Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has nominated a veteran investigator to be the next CIA inspector general, a crucial position that has remained vacant for more than a year. David B. Buckley, a senior manager for Deloitte Consulting, will have to be confirmed by the Senate before he can fill the watchdog post charged with unearthing abuses inside the spy agency. The nomination comes after months of congressional frustration with the White House about not putting forth for a candidate for the job. Several candidates had previously been mentioned but none made the cut. Because the CIA's activities are...

A network of reserves to protect California's rich array of marine wildlife moved closer to becoming a reality on Tuesday after a state panel selected a plan to put large swaths of coastal waters off-limits to fishing. The Fish and Game Commission voted at a packed meeting in Monterey to ban both commercial and recreational fishing across more than 200 square miles between Santa Barbara and Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. The plan still must undergo a final environmental review before it goes into effect. The new protected areas likely would not become official until at least...

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday that the former state Republican party chairman, who switched his affiliation to Democrat only a day earlier, will be her next running mate. Mark Parkinson will replace retiring Lt. Gov. John Moore, also a former Republican, on the Democratic ticket. "My philosophy has always been good leaders and great ideas don't come with a party label," Sebelius said at a news conference. The Kansas GOP fired off a statement calling Parkinson a hypocrite and pointing out that four years ago Parkinson had called Sebelius a "left-wing liberal Democrat" and said...

The Los Angeles Board of Education has chosen a Pasadena assistant city attorney as its new special counsel, a lawyer with the backing of union leaders and the school board president but far less experience than others seeking the job. According to several sources familiar with the selection process, the school board voted 4-3 in a closed session to offer Maribel S. Medina the position, which could pay up to $240,000 a year. Medina specializes in land-use, environmental and real estate law. The vote to hire Medina is the latest in a series of board decisions that have caused some...