The U.S. government’s top specialist on Islamic extremism has been fired under pressure from pro-Muslim officials who accused him of being too hard on terrorists and referred to him as a Christian zealot with a pen. As the Pentagon’s most important figure in analyzing the nature of extremism, Stephen Coughlin has for years helped the

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The Idaho senator who admitted soliciting sex in an airport bathroom is trying to withdraw his guilty plea by claiming that the hand signal he used to communicate a desire to engage in sex is constitutionally protected and that the undercover officer he solicited invited the conduct. Republican Larry Craig quietly pleaded guilty to disorderly

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Although a county probation department labeled a violent convicted felon unsuitable for release, a California judge granted the man one month of freedom to get his affairs in order and days later he committed murder. The southern California man (Curtis Harris) with a lengthy criminal record was supposed to serve a prison sentence for his

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Several federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, have launched a criminal investigation into one of the nation’s largest seaports just weeks after a state audit revealed rampant fraud and corruption among the officials who run the public facility. Released in mid December, the findings of an investigation conducted by Washington’s state auditor blasted the

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A major Texas newspaper is being bombarded with criticism and threats of boycott from outraged longtime subscribers for naming illegal immigrants as the state’s citizens of the year in a much-hyped editorial. In the lengthy end of 2007 editorial the Dallas Morning News wrote quite a tear-jerker naming the illegal immigrant as Texan of the

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The investigation of a Montana senator is the latest casualty of a recent appellate court ruling that federal prosecutors say will prevent them from pursuing several public corruption cases, many involving politicians bribed by jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Former Republican Senator Conrad Burns was being investigated for abusing his position to push for a multi

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An influential Democratic donor who has given Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign the federal limit and has been indicted for illegally practicing law, had his offices raided by authorities who say he launders money for Mexican drug cartels. Renowned in ritzy Corpus Christi circles, Mauricio Celis has for years been one of Texas’ most generous Democratic

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As the 2008 presidential primaries get going, the Supreme Court will hear a pair of cases next week involving Indiana’s voter identification law and the decision could have a huge national impact. Intended to prevent election fraud, 23 states have enacted laws that require voters to present photo identification to assure the identity of the

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A Connecticut official convicted for collaborating with a corrupt state treasurer to cheat taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars will be reelected by fellow Democrats to chair a water commission in which he will oversee a $111 million annual budget. As chairman of the Metropolitan District Commission, a regional government agency that keeps

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The board that runs Florida’s public university system wants a federal judge to lift a state law banning the use of taxpayer money to pay for academic trips to nations that sponsor terrorism. The panel has even hired, at taxpayer expense, a high-profile Florida law firm (Holland & Knight) to challenge the law which aims

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