, members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, complained that Leavitt had failed to adequately answer their questions about his environmental priorities and the Bush administration's environmental policies.

A Senate committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination as head of the Environmental Protection Agency after Democrats on the panel ended a boycott of the vote. Although most Democrats joined all the Republican members on the Environment and Public Works Committee in the 16-2 vote, President Bush's pick to run the agency is not likely to take the job soon.

The eight Democrats and one Independent on a Senate committee boycotted a scheduled vote Wednesday on Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, delaying the panel's action by at least two weeks. The nine senators, members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, complained that Leavitt had failed to adequately answer their questions about his environmental priorities and the Bush administration's environmental policies.