THE UNIVERSITY OF DARLEY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
NEWS
7A
Hoping to add another wonder
Ricardo Moraes/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Children raise their hands as they attend a ceremony to promote and support the candidature of the Christ the Redeemer statue to the New Seven Wonders of the World in Rio de Janeiro, on Wednesday. The New Seven Wonders of the World is a proposed revision of the Seven Wonders of the World, organized by a Swiss-based, for-profit corporation called New Open World Corporation. The selection is being made by free and paid votes, through telephone or online.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Senate subpoenas Gonzales'e-mails related to Rove
BY LAURIE KELLMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Senators subpoenaed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, ordering him to provide all e-mails related to presidential adviser Karl Rove and the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
"It it troubling that significant documents highly relevant to the committee's inquiry have not been produced," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT.) wrote in a letter to Gonzales. The subpoena gives Gonzales until May 15 to turn over the information.
Not accepting the White House's explanation that some Rove-related e-mails may have been lost, Leahy subpoenaed any in the custody of the Justice Department. Leahy pointed to Rove's lawyer's statement that some of those the White House claims might be lost had been turned over to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
It was unclear whether any were related to the prosecutor firings, but congressional investigators believe that if Fitzgerald could retrieve some e-mails for his investigation, those
related to the firings of U.S. attorneys are also recoverable.
The White House has said it was trying to recover e-mails that were lost but had not promised to give any to congressional investigators.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Gonzales said during his April 19 testimony to Leahy's committee that he did not know the details but would back to the chairman.
"I have not heard from you since," Leahy wrote, urging compliance with all of his panel's requests for information "to avoid further subpoenas."
It was the committee's first subpoena issued since the firing caused an uprora earlier this year.
KANSAS GOVERNMENT
Legislators approve final spending bill
BY JOHN HANNA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA - After negotiators agreed on additional money for aviation research and keeping a $39.5 million prison expansion program on track, legislators approved the year's last spending bill Wednesday.
The measure also included money to prevent the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame from closing. Three senators and three House members drafted the final version of the bill, reconciling dozens of differences between their chambers during three days of talks.
The House approved the compromise, 68-56, and the Senate followed about two hours later, 23-15. The measure went to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who will sign it but has the power to veto individual items.
Passing the bill allowed legislators to end their annual session, which began Jan. 8 and lasted 90 days, exactly the number leaders had planned. A brief adjournment ceremony is set for May 22.
"This a compromise. That's what we do," said Sen. Jay Emler (R-Lindsborg), one of the negotiators. "Do we like everything that's in this compromise? Absolutely not."
Some lawmakers, particularly
conservative Republicans, said the bill completed a budget the state can't sustain even for another two years.
"Many budget priorities are misplaced despite our best efforts," said Rep. Jeff Colyer (R-Overland Park), explaining his "no" vote and speaking for other conservatives. "This guarantees an unprecedented budget crisis."
The prison expansion program was a once-settled issue that resurfaced. Lawmakers authorized the bonds for it last month, and the Department of Corrections contemplated four projects providing 668 new beds.
Those projects were two new cellhouses at the state's maximum security prison outside El Dorado, a new, 240-bed drug-and-alcohol treatment center for inmates in Yates Center and expansion of the state prisons in Ellsworth and Stockton.
The issue was particularly important to Woodson County officials, who feared Yates Center would lose its project. The city, with 1,500 people 80 miles south of Topeka, has been trying to attract a prison for more than two decade to boost its economy.
"It revitalizes hope," mayor Doug Tressler said Tuesday of the negotiators' action. "It certainly gives us the hope of building more of an economy, building more businesses."
KU Students' Graduation Headquarters
Jayhawk Bookstore ...at the top of Naismith Hill
JayhawkBookstore.com
Class of 2007!