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OCALA - A woman who reportedly confessed to Marion County sheriff's deputies that she stuffed the body of her 83-year-old mother into two black garbage bags and dumped her along a dirt road so she could cash her retirement check was arrested Tuesday and charged with failure to report a death, a misdemeanor. Inspector Mike Mongeluzzo arrested Debra Loreth, 53, of Belleview. On Monday, Mongeluzzo learned from the Medical Examiner's Office that the cause of Jeanne Vasa's death was "undetermined." Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. John Herrell said detectives have filed paperwork with the State Attorney's Office seeking a charge of...

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Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks By Anthony Boadle 2 hours, 23 minutes ago HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday. The ailing Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public for more than a year, said he had refused to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" U.S. occupation of the land which he said was now used...

The Home Office is to investigate allegations that immigration officials operated a "sex for visas" scam and ignored vital security checks. Anthony Pamnani, a former administration officer at the Lunar House immigration processing centre in Croydon, south London, told The Sun newspaper that women were helped to stay in the UK in return for sex. He also alleged that security checks were lax, making it easier for potential terrorists to sneak into the country. According to the newspaper, Mr Pamnani, 23, alleged that attractive women applicants were seen first at the centre, which deals with 300,000 visa and asylum applications...

State performs criminal checks on evacueesAction aimed at identifying sex offenders raises questions of profiling Wednesday, November 09, 2005 By SEAN REILLY Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Alabama law enforcement authorities have been routinely running criminal background checks on adult Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at 13 state parks, a spokesman for Gov. Bob Riley confirmed Tuesday. The spokesman, Jeff Emerson, described the move as primarily aimed at protecting children from registered sex offenders who might be among the evacuees. But as he and other state officials acknowledged, the evacuees' names are being run through the FBI's Nation al Crime Information Center,...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he can't be bought. He has often lambasted state politicians for taking money from people with a vested interest in bills before the Legislature. "Here's how it works," Schwarzenegger said in a television spot when he ran for governor. "Money comes in, favors go out. The people lose." Yet during the four-week period this year when Schwarzenegger acted on the vast majority of bills passed by the Legislature, he raised far more money than his predecessors did during comparable periods: $8.7 million, about 14 times as much as Gov. Gray Davis ever did in...

/begin my translationMassive Search under Way to  Arrest  an 'Important N. Korean Fugitive Soldier',  Tense Sino-N. Korean Border[Breaking news from the border] Tollgates are manned not by police but military, running thorough checks for  possession of weapons [2005-09-29 16:22] Chinese border troops running a checkpoint. All vehicles and passers-by are being checked Checks and searches in Sino-N. Korean border area to capture 'an important  N. Korean fugitive soldier', which had started in the afternoon of (Sept.) 28th, is still continuing as of 4pm, (Sept.) 29th. At 3pm, (Sept.) 29th[S. Korean time], (Chinese) border troops were urgently dispatched at ' Ryong-yen(?) Tollgate,' located...

LITTLE ROCK ? The number of states reporting forged Arkansas checks is now at 22 and the amount of money actually cashed has reached $114,400, state Auditor Jim Wood said Friday. None of the forged Arkansas checks have been found in state and Arkansas has not lost any money, Wood said. The checks have been found before they cleared the treasurer?s office,? Wood said, adding that they were cashed at liquor stores or check-cashing stores.

LOS ANGELES - Actor Tom Sizemore missed a probation violation hearing Tuesday after checking into a live-in drug rehabilitation program. If the court finds Sizemore violated probation, he could be sent to prison for up to three years. The actor was ordered into drug treatment after pleading guilty in October to possession of methamphetamine. Sizemore, who played baseball player Pete Rose in last year's ESPN movie "Hustle" and had roles in films including "Natural Born Killers" and "Saving Private Ryan," has denied violating the terms of his probation. Prosecutors allege Sizemore tried to falsify a urine test for drugs and...

MIDI - LAST SONG (La la la la la la la la la la la) Did you know I wrote a check and put it in the mail 'Cause you promised me you would always do what's right and never fail All you sen-a-tors, I have had your back But I watch you rolling over...you yellow-bellied hacks That's the last check I'll ever write for you I have had it and this time I really swear that I am through It was the last stinking check I'll ever write for you You just watch and you will see...no more...

WASHINGTON - Someone born next year who goes on to earn what the government considers a high-wage income could see his Social Security check replaced by the personal investment account President Bush has proposed, a congressional study says. Democrats said Wednesday that the study, which they commissioned from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, was troublesome because it illustrated how the accounts — invested in the stock market — might eventually eliminate Social Security's guaranteed checks. "President Bush says his plan is best for future generations, but this analysis shows how they would be the biggest losers. Our kids and grandkids...

According to reports in the U.S. media, the Democrats are worried that George Bush and his fellow Christian fundamentalists, now that they have control of both Houses of Congress, will feel free to ride roughshod over all opinions contrary to their own. Since the U.S, unlike Canada, is blessed with a system of checks and balances, no president, no matter how popular he may be, can impose his will on the nation. The U.S. Democrats would really have something to worry about if they had to contend with a Canadian style government, where, unlike the U.S., there is nothing to...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Police Department is tightening its policy on handling illegal immigrants to allow officers to check the status of suspected felons. If approved, the new rules would be a shift from a 1979 policy that prevents officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status to encourage illegal immigrants who had witnessed or been victims of crimes to cooperate with police without fear of deportation. Assistant Police Chief George Gascon said the proposal would direct officers to report suspected felons in the United States illegally to their supervisors, who would then consult with immigration officials....

Ex-Democratic Aide Admits Stealing Checks Tue Feb 15, 9:41 PM ET Elections - AP By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A former staffer for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee admitted Tuesday to stealing about $360,000 in donor checks while he was employed there. Roger Chiang pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of mail fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for June. Chiang, a staffer in charge of ethnic outreach and fund raising, was fired from the DSCC after about $360,000 in missing committee donor checks were traced to a bank account he had opened. The DSCC is...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Hundreds of dead San Diego city retirees continue to receive pension checks and the city scans the obituaries to determine whether its beneficiaries are still alive, according to a whistle-blower on the city's pension board. San Diego's pension system has a nearly $1.4 billion deficit and is at the heart of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. attorney and FBI into city finances, possible public corruption and securities fraud. Those investigations were sparked by revelations from Diann Shipione, who testified Monday at the first hearing before the City Council's new Government Efficiency and Openness...

A Humbling Lesson: Congressman Davy Crockett Learns About Limited Government   In the following, excerpted from the book The Life of Colonel David Crockett (1884) compiled by Edward S. Ellis, the famous American frontiersman, war hero, and congressman from Tennessee relates how he learned -- from one of his own backwoods constituents -- the vital importance of heeding the Constitution and the dangers of disregarding its restraints. Crockett was then the lion of Washington. I was a great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was...

Your bank is about to make some pretty radical changes to your checking account -- changes that could cost you money in bounced-check fees and limit your ability to fight fraud or errors. These alterations are so significant, in fact, that it may be time to abandon paper checks, if you haven’t already.

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Costco workers checked the merchandise at its food court and found nothing out of the ordinary after a woman claimed she bit into a bullet while eating a hot dog, the company's chief executive officer said Wednesday. Police interviewed workers and opened all of the approximately 25 remaining hot dog packages after Olivia Chanes, 31, reported the incident, CEO Jim Sinegal said. "We checked everything thoroughly," Sinegal said by phone from Costco's corporate office near Seattle. "Obviously, it's regrettable. ... The question is when could something like this happen."

A man and his donkey have been arrested in Cyprus after they tried to poke fun at passport checks by crossing the island's divide equipped only with a "donkey passport". Greek Cypriot pensioner Savvas Christodoulou and his donkey, Shelidona, were part of a protest which activists hoped would highlight opposition to passport checks at the recently opened border, which has divided the island since 1974. Turkish Cypriot police encouraged them to cross the Nicosia checkpoint into Turkish-controlled territory but moments later plainclothes officers bundled Mr Christodoulou into a car. His donkey, the heavily pregnant Shelidona, was led off to the...

Greasing Gray with Fat Checks California's Richest Look to Protect Selves as Recall Takes Off (July 10, 2003) ~ By Jill Stewart As the Gray Davis recall moves into overdrive and the noxious consultant Chris Lehane--who helped Clinton formulate his creepy Monica Lewinsky strategy--prepares to launch an assault on the truth unlike anything we've witnessed in a California election, a phrase keeps circling inside my head. Follow the money. Most political junkies know by now that Lehane and the rest of Davis' advisors plan to paint the recall as right-wingers stealing an election from liberals. Lehane is said by some...