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TOP STORIES
Outcry halts building of 'Great Wall' in Baghdad
The U.S. military calls it the Great Wall of Adhamiyah, outraged Iraqis have dubbed it the Sectarian Wall and Arab commentators are drawing dark comparisons with the security barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The U.S. military's construction of a concrete wall around the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiyah, billed as one of the "centerpieces" of the latest strategy to pacify Baghdad, has instead triggered a torrent of outrage among Iraq's Sunnis and across the region. On Monday, the U.S. military said it had suspended construction of the 3-mile wall after an appeal by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But U.S. officials also defended the effort to turn Adhamiyah, a known insurgent stronghold, into a "gated community," and an Iraqi military spokesman vowed to press ahead with the wall, leaving its fate shrouded in confusion.
RELATED: Military officials defend new barrier in Baghdad
RELATED: Frustration Over Wall Unites Sunni and Shiite
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html
Bush Asserts Increased Confidence in Gonzales
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301765.html
President Bush said his confidence in Alberto R. Gonzales has grown as a result of the attorney general's testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as the administration moved to end speculation that Gonzales would step down after a performance criticized by senators in both parties. "The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. "Some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could."
RELATED: Bush praises attorney general's testimony
RELATED: At Least the Boss Was Satisfied by Gonzales’s Answers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24gonzales.html?ref=washington
GSA Briefing Now Part Of Wider Investigation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/23/AR2007042301995.html
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is expanding its investigation of a January videoconference, conducted by Karl Rove's deputy for General Services Administration appointees, to look at whether the political dealings of the White House have violated the Hatch Act, its chairman said last night. Not long into its investigation of the presentation, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch said, his office had collected "a sufficient amount of evidence" that merited a deeper examination of whether the White House was running afoul of the law. J. Scott Jennings conducted the Jan. 26 videoconference in the political affairs office at the White House. His PowerPoint presentation, to as many as 40 Republican GSA political appointees, contained slides describing Democratic seats that the GOP planned to target in the next election and Republican seats that needed to be protected.
RELATED: Low-key office launches high-profile inquiry
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-probe24apr24,0,3535547.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Bill would make abortion felony
State legislators have agreed to make abortion a felony crime -- if the U.S. Supreme Court gives states a free hand to regulate it. The North Dakota House voted 68-24 on Monday to approve a bill that declares abortion illegal except in cases of rape and incest or if it was done to save the woman's life. The Senate followed suit Monday night, voting 29-16 to endorse the legislation. It now goes to Gov. John Hoeven. The bill would not take effect, however, unless the attorney general recommends, and the Legislative Council agrees, that "it is reasonably probable that this act would be upheld as constitutional."
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Education fund plan backed
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501395,00.html
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to prop up the state education fund won approval Monday in the House Education Committee on a straight party-line vote. The measure would freeze the tax rate in most school districts, canceling tax cuts that would otherwise occur under a 1994 school finance law. Ritter's plan would allow taxes to decline in 34 districts that pay the highest rates. The vote on SB 199 was 8-5, with all the Democrats in support and all the Republicans opposed. The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee. Republicans called the plan a tax increase. Democrats rejected that argument, countering that the plan does not determine anyone's tax bill, only the rate at which property will be taxed.
RELATED: Ritter, Dems walking political tightrope on school funding plan
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501396,00.html
RELATED: GOP chairman licking his chops
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5501393,00.html
RELATED: Dems OK Ritter’s school tax plan
RELATED: Property-tax freeze added to school bill
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735501
RELATED: Bill to freeze property tax passes committee
http://www.gazette.com/articles/school_21562___article.html/districts_tax.html
RELATED: Lawmakers warm to freeze on mill levies
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/24/4_24_new_1a_School_finance.html
Anti-affirmative action measure in the works
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5500544,00.html
In its current form, it's 37 words and, if it gets approved by the legislative council Thursday, it could become the hot-button issue of the 2008 election in Colorado. Sponsors of their self-described "civil rights initiative" launched their campaign at the Brown Palace Hotel Monday morning in hopes of dismantling affirmative action in government — including everything from admissions to state universities to contractors submitting bids to do work for government. Flanked by State Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, and State Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, the face of the anti-affirmative action movement spoke about moving toward a color blind society and that the existence of affirmative action laws actually promotes race bias instead of eliminating them.
RELATED: Affirmative-action ban: Campaign targets Colorado in effort to make practice illegal
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/affirmative-action-ban-campaign-targets-colorado/
RELATED: Race, sex emphasis in Colo. targeted
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735696
RELATED: Affirmative action may be bound for ballots
http://www.gazette.com/articles/colorado_21531___article.html/initiative_affirmative.html
Churchill report full of errors, profs say
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5735754
A group of professors at the University of Colorado at Boulder is demanding that CU retract the report that forms the basis for the possible firing of professor Ward Churchill. In an open letter released Monday, seven CU professors and two professors from other institutions said the report - which accused Churchill of academic misconduct and plagiarism - is error-filled, relies on biased information and distorts other information. The group said if the university does not retract the report, it may file charges of research misconduct against the authors of the report. "We feel that when you're making a report on which a person's job and reputation rests, you should be exceedingly careful about what kind of claims you make," said CU professor Tom Mayer, one of the scholars who signed the letter. "We feel they haven't been exceedingly careful at all, but have been quite sloppy, which is exactly what they accused Churchill of being." The controversy surrounding Churchill erupted in early 2005 as the result of an essay he wrote comparing Sept. 11 victims to Nazis. Shortly thereafter, CU launched an investigation to examine questions that surfaced on Churchill's academic work. The investigative committee found several instances in which it said Churchill plagiarized other scholars or committed academic misconduct. Mayer, though, said the investigative committee contained only one expert in Native American studies, Churchill's specialty. He said the committee suppressed and ignored information that supported Churchill's case, relied on biased material for other allegations and exaggerated the seriousness of the plagiarism allegations.
RELATED: Scholars: Churchill report flawed
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/scholars-churchill-report-flawed/
RELATED: Open letter from CU faculty calling for retraction of the Ward Churchill report
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/24/open-letter-cu-faculty-calling-retration-ward-chur/
Colorado sheriff haunted by hostage dilemma
HE knows he was right. Sheriff Fred Wegener has reviewed every angle of his decision on that September afternoon seven months ago. A gunman was holding two girls hostage in a classroom at Platte Canyon High School. His last message to negotiators had been: This will be all over at 4 p.m. It was 3:36. Wegener sent in the SWAT team. As officers detonated explosive charges to break through the locked door, the gunman killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes. Veteran police officers backed up Wegener's decision. Parents in this rural mountain town told him he made the right call. He's received hundreds of supportive letters from strangers nationwide. The ones he's memorized, though, are the two that stung. "You must be a coward. How do you cash your paycheck?" he recites, his voice flat. "You should have gone in sooner." The other e-mail chided him for impatience, for provoking a gunman who had only discharged his weapon once, into a wall: "I would much rather have a raped daughter than a dead one."
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/042407.htm
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