Free Republic

New Orleans (AP) -- The vice president of the City Council, once thought to be a likely candidate for mayor in 2010, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bribery charge. Oliver Thomas entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, and prosecutors were to discuss details of the case later Monday. Bond for Thomas was set at $25,000.

When long-defiant former state Sen. Kathryn Bowers finally admits as expected Monday to taking bribes, the once-improbable Tennessee Waltz will have all but played out. She will become the 11th of 12 defendants in the FBI's undercover Waltz corruption sting to be found guilty. After Bowers, only one minor defendant remains, a former school board member. Prosecutors are undefeated -- 11-0 -- and they've scored victories against some of the biggest names in Tennessee politics. From Memphis powerhouse John Ford to his venerable East Tennessee colleague Ward Crutchfield and former Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks -- heir to the one...

AP) — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who once lived in the governor's mansion and crisscrossed the state on airplanes to announce new industries and meet with civic leaders, is now confined to a small prison cell 23 hours a day, with no way to even know what time of day it is. One of his lawyers, David McDonald, visited the 61-year-old Siegelman at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta on Tuesday and said the former governor, after 12 nights in custody, has lost weight, doesn't like the food, but is in good spirits. "He said he's being...

A DeKalb County developer who fell into a children's trap to catch a yard sign thief agreed Tuesday to a deal that will spare him a criminal record. Charles Buckley was accused of swiping a political campaign sign from Hank Freeman's yard in July 2006. He was caught when Freeman's children, ages 6 to 11, staked out their Oak Grove property, hoping to catch the thief. Buckley apologized to Freeman Tuesday in DeKalb State Court for stealing the sign supporting Don Broussard, who was running against Jeff Rader in a primary contest for the DeKalb County Commission. Under the terms...

State Sen. Carole Migden bounced her state-issued SUV off the concrete median on Interstate 80 and nearly ran other motorists off the freeway before slamming into the back of another vehicle last week, the California Highway Patrol and witnesses said Tuesday. More than half a dozen motorists made emergency calls about Migden's erratic driving before the Friday accident, the CHP said. The rear-end collision in Fairfield, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, injured a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, who were sent to the emergency room. In a statement released by her office last week, the San Francisco Democrat said...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A court hearing for state Sen. Jerry Cooper, who is facing charges of driving under the influence, was postponed today for 12 weeks. Cooper's lawyer, Jack Mitchell, said the lawmaker could not appear in court today because he had a doctor's appointment related to injuries from the wreck that led to drunken driving and speeding charges. Rutherford County General Sessions Judge David Lowery rescheduled the preliminary hearing for Aug. 3. "Senator Cooper is undergoing medical treatment today," Mitchell said. "He is still in a certain amount of pain." Cooper was critically injured in a car crash on...

NASHVILLE – Former state senator John Ford will go on trial on federal public corruption charges in Nashville Sept. 18 – a month and a half after his scheduled July 31 sentencing in Memphis for his bribery conviction there last month. U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell set the trial date during a 10-minute status conference today. Ford appeared for but did not speak during the brief hearing. Afterward, he exchanged pleasantries with reporters about his 65th birthday today but said nothing of substance about his case. Federal public defender Henry Martin said neither he nor Ford would have...

Manorhaven's Capozzi Had Few Answers When Approached By CBS 2 (CBS) MANORHAVEN, N.Y. -- A small town mayor is in some serious hot water over an apparent racist rant. His comments were all caught on tape. Nicholas Capozzi is the four-term mayor of Manor Haven, a seaside village on Long Island's north shore with sweeping views of Manhasset Bay. CBS 2 HDTV tried to ask the mayor about racist comments he made which were caught on tape: First, the mayor complains about the village's growing Hispanic population. "The Spaniolis are rolling all over the (bleeping) place. They rent out the...

John Ford wasn’t expected. In spring 2004, an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt businessman bribed state Rep. Kathryn Bower to arrange a "leadership dinner" with elected officials in Nashville, said FBI agent Brian Burns, the first prosecution witness called this morning on the third day of the former state senator’s bribery trial. The FBI agent, going by the name L.C. McNeil, wanted to meet lawmakers who would be willing to draft and change legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly in exchange for cash payments. The federal government was investigating "systemic corruption" in state government. Acting as executives of...

A new look at the payroll records of Mayor Gavin Newsom's former appointments secretary and lover. Did she get preferential treatment because of her affair? There are many questions -- some city officials believe Ruby Tourk received special treatment during her two-and-a-half years at City Hall. But the main question now is, how 10 weeks of unpaid time off for alcohol rehab, turned into a paid leave. After her affair with the mayor fizzled out, Ruby Rippey-Tourk went on unpaid leave from her job as Newsom's appointments secretary to attend alcohol rehab, according to her spokesman. She resigned with a...

High turnout prompts a probe by secretary of state SAN DIEGO - A dead man sending off for a mail-in ballot for the March primary was just one of the clues that brought investigators from the Texas attorney general's office to Duval County. Assistant District Attorney Jon West had only been on the job for about three months when the voter fraud allegations started surfacing. The post office returned several rejected mail-in ballot applications to residents who said that they had not sent them. And in one case, a woman complained that her father could not have sent a mail-in...

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday, when a Nation of Islam activist claimed the governor knew about her affiliation to Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader known for his attacks on Jews, gays and other groups, before appointing her to the state's hate crimes commission earlier this year. Sister Claudette Muhammad, blasted Blagojevich for saying he did not know her or realize she was an official in the Nation of Islam before appointing her to the anti-discrimination panel. "You and I spoke. We took pictures. ... I have written to you numerous times, all...