Washington in 5 Minutes

VICE PRESIDENT

Biden to announce plan for ex-GM plant

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to announce Tuesday that a California luxury automaker will build plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at a former General Motors plant in Delaware.

The White House said Sunday that Mr. Biden, a former senator from Delaware, will make a major announcement about the future of the former GM plant in Wilmington, along with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and state officials.

Fisker Automotive, of Irvine, Calif., plans to revamp GM’s Boxwood Road facility to build plug-ins, officials said Friday. The officials declined to be identified before the formal announcement.

The GM plant closed last summer. It had produced the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice roadsters, as well as an Opel-badged version for sale in Europe.

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker said last week that the automaker would soon announce the location of its refurbished U.S. plant. A Fisker spokesman did not immediately comment Sunday.

The auto manufacturer recently received approval for a $529 million government loan to develop plug-ins and is expected to release its first vehicle, the Karma, in the summer of 2010. The Karma, which will be built in Finland by Valmet Automotive, will start at $87,900. The company says it has pre-sold about 1,500 vehicles.

MAYOR

Bloomberg sweeps major endorsements

NEW YORK | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is three for three.

With an endorsement in Sunday’s Daily News, Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election campaign has won the backing of all three of New York City’s major daily newspapers. The New York Post endorsed Mr. Bloomberg on Friday and the New York Times endorsed him Saturday.

The Spanish-language daily El Diario La Prensa endorsed Mr. Bloomberg’s Democratic rival, city Comptroller William Thompson, on Thursday.

The Daily News said New York is far better off for having Mr. Bloomberg as mayor and should grant him a third term on Nov. 3. Mr. Bloomberg is a former Republican running on Republican and independent lines.

WHITE HOUSE

Axelrod describes daughter’s epilepsy

White House presidential adviser David Axelrod says the demands of his job can sometimes be hard since he can’t spend quality time with his daughter, who suffers from epilepsy.

In a broadcast interview Sunday, Mr. Axelrod said he’s grateful that newly approved medication seems to be finally controlling the seizures of Lauren, 28, after many years of trial and error with other therapies. But he acknowledges it is still difficult to be away from Lauren, who lives at a home for the developmentally disabled in Chicago.

“It’s been hard to explain to her. She doesn’t understand why. She asks all the time, ’Why does Barack Obama need so much help?’ ” Mr. Axelrod said. “There was a time when we would have given our right arm for just a week of good days. And now, she has them consistently. So, you know, that’s a big victory.”

Mr. Axelrod spoke in an interview with “60 Minutes” along with Lauren and his wife, Susan, who is president of the Chicago-based advocacy group CURE, or Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy.

The couple described the initial shock they felt when their 7-month-old daughter suddenly became limp and blue in her crib. When Mrs. Axelrod picked up Lauren, the baby immediately went into a seizure. The medical treatments at the time were limited, so the Axelrods had to try 23 different medications and an unsuccessful brain surgery for their daughter by the time she was 18.

OSHA

Years of wrangling yields vest rule

Highway construction workers have a tough-enough job, but hair-splitting regulators have made it even more so, reports Lisa Hoffman of Scripps Howard News Service.

In 2004, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued what it calls a “letter of interpretation” to advise employers that workers toiling in roadway work zones must wear reflective vests to help them avoid getting hit by passing vehicles. OSHA said it based that guidance on a clause in the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, specifically section 5 (a)(1).

But two years later, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission wagged its collective finger at the agency, ruling that OSHA was wrong in claiming said section 5 (a)(1) as its justification. The commissioners deemed that OSHA’s letter, in fact, had only required workers covered by the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUCTD, to wear high-visibility garments. Apparently, all highway workers aren’t covered by said manual.

Now, after five years of wrangling, OSHA has issued a new letter, and this one says, MUCTD or no MUCTD, all road workers must wear the reflective vests.

VETERANS AFFAIRS

Medical funding gets an advance

Veterans’ groups are hailing a new measure President Obama signed into law last week that allows Congress to approve funding of veterans’ medical services a year in advance.

That removes the annual uncertainty of budgeting created when Congress is late adopting a Veterans Affairs budget — as has been the case for 20 of the last 23 years, hampering the hiring of new staff and purchase of equipment.

From wire dispatches and staff reports