Bush pardons 15, commutes sentence

President Bush pardoned 15 people yesterday and commuted the prison sentence of one person. He has not been generous in handing out such reprieves. With about nine months left in his tenure, he has granted 157 pardons, less than half as many issued by Presidents Clinton or Reagan during their two terms in office. Most of those on Bush's most recent pardon list were convicted of white-collar or drug offenses. (AP)

WAUSAU - A state appeals court upheld sanctions yesterday against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere. The Third District Court of Appeals ruled the punishment the state Pharmacy Examining Board handed down against pharmacist Neil Noesen did not violate his state constitutional rights, specifically his "right of conscience" to religiously oppose birth control. (AP)

BENTONVILLE - A fire swept through a home early yesterday, killing five children after their parents were unable to reach them upstairs, authorities said. The fire, reported shortly after 1 a.m., appeared to be accidental, said Fire Chief Dan White. The parents were awakened in a downstairs bedroom by a smoke alarm, but could not reach the children because of smoke and flames, he said. The cause of the blaze was under investigation. (AP)

McLEAN - A high school coach emptying his luggage after a team trip to South Carolina was bitten by a small rattlesnake that had somehow gotten into his bag, authorities said. Andy Bacas was released yesterday after an overnight hospital stay. Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School in Arlington, told authorities he was bit Monday when he reached into his bag after returning from the trip. He saw the nearly foot-long snake and snapped the bag shut. Bacas's son, Peter, said the bag was left open on a porch during the trip. (AP)