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Atlanta Falcons Quarterback To Plead Guilty To Lesser Charges (CBS News) RICHMOND, Va. The National Football league has suspended Michael Vick indefinitely after he pleaded guilty to charges related to dogfighting on Friday. Vick filed his plea agreement in federal court Friday admitting to conspiracy in a dogfighting ring and helping kill pit bulls. He denied ever betting on the fights, only bankrolling them. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is scheduled to formally enter his plea Monday in U.S. District Court. He signed the plea agreement Thursday. "Most of the Bad Newz Kennels operation and gambling monies were provided by Vick,"...

But let's have a show of hands: How many knew he was still there? It is a classic case of karma. For years he held a power that Presidents couldn't match. He could go home after the interview and edit remarks, leak themes, and shape expectations so thoroughly that viewers would see what they were told they would see -- and only that. He could raise questions, balance or imbalance carefully weighted views, cast doubts, editorialize while claiming merely to report, meet politicians personally, get to know them, carry grudges, foist off partisan schemes as if they were news, critique...

Excerpt - Martin Taylor, a key adviser to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, has left the software maker. Taylor, a 13-year company veteran who led Microsoft's "Get the Facts" anti-Linux crusade for several years, was named in March as a corporate vice president overseeing the marketing push for Windows Live services. ~ snip ~ "We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin, but we don't comment on personnel matters," Microsoft said in a statement. "We appreciate Martin's contributions at Microsoft over the past 13 years." ~ snip ~

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran broadcast journalist Dan Rather has left CBS News in a bitter departure clouded by a reporting scandal over President George W. Bush's military record, ending 44 years as reporter, anchor and face of the network His career spanned such U.S. historical landmarks as President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974 and the attacks by suicide hijackers who seized airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Rather said his departure on Tuesday came after "a protracted struggle" with...

(CBS/AP) Two London papers have speculated this weekend that complaints by President George W. Bush forced a British minister from his post because of his opposition to the use of nuclear force against Iran. The Independent suggests that a phone call from the U.S. president to British Prime Minister Tony Blair led to the removal of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Friday. The newspaper reports that friends of Straw believe Mr. Bush was extremely upset when Straw pronounced any use of nuclear weapons against Iran "nuts." Both The Independent and the Guardian write that Straw's "fate was sealed" after a White...

The CIA's top counterterrorism officer was relieved of his position yesterday after months of turmoil atop the agency's clandestine service, according to three knowledgeable officials. Robert Grenier, who spent most of his career undercover overseas, took charge of the Counterterrorism Center about a year ago after a series of senior jobs at the center of the Bush administration's national security agenda. When al Qaeda struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Grenier was station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan. Among the agency's most experienced officers in southwest Asia, Grenier helped plan the covert campaign that preceded...

Man sacked after being caught smoking at home By Kate Connolly in Berlin (Filed: 03/12/2005) A German company has sacked one of its employees for smoking at home after hiring a detective to catch him in the act. Sandro Beier was dismissed from his £19,000-a-year job with a Berlin printing company after being photographed smoking in his back garden. The company, Laserline, which runs a rigorous health and fitness programme for its 100 staff, said Mr Beier, 42, had "defrauded" it by lying about his smoking habits. It claimed that Mr Beier had signed an agreement, renewable every month, in...

Two former caretakers who refused to bare their breasts to a 300lb (136kg) sign language-speaking gorilla named Koko have settled a lawsuit against the Gorilla Foundation. Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller said that they were dismissed after they refused to expose their bosoms and reported sanitary problems at Koko’s home in Woodside, south of San Francisco. They were told that if they “did not indulge Koko’s nipple fetish, their employment with the Gorilla Foundation would suffer”, their claim alleged. Ms Alperin and Ms Keller said that Francine Patterson, Koko’s caretaker and president of the Gorilla Foundation, pushed them to bare...

Former Lions QB Hipple sacks knife-wielding attacker, police say 7/26/2005, 7:26 p.m. ET The Associated Press NORTON SHORES, Mich. (AP) — After spending a decade getting sacked in the NFL, former Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple apparently learned a little something about bringing down an opponent. He tackled and helped disarm a knife-wielding man shortly after the man slightly injured a third person at a party in Norton Shores, just south of Muskegon, police said Tuesday. Hipple, 47, whose 10-year pro career spanned the 1980s, was not hurt. Lt. Jon Gale said Douglas Davies, 24, of the North Muskegon area,...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

ANOTHER UPDATE: You can see a more complete statement on CNN's homepage -- click the "Netscape responsible for Bush photo insult" link at the top right. But since that's a java box and can't be directly linked, and probably won't be archived anywhere, I'm going to reproduce the full thing in the "extended entry" area below. Hit "read more" to read it. Read More » Text follows: Netscape responsible for Bush photo insult Disparaging image tags used to identify photos of President and Mrs. Bush currently circulating on the Internet were not created, disseminated or posted by CNN at any...

8 Fla. Child Welfare Officials Sacked Wednesday December 11, 2002 4:10 AM TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The second in command and seven other top officials at the state's beleaguered child welfare agency were ousted Tuesday in a shake-up sparked by the case of a missing Miami girl. Gov. Jeb Bush had asked for the resignations of the agency's top managers after his election to a second term. Jerry Regier, who took over as secretary of the Department of Children & Families in August, accepted the resignations Tuesday. ``The secretary let people know when he came into the office that he...

<p>Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson on Tuesday stripped the committee chairmanship from the crusading legislator who probed the Davis administration's computer software deal with Oracle Corp. -- just as his audit panel was about to investigate Davis' handling of veterans affairs.</p>