News in Brief: A Washington Roundup

After nearly five months of waiting, Gerald A. Reynolds, the nominee for the top civil rights job at the Department of Education, may soon get a confirmation hearing.

Mr. Reynolds, who was announced last June as President Bush's choice to become the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, was scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Feb. 14. However, the hearing has now been postponed until later this month, said Jim Manley, spokesman for the HELP committee's chairman, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. Mr. Manley, who said the original Feb. 14 date had been only tentative, had no comment on what issues Mr. Kennedy might raise with Mr. Reynolds.

Mr. Reynolds' official nomination was completed in September, and since then he has spent some time in Washington as...