Political Scene

COLORADO

Governor injured in bicycle mishap

DENVER | Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. appears to have several broken ribs after a bicycle accident.

Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor collided early Tuesday with another cyclist in a group of four. Mr. Dreyer said Mr. Ritter appears to have multiple rib fractures on his right side.

Mr. Ritter was treated at Denver Health Medical Center and was in good spirits, laughing and joking with hospital staff, Mr. Dreyer said.

He said the other cyclist had minor injuries and wasn’t taken to a hospital.

FLORIDA

Foley opens consignment shop

WEST PALM BEACH | Former Rep. Mark Foley is opening a consignment store in West Palm Beach about four years after he resigned from Congress in the wake of a scandal.

Mr. Foley said Celebrity Consignment sells items from furniture to chandeliers to paintings. Much of the shop is filled with Mr. Foley’s belongings from his former Washington home.

Mr. Foley resigned in 2006 after sending salacious Internet messages to male teens who had worked on Capitol Hill as congressional pages. Criminal investigations ended without charges.

Mr. Foley said he hasn’t completely ruled out another run for public office.

TRANSPORTATION

Brake overrides considered for cars

If the accelerator sticks, you can still hit the brakes.

That’s an idea that seems to be gaining support on Capitol Hill - a requirement that all new vehicles sold in the U.S. be equipped with brakes that can override the gas pedal.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a Senate panel Tuesday that his agency may make that recommendation.

He spoke at the latest hearing into the recall of millions of Toyotas for problems that included sudden acceleration. Federal safety officials now say they have heard of 52 reported deaths linked to that problem, through the end of last month.

Toyota has said it will put a brake override system into all future vehicles and retrofit many of the recalled models.

The chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Democrat John D. Rockefeller IV, told the hearing that “somewhere along the way public safety took a back seat” at Toyota.

His state, West Virginia, is the site of a Toyota plant.

SENATE

Lautenberg returns after cancer care

TRENTON, N.J. | Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg has returned to work on Capitol Hill after being diagnosed with lymphoma and receiving his first chemotherapy treatment last week.

Spokesman Caley Gray said the 86-year-old New Jersey Democrat was attending a Tuesday afternoon hearing on Toyota vehicle recalls. Earlier, the senator cast votes on two judicial appointments.

The U.S. Senate’s second-oldest member was hospitalized Feb. 15 after suffering a fall at his Cliffside Park home. He was treated the next day for a bleeding ulcer. The B-cell lymphoma was found in the ulcer.

The senator was discharged Thursday. He did not attend a Monday morning meeting with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and the state’s congressional delegation.

POSTAL SERVICE

Postal chief urges end to Saturday mail

The nation’s top postal official on Tuesday renewed a drive to drop Saturday delivery - and win approval of a new rate increase - in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action, the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over the next decade, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

“The projections going forward are not bright,” Mr. Potter told reporters in a briefing. But, he added, “all is not lost, … we can right this ship.”

• From wire dispatches and staff reports