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State flood-control officials gave a green light Monday to a developer's plan to build luxury homes atop a massive new levee in San Joaquin County. The vote by the California Reclamation Board allows the River Islands project in Lathrop to move ahead with the first phase of a development that will eventually include 11,000 homes on Stewart Tract, an island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The developer, British-owned Cambay Group, plans to build 224 of those homes on top of a new 300-foot-wide "superlevee" overlooking the San Joaquin River. The Reclamation Board approved an encroachment permit that determines where private...

BAGHDAD, May 20, 2006 – In a watershed day in Iraqi history, the country's Parliament today approved 39 ministers and state secretaries that form the elected, representative government. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announces his new Cabinet in the Baghdad convention center May 20. Multinational Force Iraq photo   The Parliament confirmed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's choices for the Iraqi national unity government. The 37-member Cabinet contains representatives from all major parties and all major ethnic and secular groups. Following the vote, the ministers took their oath of office during a session broadcast throughout Iraq. The Parliament met at the...

Iraq's parliament finally approved a new national unity government on Saturday, ending months of deadlock as bomb attacks that killed 24 people served a grim reminder of the security challenges it will face. -- snip --The chamber then approved the program clearing the way for the government to be formally sworn in.

The largest bond measures approved by California voters since 1972 have all come within the past decade: - Proposition 57, 2004: $15 billion for deficit financing, allowing the state to refinance its deficit and close future budget shortfalls. - Proposition 55, 2004: $12.3 billion to pay for new school buildings and upgrade existing ones. K-12 schools were eligible for $10 million, while higher education received the rest. - Proposition 50, 2002: $3.4 billion to fund water quality and safe drinking water projects, coastal protection and the CalFed Bay-Delta Program. - Proposition 47, 2002: $13 billion to fund construction of public...

News from Nine MSN, Australia's ABC Rural and Bernama reports that three abattoirs have been given the seal of approval by a Malaysian religious body to perform halal slaughter of beef, which can then be exported to Malaysia. The abattoirs are Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, based in Grantham, Queensland, and two from Victoria - Tasman Group Services, Brooklyn, and Victoria and Novic Food Processing, in Wodonga. On June 4 last year, Malaysia suspended its beef imports from Australia, as it was decided that normal humane methods of killing bovines did not conform to halal standards. Traditionally, halal meat has to...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his chief policy aide acknowledged this week that they privately agreed in the fall of 2000 to support a future pay increase for recycling workers -- a move that hid the true cost of the city's garbage contract from the city council, the public and competing companies. Through a spokesman, Gonzales on Thursday said he learned months before the city council approved an 11-year agreement with Norcal Waste Systems that there would be additional costs associated with the $250 million deal. However, Gonzales said he did not know the exact amount of those costs....

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal bankruptcy court on Monday approved a reorganization plan that will allow six California-based Hare Krishna temples and their affiliates to remain open while compensating members who claim they were abused at the society's schools. The plan includes $9.5 million for alleged victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse during the 1970s and 1980s at religious boarding schools run by the Hare Krishnas. A similar reorganization plan was approved May 16 in West Virginia, where temples also filed for bankruptcy. The monotheistic tradition, also known as the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, was founded in...

SPRINGFIELD - Senate Democrats on the Executive Committee hastily approved four gun-control measures Wednesday amid partisan rancor. Another Senate panel already had rejected much of the legislation, and some Republican senators repeatedly expressed disapproval at the work-around tactic. Senate Bills 1330, 1331 and 1332 were approved Wednesday even though the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected identical legislation earlier this session. Two of the Judiciary Committee's six Democrats are from downstate - Sens. James Clayborne of Belleville and Bill Haine of Alton - and both tend to vote against gun-control legislation. On the other hand, seven of the Executive Committee's eight Democrats...

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. Bishop Jia Zhi Guo ÙZÖ·øÖ÷½Ì, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei Province was arrested by three officials of the Religious Bureau on January 5, 2005 at approximately 5:30 in the afternoon (Beijing time) in a church located in Wu Qiu village. According to a report that we received, Bishop Jia could have been detained somewhere in Shijiazhung. In fact, Bishop Jia was also arrested on December 14 together with 11 priests. They were all released shortly after few hours. Bishop Jia is 69 years old and was ordained a bishop...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The head of the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday approved a sweeping plan to manage 11.5 million acres of national forest land across the Sierra Nevada range, renewing debate over how best to prevent wildfires like those that devastated Southern California a year ago. Chief Dale Bosworth rejected appeals by environmental groups, prompting immediate promises of lawsuits as the administrative process grinds to an end. Regional Forester Jack Blackwell said the plan he approved in January will improve wildlife habitat while reducing fire danger particularly around mountain communities. Environmental critics called it a veiled effort to triple...

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (news - web sites) said on Monday he would have voted for the congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq (news - web sites) even if he had known then no weapons of mass destruction would be found. Taking up a challenge from President Bush (news - web sites), whom he will face in the Nov. 2 election, the Massachusetts senator said: "I'll answer it directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it is the right authority for a president to have but I would have used...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Congress gave final approval Thursday to a massive spending bill for most domestic programs, clearing the way for new rules dealing with gun purchases, media ownership and overtime pay.</p> <p>The legislation also allows the Bush administration to delay implementation of country-of-origin food labeling and create the nation's first federally funded school voucher program.</p>

<p>Federal regulators approved an overhaul Wednesday of the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of scandals that have rocked the Big Board.</p> <p>The Securities and Exchange Commission hailed the first substantial change in decades at the 211-year-old institution, calling it a monumental step toward necessary safeguards.</p>

SALEM -- In a stunning ninth-inning rally, the Oregon Senate passed an amended version of the stadium financing bill Saturday night, renewing hope that major league baseball will come to Portland. "The ball's in the air, and it's about to clear the fence," Gov. Ted Kulongoski said after Senate Bill 5 passed by a 16-11 vote, a day after it appeared to have been killed in the same chamber. The bill goes Monday for a third vote in the House, where it has passed comfortably, and would then head to Kulongoski's desk for a signature -- one he again promised...

Cleric 'approved bombings' John Aglionby in Jakarta Friday June 27, 2003 The Guardian (UK) A witness at the trial in Jakarta of Abu Bakar Ba'aysir, 64, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's south-east Asia network, claimed yesterday that the Islamist cleric had approved several terrorist attacks throughout the region over the past few years. The witness, Faiz bin Abu Bakar Bafana, said Mr Ba'aysir had authorised a bombing campaign against churches throughout Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000 which killed 19 people, another bombing in Jakarta in 2001 and an aborted attempt to kill the president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Mr...

Does anyone have any articles about that judge that Bush wanted appointed and the Senate won't allow it, after the liberal ABA approved her?