Lawyers for some of the 385 prisoners still at the US's Guantánamo prison have condemned a Justice Dept. request for tighter restrictions on client visits. The lawyers say their jobs are already near-impossible and that claims they are security threats and inappropriately pass information to media are really attempts to further diminish the already severely limited scrutiny Guantánamo receives. They say prisoner unrest is in reaction to jail conditions, not their instigation, and that all of their information goes through military censors.

Under the proposals, filed earlier this month in Washington DC, lawyers would be restricted to just 3 visits with an existing client, correspondence they send to their clients would be vetted by military intelligence officers and government officials would be empowered to prevent lawyers from having access to secret evidence used by military tribunals to decide whether the prisoners were "enemy combatants".

Main Source: The Independent

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is to sue the EPA if it fails to act promptly on California's 2005 request to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from autos. The administration demands action by the end of October, at which point more than 22 months will have passed with no decision. A recent Supreme Court ruling dismissed the EPA and Bush claim it lacks the authority to regulate the gases that contribute to global warming. The EPA has begun the process to act on California's request but refuses to set a timetable for a decision.
Main Source: Associated Press

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 federal agencies, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said Wednesday. The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees on which seats GOP candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect administration policies.

Such influence is prohibited under a federal law known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics. In addition to forbidding workplace pressures meant to influence an election outcome, the law bars the use of federal resources – including office buildings, phones and computers – for partisan purposes.

Main Source: Washington Post

The FBI touts civil-rights enforcement as a top priority, but the number of investigations into such cases – from hate crimes to police abuses – has fallen sharply, raising concerns that victims are left with nowhere else to turn. Pressed by the Bush administration to beef up counterterrorism ranks, the Bureau has pulled agents off civil rights and slashed the number of investigations conducted nationwide. From 2001-2005, new policies have contributed to two-thirds fewer investigations targeting crimes typically left to federal jurisdiction.
Main Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

FEMA is to extend payments until March 2009 for the more than 100,000 households dependent on housing aid since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. But, beginning March 2008, residents of government-subsidized housing will have to pay rent, starting at $50 and increasing another $50 each month. Some residents, such as disabled people and seniors, would be exempt. The at least 86,000 residents living in trailers or mobile homes would be given the option to buy the homes at fair-market value. HUD is to take over the program from FEMA.

Advocates criticized the new plan as short-sighted and noted it excludes many former residents of New Orleans public housing complexes slated for demolition. Those residents fear being left homeless when their HUD aid expires in September. A class-action lawsuit seeks to return them to public housing.

Main Source: LA Times

The Senate took the rare step of attempting to end a war Thursday, calling on Pres. Bush to withdraw most American troops from Iraq by next April. The $124.2 billion spending bill, approved by the Senate 51-46 after House passage Wednesday, provides more than $90 billion for general war spending over the next several months. The president has promised to veto the legislation as soon as it crosses his desk, probably early next week, and Congress lacks the votes to override Bush’s block.
Main Source: Chicago Tribune

The US Supreme Court has overturned 3 death sentences Texas issued to convicts in the 1990s, saying the men deserve fresh trials. Prior to a Supreme Court decision in 1989, Texas required the death penalty if a jury found the convict committed deliberate murder and was a future threat of violent crimes. The procedure likely prevented jurors from considering "constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence." Texas changed its jury instructions in 1991, only after at least 47 of 392 condemned were sentenced under the flawed instructions.
Main Source: Agence France-Presse

A majority of the Supreme Court's right-leaning bench may reject a key part of the 2002 campaign-finance reform law that bans ads from endorsing or opposing candidates by name just before elections. Even “issue ads” aired mainly by political action committees often help or hurt candidates. But some justices argued lifting the ban would gut the law's restrictions on unregulated “soft money” by allowing corporations to pay for ads, which Justice Breyer considers “the single best way to get somebody defeated or elected.”
Main Source: CNN

The US House has voted 218–208 in favor of a $124 billion spending measure that the Senate is expected to pass today. The huge bill would fund the war on Iraq, among other things, but it demands troop withdrawals begin Oct. 1 or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. The bill sets a non-binding goal of completing the troop pullout by April 2008, allowing for forces conducting certain non-combat missions to remain. Democrats lack the 2/3 majority needed to override a veto Pres. Bush has promised for the bill.
Main Source: Associated Press

The state on Wednesday dropped 36 counts of cruelty to the infirm against the owners of a nursing home where 35 people died in the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. Salvador Mangano and his wife, Mabel, still face 28 counts of cruelty to the infirm and 35 counts of negligent homicide. State prosecutors said the Manganos, who own St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard Parish, should have taken steps to evacuate patients before flood waters rose due to the 2005 storm.
Main Source: Associated Press

As Special Counsel Scott Bloch plans a probe of some Bush administration activities, advocates pointed to his deficient record and deep ties to the administration and conservative groups, warning he may just “provide cover" for a White House seen as covering for him. Bloch is to investigate White House political motives behind the firing of at least one US attorney; if Karl Rove's staff violated the Hatch Act in briefing agency managers on Republican goals; and if the White House improperly used RNC accounts for e-mails.

Whistleblower groups have long said Bloch has a record of ignoring and failing to protect those reporting wrongdoing, which is his primary job as special counsel. At Bloch's confirmation hearing, he was urged to reduce the large backlog of whistle-blower and other complaints. Bloch disposed of a great many of them – so many that an advocate for environmental whistle-blowers said they had received no satisfaction from the agency.

Main Source: LA Times

Native American and Alaskan women are suffering rates of rape and sexual violence nearly 3 times higher than the US average, a new Amnesty International study says. The study found a maze of tribal, state and federal jurisdictions often allowed men to rape with impunity, creating a vicious cycle that emboldened rapists and led to more attacks. Justice Dept. figures indicated more than 1 in 3 Native women would be raped in their lifetime, although that figure may be substantially higher because of a traditional reluctance to report sex crimes.

The report accused the US government of undermining tribal justice systems by consistent under-funding, which results in a dearth of appropriately trained medical staff at Indian Health Service facilities and waits of hours or days for police response to reported rape or sex crimes. Alaska was the rape capital of the US, Amnesty said citing FBI statistics. Between 2000 and 2003, one study found that native Alaskan women in Anchorage were roughly 10 times more likely to be raped than other women in the city.

Main Source: Agence France-Presse

Home sales posted their sharpest drop in 18 years in March, a real estate group said Tuesday, as problems in the subprime mortgage sector pushed sales well below what economists had forecast. Sales of existing homes fell 8.4% to an annual rate of 6.12 million in March from February's 6.68 million rate, the National Association of Realtors said. It was the biggest one-month drop since January 1989.

The median home price slipped 0.3% to $217,000 from a year earlier. Earlier this month, the real-estate trade group Wachovia projected that 2007 would be the first year to show a decline in the nearly 40 years that it has tracked prices.

Phillip Neuhart, an economist with Wachovia, said it's clear that potential home buyers are being spooked by the continued bad news about home sales and prices, as well as problems in subprime mortgages. Housing worries were one of the factors in the drop in the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, also released Tuesday.

Main Source: CNN

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency has signed papers formally beginning the process to rule on California's request for federal permission to regulate tailpipe emissions, but the agency head repeatedly refused to say how soon he will decide whether to regulate carbon dioxide. In April, the US Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's long-held argument that it had no authority to regulate the heat-trapping gas.

While the court did not say the EPA must regulate carbon, it said if it doesn't, it must show that carbon dioxide emissions are not a danger to public health. California cannot implement 2002 regulations to reduce auto emissions without federal permission. The California standards have been adopted by 11 other states also awaiting EPA action before they can move.

Main Source: Orange County Register

A veteran US lawmaker on Tuesday introduced legislation urging VP Dick Cheney's impeachment for manipulating intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The resolution introduced by House Democrat Dennis Kucinich also says Cheney fabricated ties between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, and has threatened aggression against Iran “absent any real threat to the US." Kucinich, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the bill would go a long way in restoring the US's world standing, which has suffered because of its war on Iraq.
Main Source: Agence France-Presse

Inmates set fires and tried to tear down a fence in a massive riot at a prison in Indiana on Tuesday in which at least 2 members of the corrections staff were injured, officials said. Casualties among inmates were not reported. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the "disturbance" at the New Castle Correctional Facility, a medium-security men's prison, the Dept. of Corrections said. Prisoners set at least three blazes and attempted to rip down fences, prompting police and corrections officials to try to secure the perimeter.
Main Source: Agence France-Presse

The Supreme Court has followed its decision upholding a federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure by ordering a Virginia court to reconsider a state law it struck down barring the procedure. In 2005, the appellate court cited Supreme Court precedent in finding the measure unconstitutional since it lacked an exception to safeguard a woman's health. Experts say the court is likely to reverse its earlier ruling and allow Virginia's ban if it doesn't determine the law imposes an "undue burden" on a woman's legal right to choose an abortion.

A similar appellate court decision striking down Missouri's ban on the procedure also will be reconsidered. The state House passed legislation on Monday subjecting abortion providers to more-stringent regulations, a move critics say restricts women's access to abortions. Wisconsin Republicans have asked the state to review its ban in light of the federal decision. The ban was made law in 1998, but a legal challenge rendered it unenforceable. Louisiana lawmakers have also revisited a 1997 state ban declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 1999.

A series of prominent US doctors have warned the Supreme Court ruling could be a further step of government intrusion into private medical decisions. Noting a long pattern of government intervention in the form of currently required waiting periods and state-written consent documents, they warned the new decision poses a threat to doctors who perform legal surgical abortions and will intimidate doctors who provide any type of abortion services.

Main Source: Washington Post

A Chicago court has ordered Jerry Miller released and removed from the sex-offenders registry after serving 25 years of a 45-year sentence for a rape he didn't commit. DNA evidence cleared Miller of the 1981 rape of a 44-year-old white woman and implicated a man named Robert Weeks, who assaulted another woman 7 months after the attack for which Miller was convicted. Weeks however cannot be charged with the 1981 rape because the statute of limitations has expired.

The exoneration brings to 200 the number of such cases overturned since the 1980s, thanks in large part to the Innocence Project, which helps clear the name of many whose convictions, like Miller's, turned largely on flawed eyewitness testimony. The project highlighted the difficulties facing black defendants, particularly in cases where a black man is accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. They noted that of the 200 people exonerated by DNA evidence so far, 62% were black men.

Main Source: Agence France-Presse

Nearly half of the $94 billion in emergency funding Pres. Bush says Congress needs to immediately make available to continue to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would actually be used to finance non-urgent items related to the so-called "longer war on terror." The report adds that the administration is using the emergency budget request to escape congressional scrutiny to finance controversial measures. The appropriation would boost the Pentagon’s 2006 budget to more than twice its 2004 purse and some 40% over its FY2007 proposal.
Main Source: Truthout

The US Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed 3 people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in US history, documents and interviews show. Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

In one case, agents checking into complaints about salmonella at the ConAgra Foods peanut-butter factory ceased their probe when managers refused to provide requested documents.

Consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply. FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode.

Main Source: Washington Post

A Border Patrol agent was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the shooting of an undocumented immigrant at the border in January. An investigation found that Agent Nicholas Corbett's killing of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera, of Puebla, Mexico, was not legally justified, said the Cochise County prosecutor. The shooting occurred while Corbett was trying to apprehend Dominguez-Rivera and 3 others who were trying to enter the country illegally. Corbett is also charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.
Main Source: Associated Press

To settle a lawsuit, the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs has agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to a list of approved religious symbols it will engrave on veterans’ headstones. After a 10-year fight, the settlement was announced Monday by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which represented the plaintiffs in the case. Until now, the VA had refused to add the symbol to its list of 38 approved markings. There are an estimated 1,800 Wiccans in the US armed forces; at least 11 families will be immediately affected by the decision.
Main Source: New York Times

Inmates executed by lethal injection may in some cases die by "chemical asphyxiation" while unable to move, but still conscious, according to a new analysis of California and North Carolina executions released yesterday. During the course of an execution, the condemned victim may experience severe pain when the second dose of chemicals – potassium chloride – is infused to stop the heart.

The editors of PLoS Medicine, which published the paper, declared in an accompanying opinion that lethal injection is not humane and cannot be improved upon. "There is no ethical way to establish the humaneness of procedures for killing people who do not wish to die," they wrote.

Main Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The Social Security numbers of up to 63,000 people who received Agriculture Dept. grants were finally taken down from a government website last week, after being publicly available since 1996. A government spokesperson said an unknown number of private websites had downloaded and reposted the information. The Agriculture Dept. is offering 1 year of free credit monitoring to those affected, at an estimated taxpayer cost of $4 million.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that under the Privacy Act – the only federal law likely violated by the breach – victims can only collect damages for measurable losses to ID thieves, not merely for anxiety. Nevertheless, lawyers predict the incident is likely spur passage of a federal law requiring notification of potential victims when personally identifiable information is disclosed or stolen electronically. Already 35 states have such a law.

The disclosure comes 6 months after a congressional report found federal workers at 19 agencies had lost personal information affecting thousands of employees and the public, raising concerns about the government's ability to protect data. In all, the House Government Reform Committee reported 788 incidents involving the loss or compromise of sensitive personal information since Jan. 1, 2003. That was in addition to the “hundreds of security and privacy incidents” at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, according to a 2006 report by the committee.

Main Source: Associated Press

The domestic arms trade kept up a brisk pace as thousands of shoppers packed more than 2 dozen gun shows across the country on the Saturday after the worst shooting rampage in modern US history killed 32 people and the shooter at Virginia Tech university. The killings reignited a highly charged debate about gun ownership in the US, where annual firearms sales average 4.5 million a year, and the number of privately owned guns is at an all-time high above 215 million, according to government figures.

An assault rifle dealer at an Arizona gun show credited the tragedy for sales being “doubly good” and remarked that increased demand drives up gun prices “any time there is some kind of shooting.” The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, and the domestic firearms industry is worth more than a billion dollars a year.

Main Source: Reuters

Women working full time in the US make 80% of what men make 1 year out of college, but just 69% 10 years later, according to an educational foundation's study of Dept. of Education data for some 19,000 college graduates from the 1990s. Even accounting for such factors as number of hours worked, occupations or parenthood, the gap persisted, researchers said, calling the unexplained gaps evidence of discrimination. Specifically, about 1/4 of the pay gap is attributable to gender – 5% a year after graduation and 12% 10 years after.

Women outperformed men academically, and their grade point averages were higher in every major. Parenthood affected men and women in vividly different ways, with mothers more likely than fathers, or other women, to work part time or take leave. Among women who graduated from college in 1992-93, more than 1/5 of mothers were out of the work force a decade later, and another 17% were working part time. In the same class, less than 2% of fathers were out of the work force in 2003, and less than 2% were working part time, the study said.

Main Source: Reuters

The House Education Committee chair has called for an investigation of all top Dept. of Education employees involved in higher education. The search for potential conflicts of interests comes as the widening US student lender scandal puts new scrutiny on ties between private loan companies like Sallie Mae and government agencies charged with overseeing loan programs. Critics say links between many top administration education officials and the student lenders or related groups they've worked for have led to weak monitoring of loan programs.
Main Source: Reuters

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch has said he will sign a bill that would make the state the 4th in the nation to allow same-sex civil unions as of Jan. 1, 2008. The bill to give gay couples nearly the same rights as married couples was passed overwhelming by New Hampshire's House of Representatives this month and should reach the state Senate next Thursday, where it is expected to be approved. The state outlawed same-sex marriages in 1987 and banned recognition of out of state gay marriages when Massachusetts allowed gay marriage in 2004.
Main Source: Reuters

Georgia wildfires that have forced the evacuation of about 1,000 people and destroyed 18 houses are now spreading into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's best-preserved wetland areas. Forecasted higher winds and low humidity are expected to further spread the 2 fires that have already swept through more than 45 square miles of tinder-dry forest in southeast Georgia. Officials are unsure when evacuees might be allowed to return to their homes, which may no longer exist – they have not been allowed close enough to tell.
Main Source: Associated Press

The US Supreme Court has decided 5–4 to let Congress ban a rare abortion method known as intact dilation and extraction, or “partial-birth abortion” to its opponents. The ruling, made possible by the votes of 2 Bush appointees and bitterly criticized by dissenting justices, indicated the court may rule favorably on scores of measures now before state legislatures to limit abortion access more broadly. Mississippi and Louisiana already ban abortions outright and other states already have enacted or proposed waiting periods and other obstacles.

The law that the court upheld, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, is the first-ever federal statute to ban a particular abortion procedure. It had been ruled unconstitutional by every federal court to review it, given that the ban includes no consideration of the woman’s health or safety compared to alternative methods. But yesterday’s Court majority addressed and dismissed this concern, to the vocal chagrin of the dissenting justices.

A doctor who performs such an operation can be sent to prison for 2 years under the 2003 law. It can be enforced even in states such as California, where the right to abortion is protected by a state law and an explicit constitutional right to privacy.

The procedure, which is generally performed in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, often after a diagnosis of fetal abnormality, is sometimes safer than the much more common dilation and evacuation procedure or another method that induces labor to deliver the fetus. The point, doctors said, is it should be up to medical professionals to decide what's safest for their patients.

Main Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The FBI has raided the Virginia home of Cali. Rep. John T. Doolittle (R) in a continuing investigation into the influence-peddling scandal involving former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The search was related to the activities of a political consulting firm owned by Doolittle's wife, Julie, who worked for Abramoff from 2002 to 2004. A Senate investigation found Julie Doolittle was paid $66,690 by a firm owned by Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and other charges and is cooperating with the FBI from prison.
Main Source: LA Times

Hundreds of thousands of secondary and college students from a record number of schools participated in the National Day of Silence on April 18 to call attention to bullying, harassment, name-calling and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in schools. The 11th annual observance is one of the largest student-led days of action in the nation. Students at nearly 5,000 middle and high schools took a vow of silence while wearing stickers or T-shirts and passing out speaking cards explaining their protest.

Studies show bullying and harassment based on perceived sexual orientation and students' masculinity or femininity are 2 of the top 3 reasons students said school peers are harassed. A survey finding nearly 2/3 of LGBT students feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation highlights every student's right to security in their educational environment.

Main Source: EDGE Boston

Citing bleak data on incarceration, joblessness, and AIDS, the Urban League said yesterday that problems facing black men represent America’s most serious social crisis. The group proposed an aggressive campaign to provide them with more opportunities. The 97-year-old organization, in its annual “State of Black America” report, called for universal early-childhood education, more programs for dropouts and former offenders, and expanded use of all-male schools emphasizing mentoring and longer class hours.
Main Source: Associated Press

President Bush's lawyers told the Republican National Committee on Tuesday not to turn over to Congress any e-mails related to the firings last year of 8 US attorneys before showing them to the White House. Democrat and Republican critics of the administration said the move suggests that the White House is seeking to develop a strategy to block the release of the non-government e-mails to congressional investigators by arguing that they're covered by executive privilege and not subject to review.

In a related development, the House Judiciary Committee plans to grant immunity to a former Justice Department liaison to the White House to force her to tell Congress what she knew about the firings. A vote to grant Monica Goodling "use immunity" could come as early as Thursday. Goodling had refused to testify and said she would invoke the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.

Main Source: McClatchy Newspapers

The number of US households with a net worth of more than $5 million, excluding their primary residence, surged 23% to surpass one million for the first time in 2006, according to a survey released Tuesday. The Spectrem Group found that the number of US households with more than $5 million rose from 930,000 in 2005. In 1996, just 250,000 households were “super-rich.”

Meanwhile, the number of Americans living below the poverty line reached a 10-year high in 2005, the latest year for which numbers are available, with 37 million Americans considered impoverished.

Main Source: Reuters

If ethanol ever gains widespread use as a clean alternative fuel to gasoline, people with respiratory illnesses may be in trouble. A new study out of Stanford Univ. has found pollution from ethanol could end up creating a worse health hazard than gasoline, especially for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases. The report’s author used a computer to model how pollution from ethanol fuel would affect different parts of the country in 2020, when ethanol-burning vehicles are expected to be common on America's roadways.

The report comes at a time when the Bush administration and Congress are pushing plans to boost ethanol production and the nation's automakers are required by 2012 to have half their vehicles run on flex fuel, allowing the use of either gasoline or ethanol. Critics say the focus on flex fuels aids US agribusiness at the expense of more-sensible alternatives.

Main Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The Federal Emergency Management Agency began sending letters last summer to students who received aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, claiming they were ineligible and threatening prosecution and financial penalties if the money wasn't returned. FEMA officials have said they've changed the heavy-handed tone of the letters, but still want the money. A spokesperson said the letters are a standard practice when the agency determines that disaster money was wrongly spent. FEMA apparently encouraged students to apply for help.
Main Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Federal Immigration officials have arrested 49 allegedly undocumented workers in 4 days of raids in Willmar, Colo. The actions culminated in the detention of 19 employees in an early-morning raid on a potato-processing plant. Of those arrested, 17 were from Mexico and 2 from Guatemala; 8 are women and one a juvenile. ICE officials said they released 2 of the women to make child-care arrangements. Immigrant-rights advocates are struggling to obtain information about those arrested in the raids and how families may have been affected.

Local Latino-owned businesses reportedly closed while some immigrant workers stayed home in fear of federal agents. Widespread rumors – denied by the ICE – of agents stopping Latinos at a Wal-Mart and raiding homes without warrants flooded a local immigrant-resource center, highlighting a lack of reliable information. Advocates noted public confusion as "fear creates more fear” and worried detainees may not be aware of their rights and have signed voluntary departure papers. The ICE gave no indication that the raided businesses face any penalty.

Main Source: Pueblo Chieftain

In Virginia, where a gunman killed 32 on Monday, gun laws are minimal, though not the most lenient in the US. With no waiting period or permit, one handgun purchase per month is allowed. Those licensed can buy unlimited assault weapons as easily as hunting rifles and there are no restrictions on rapid-fire magazines that fire up to 100 bullets without reloading. Selling rifles and shotguns to kids as young as 12 is legal and second-hand gun shows sell without waiting periods or background checks, leaving no way to track guns paid for in cash.
Main Source: Agence France-Presse

The US Coast Guard is to take over management of its $24 billion fleet-modernization project from military contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. All 3 classes of ships the contractors worked on had serious problems. The service opted to retire 8 patrol boats that had been privately “renovated” for $100 million, rather than pay another $50 million to repair remaining problems. An engineer warned of serious flaws for 3 years but was not heeded by the contractors, which will still play a major role in the Deepwater program.

The setbacks have undermined earlier assertions that private contractors, not the government, are best suited to manage such a complex project. But numerous congressional investigations have found lax Coast Guard oversight, and analysts question the decision at a time when the government lacks workers with the necessary technical skills. The US Navy last week canceled a Lockheed Martin contract for a next-generation combat ship after cost estimates on the nearly complete initial model soared to at least $350 million from $270 million.

Main Source: New York Times

Also...

» Lax Guard oversight poor indicator of own ability   (Associated Press)

The US Supreme Court is considering a case that could affect hundreds of thousands of homecare workers and their elderly and disabled clients. The court will consider whether in-home aides are entitled to federal minimum-wage and overtime protection. Unions say better pay will result in better care and alleviate high turnover and worker shortages. But the homecare industry and government officials, including the Bush administration, say paying overtime could cost billions of dollars and jeopardize access to care.
Main Source: Chicago Tribune

Six former staff members at a school for juvenile “offenders” in Maryland waited 41 minutes before calling emergency dispatchers about an unresponsive 17-year-old student who died, prosecutors said. Isaiah Simmons died Jan. 23 while being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook Prep School. Simmons’ death was ruled a homicide, and the FBI has opened a civil-rights investigation. The school has closed, and Simmons' death prompted the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services to reform its crisis-intervention policies.
Main Source: Associated Press

Higher temperatures over the coming decades are expected to cause more smoggy days and heat waves, contributing to a greater number of illnesses and deaths in the US, according to international climate scientists. Severe heat waves – characterized by stagnant masses of warm air and consecutive nights with high minimum temperatures – will intensify in the US and Canada, according to the data released Monday by the UN’s Climate Change Panel. The extent of the impact, scientists reported, depends on how well greenhouse gases are controlled.
Main Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A Scotland-based company looking to take over the US transportation giant Laidlaw has come under fire from the American labor movement. The Teamsters have accused FirstGroup of "violating its own policy of neutrality" toward unions, and continuing a "pattern of worker rights abuses" in the US. The Service Employees International Union sent a delegation to attend FirstGroup’s annual meeting in Aberdeen and denounce the alleged anti-union practices of a FirstGroup subsidiary.

The LaidLaw takeover would give FirstGroup control of Greyhound and a plurality of yellow-schoolbus operations.

Main Source: Glasgow Herald

Authorities faced pressure on Tuesday to explain how an earlier shooting of 2 people at Virginia Tech university was followed by the killing of 30 more with only an email warning given in the 2 interim hours. In the worst non-war shooting in US history, witnesses said the killer wordlessly and calmly shot each victim multiple times. The unidentified man, who also killed himself, apparently used chains to lock doors and prevent terrified victims from escaping. The total of 15 wounded includes those shot and students hurt jumping from windows.
Main Source: Reuters

Some lending companies with access to a national database that contains confidential information on 60 million student borrowers have repeatedly searched it in ways that violate federal rules, raising alarms about abuse of privacy, government and university officials said. The unauthorized searching has grown so pervasive that the US Education Department is considering a temporary shutdown of the government-run database to review access policies and tighten security.

Some officials worry that businesses are trolling for marketing data they can use to bombard students with mass mailings or other solicitations. Students' Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and sensitive financial information such as loan balances are in the database, which is covered by federal privacy laws.

Main Source: Boston Globe

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's assertion that he was not involved in identifying the 8 US attorneys fired in 2006 is at odds with a recently released Dept. of Justice e-mail in which he supported firing one federal prosecutor 6 months before she was asked to leave. The e-mail to other top Justice Dept. officials, dated June 1, 2006, indicated that Gonzales was actively involved in discussions about San Diego attorney Carol Lam, outlining several steps that Gonzales suggested, culminating in the decision to fire her.
Main Source: ABC News

Legislation that would give the US territory Puerto Rico a chance to become the 51st state or an independent nation is poised to move within the next few weeks in the House with support from senior members of both parties, including Nick Rahall (D–WV) and Don Young (R–Alaska). The measure would allow Puerto Rico to hold a vote during the next Congress on whether to end its territorial status. A later vote would be held to determine statehood or independence.
Main Source: Congressional Quarterly

Despite Monday's rain and fierce winds, an estimated 2,000 chanting demonstrators walked a half mile to the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, to rally for full representation in the US House. The district's House member would gain a vote after a years-long effort if she wins a special election as expected and if a current bill passes. This week Congress is expected to debate the bill, which has gained bipartisan support in in the House but has an uncertain future in the Senate and faces opposition from the White House.
Main Source: Associated Press