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Hank Bangser collects a $261,681 state pension after retiring as superintendent of New Trier Township High School District. Now, he's a full-time superintendent in Southern California, earning $170,000 at a job he'd be barred from in Illinois if he wanted to keep getting retirement checks.His annual pension-salary combo: $431,681.In tony Scottsdale, Ariz., retired Wheaton Superintendent Gary Catalani is back in administration too, earning $195,000 as school superintendent on top of his $237,195 Illinois pension. His total: $432,195.A Tribune investigation has found that crossing state lines

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration says 13 companies whose deepwater drilling activities were suspended last year may be able to resume drilling without detailed environmental reviews. Companies will be allowed to resume work at previously drilled wells, as long as they meet new policies and regulations. The director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Michael Bromwich, says the new policy will accommodate companies whose operations were interrupted by the administration's five-month moratorium on deepwater drilling, while ensuring that the companies can resume previously approved activities.

Rubrene crystal raises hope for the use of organic semiconductors and cheaper, more efficient solar cells Rutgers University physicists have found new properties within a material that could lead to the production of less expensive and more efficient plastic solar cells. Vitaly Podzorov, co-author of the study and assistant professor of physics at Rutgers University, along with his research team have discovered that organic semiconductors allow energy-carrying particles -- which are created by "packets" of light -- to journey a thousand times farther than researchers previously thought. "Organic semiconductors are promising for solar cells and other uses, such as video displays, because they can be...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency Wednesday over prison crowding, a step that lets him use his executive powers to free space by shipping inmates to other states. The move comes five weeks after state lawmakers failed to act on a $6 billion prison building plan Schwarzenegger sought after calling a special session of the state Legislature. That proposal also included involuntarily sending inmates to prisons in other states. "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. California has the nation's largest state prison...

WASHINGTON - A federal judge said Wednesday that investigators could examine documents seized in a search of Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record)'s office, denying a request to delay the bribery probe while the Louisiana Democrat appeals the judge's earlier ruling that the search was legal. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said granting the delay "would harm the public's interest in a prompt and final outcome of the government's investigation of serious crimes involving a sitting United States congressman running for re-election in November." Last week, Hogan rejected arguments by Jefferson and House leaders in both parties...

A U.S. District Court judge presiding over the trial of a private investigator accused of wiretapping Hollywood celebrities said prosecutors can use evidence gathered in a search of his offices. FBI agents raided Anthony Pellicano's offices in 2002 and found illegal explosives. Authorities were investigating whether Pellicano hired a man to threaten a Los Angeles Times reporter working on a story about actor Steven Seagal and his possible links to the Mafia. Pellicano's attorney Steven Gruel challenged the legality of the search, contending the raids were a ruse to get inside and look for suspected wrongdoing. FBI agents seized computers...

A multibillion dollar tax windfall has eased the strain of California's perennial state budget debate and handed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a chance to buy off Democrat and Republican critics as he heads into his re-election campaign. Stock gains, home sales, business profits and taxes on rising gas prices are expected to bring in revenue at least $5 billion above forecasts from just two months ago. The money already has allowed the Schwarzenegger administration to pledge that it will give more to public education and appease the state's teachers union, which has been critical of the governor's spending. "It really helps...

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2006 – The first Quadrennial Defense Review undertaken during a time of war provides the military more options and more capabilities, a senior defense official said here today. A large portion of those options and capabilities come in the form of special operations forces, Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told the audience assembled for the 17th Annual National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low-intensity Conflict Symposium and Exhibition. "QDR, I think, represents not something new in a shift toward the emphasis of special operations, but a continued realization of how that has to be...

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed a former Army scientist to proceed with a libel lawsuit against The New York Times that claims one of the paper's columnists unfairly linked him to the 2001 anthrax killings. Steven Hatfill sued the Times for a series of columns written in 2002 by Nicholas Kristof that faulted the FBI for failing to thoroughly investigate Hatfill for anthrax mailings that left five people dead. The initial columns identified Hatfill only as "Mr. Z," but subsequent columns named him after Hatfill stepped forward to deny any role in the killings. Federal...

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge upheld three lawsuits Friday accusing Jordan-based Arab Bank of promoting Palestinian suicide attacks by funneling Saudi money to bombers' families. U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon denied six of eight counts in Arab Bank's March motion to dismiss the litigation, allowing bombing survivors and victims' families to move forward with their lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The lawsuits claim that Arab Bank aided terrorism by acting as the administrator of an "insurance plan" by the Saudi Committee in Support of the Intifada Al Quds, which paid $5,300 to the families...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission voted Thursday to let members of Congress raise unlimited "soft money" donations to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. The 6-0 decision by the commission came in response to a request from U.S. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, both of whom oppose the redistricting plan. The decision will allow federal officeholders to raise unlimited sums from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose any measure on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. In general, federal campaign finance law limits federal officeholders to raising $5,000 each from donors for...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An HIV-positive transgender woman from Honduras can stay indefinitely in the United States because she would face physical threats and a lack of medical care if she returned to her native country, a federal judge ruled. Judge Jan D. Latimore ruled Tuesday that Cristina Gomez Ordonez should not be deported, allowing Ordonez, 34, to work in the United States and receive medical treatment. "We are happy that the judge granted withholding ... and acknowledged that our client was going to face a lot of problems if she were returned to Honduras," said Shiu-Ming Cheer of Catholic...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The judge hearing a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election agreed Tuesday to let Republicans introduce evidence that Democratic-leaning King County recorded several hundred more votes than it could account for. Republicans allege errors and possible fraud in the county, which includes Seattle, helped Democrats steal the election for Christine Gregoire, who beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. "The evidence is overwhelming that there was unbelievable neglect in King County and, we believe, outright fraud by high-ranking King County officials," GOP attorney Dale Foreman said Monday. Democrats had tried to...

LOS ANGELES - The federal government announced the nation's largest conservation plan for 9.5 million acres of desert in Southern California that would protect wildlife but make development easier in fast-growing regions. The 30-year plan unveiled Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management seeks to balance an ancient landscape of rugged volcanic mountains, 11,000-year-old creosote bushes and more than 100 species, including the threatened desert tortoise and the Mohave ground squirrel, with developers' push for new homes and businesses. More than 10 years in the making, the plan covers parts of the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Forest and...

A B.C. court has subtracted one day from the two-year jail term of a convicted rapist so that he can stay in Canada and fight deportation to his native Sri Lanka. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that Sritharan Kanthasamy, 28, a permanent resident of Canada, would face "unintended consequences of great significance" if it upheld a two-year jail sentence imposed by a lower court following a trial in 2004. The Appeal Court agreed to reduce the sentence to two years less one day. The ruling makes Kanthasamy eligible to appeal on humanitarian or compassionate grounds a declaration under...

CAIRO, Egypt - In a surprise and dramatic reversal, President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) took a first significant step Saturday toward democratic reform in the world's most populous Arab country, ordering the constitution changed to allow presidential challengers on the ballot this fall. An open election has long been a demand of the opposition but was repeatedly rejected by the ruling party, with Mubarak only last month dismissing calls for reform as "futile." The sudden shift was the first sign from the key U.S. ally that it was ready to participate in the democratic evolution in the Middle...

If you are like most Americans, your household income will grow by about 3 percent this year. You would like more, of course, but you will get by just fine. Why, then, can't the California Legislature scrape by on a much larger increase of 4.2 percent in general fund revenues? Why are Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly, joined by a chorus of special interests, demanding a variety of tax increases to avert the hardship they foresee in a budget that will grow by only 4.2 percent? Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger's proposed 2005-06 budget provides a reality check for lawmakers...

DAVAO CITY — Over 300 Muslim religious leaders from all over the country announced on Wednesday the official Islamic canonical decision (fatwah) on reproductive health and family planning. The new fatwah allows the use of both natural and artificial contraceptive methods, except for tubal ligation and vasectomy. "The assembly finds reproductive health and family planning program, as practiced under valid reasons and recognized ancestries, are in accordance with the teachings of Islam," the fatwah stated. However, it stressed that family planning for the Muslim community in the Philippines should be anchored on the principles of non-coercion, responsible parenthood, and informed...

A parent of a high school student asked local school officials last week (Nov. 14) to reconsider a Sept. 22 decision that paved the way for students to choose clothing that displays the Confederate flag. Stella Moore told members of the Jackson County Board of Education that her son had heard racial slurs at Smoky Mountain High School and described an incident where students ran across the football field (during a pep rally) carrying a Confederate flag and yelling "KKK." "Your decision was made without regard for the feelings of those who think that flag represents racism and slavery," Moore...

Bush allows oil drilling on pristine Texas beach By David Usborne in New York 23 November 2002 Environmentalists in the United States are again waging war with Republicans in Washington. This time the row is over a decision to allow an energy company to drill two gas wells in a coastal national park in Texas that is home to the world's most endangered species of sea turtle. The federal government is to grant approval to BNP Petroleum to sink two wells in the Padre Island National Seashore, a barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico that features the longest stretch...