Preview -- World News Tonight 07/16/01

July 16 -- Good afternoon.

We begin tonight with the energy crisis that may have been, that doesn't seem to be here now … but that the White House says may be here in the future.

The Bush administration is taking its case to the public this week. It says that the country needs a new national energy strategy, with an emphasis on supply. The strategy involves finding new sources of natural gas and oil and building new power plants. The vice president is in Pennsylvania today to give a speech and to kick off a town meeting on energy. One big hitch: Dick Cheney has lost his voice. His wife, Lynne Cheney, will be his surrogate speaker and she'll have a tough sell. Gas prices have been going down at the pump and the situation in California has appeared to stabilize. Michele Norris has the story.

Our Pierre Thomas remains tethered to the search for the missing intern. Today Washington police were fanned out in one of the District's parks, literally beating the bushes looking for clues. Police tell us that Chandra Levy visited an Internet map site on May 1, the last day anybody has heard from her. Among other places, she got directions to Rock Creek Park, just a couple of miles from her home. Today at the park, police didn't find much in the way of evidence or clues; mostly some small bones, probably the remains of small animals. Also today, police went back to Levy's apartment building and interviewed some of her neighbors, some of them for the third time. They're also looking for evidence on the streets, wondering whether Levy's disappearance might be linked to a random crime. The mystery continues.

In California today, Robert Downey Jr. was in court again. And again today the actor was facing jail time for using illegal drugs. Only this time the outcome was different for him, as for many others across the state, because of a new law that went into effect on July 1. "Prop. 36," as it's called, provides for treatment and rehabilitation for many multiple offenders. Many voters in California believe jail is a waste of time and money for many drug offenders — so, why not give treatment a chance? As the judge warned Downey, the rehab program will be very tough going. One slip-up and it's straight to prison. Neal Karlinsky reports.