Balance Sheet.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff A.
• Position: Brief pork-barrel anecdotes

* Private Stink. The Washington (D.C.) Suburban Sanitary Commission discusses whether to go private and become a regulated utility. The sewer and water authority is valued at $3 billion, and a sale could bring millions in new tax revenue each year for local governments. If WSSC's 1.6 million customers were to go private, it would be one of the biggest such shifts ever in the country.

* Upper Echelon. The Italian legal system - of all things - may throw a spotlight on America's busy spooks at the National Security Agency. All of Europe is aflame over the NSA's Echelon program, a worldwide eavesdropping operation with a listening post outside London. Italian investigators want to know if what the NSA does violates their country's privacy laws. The NSA so far has stiff-armed even Congress about Echelon.

* Drugged Speech. A federal judge rules that the First Amendment applies even to pharmaceutical makers. Restrictions on what drug firms can say about off-label uses are declared unconstitutional. The Food and Drug Administration wanted prior approval for any information doctors received about new uses for approved drugs.

* Surf Saver. A high-powered who's who of the online world sets up a Web site to help parents figure out this whole Internet thing. The GetNetWise effort assumes that educated parents, as opposed to grandstanding, nanny-state politicos, can help kids navigate the cyberworld.

* Farm Fade. Washington plans to send $7.5 billion to farmers on top of last year's "one-time-only" $6 billion bailout. The subsidies go a long way...