Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A federal judge issued a third restraining order Friday that gives the U.N. oil-for-food probe another 2 1/2 weeks to work out a deal with a former investigator over the fate of thousands of documents he took with him when he quit. The order from a Washington judge, which expires June 14, again blocks Robert Parton from handing over the documents to two congressional committees that subpoenaed them after he quit the U.N.-backed Independent Inquiry Committee. Parton resigned from the probe in April, reportedly because he believed it ignored evidence critical of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan....

SACRAMENTO -- Assemblywoman Nicole Parra on Tuesday gave beleaguered Secretary of State Kevin Shelley two more days to decide whether to testify voluntarily before her audit committee about his handling of federal election funds. At the conclusion of a committee hearing late Monday night, Parra said she would seek a subpoena if Shelley had not agreed by noon Tuesday to appear before the committee's next hearing. Tuesday afternoon, she released an exchange of letters between herself and Shelley in which the secretary of state asked for more time to consult with his attorneys before responding. "As you might imagine, your...

In regard to "Court rules colleges may bar recruiters" [News, Nov. 30]: It seems that the military of this nation hasn't the right to recruit or inform on federally funded campuses, per the ruling of the third U.S. Court of Appeals. The court explained that educational institutions have a First Amendment right to keep military recruiters off their campuses to protest the Defense Department policy of excluding gays from military service. This decision relied on a 2000 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the Boy Scouts not allowing gays as scoutmasters. The last I heard, the Boy Scouts of...

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA thinks its Mars rovers just might keep going and going and going. The space agency has funded another extension of their mission, for an additional six months, if they last. The latest funding came as NASA regained reliable contact with the rovers Spirit and Opportunity after a 12-day period in which Mars passed nearly behind the sun, Jet Propulsion Laboratory said The rovers, which have found evidence of past water activity on the Red Planet, landed on opposite sides of Mars in January and completed their primary, three-month missions on the surface in April. The...

<p>SACRAMENTO - With little apparent substance to support his optimism, Gov. Gray Davis said Tuesday that he believes progress has been made on the state's budget crisis and expressed hope an agreement could be reached by the end of next week.</p>