FEDS TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT BROWN

Attorney General Janet Reno has expanded theJustice Department review of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's business dealings. Justice will look at Brown's $71,000 investment in a deteriorating low-income housing project that defaulted on a $6.1 million state loan. Secretary Brown's attorney, Reid Weingarten, said today that the feds are responding to Sunday's Los Angeles Times report that said the secretary misreported the location of the housing project on financial disclosure forms and reaped $175,000 in tax breaks from the investment. Weingarten claims there was no wrongdoing. The Justice Department was already considering whether an independent counsel should conduct a criminal investigation of several other Brown investments.