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<p>PITTSBURGH — A federal judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the fraud case against celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was accused of using his staff at the county coroner's office to do work for his lucrative private practice.</p> <p>Federal prosecutors said they were ready to retry Wecht, who gained fame by inquiring into the deaths of well-known figures including Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Vincent Foster. A new trial date was set for May 27.</p>

Last week, Pittsburgh got a visit from a politician with the rare ability to transcend partisan divisions, and to remind us that -- no matter what our political differences -- Americans share a vision of a Shining City on the Hill. I'm talking, of course, about Hillary Clinton. While Barack Obama visited Oakland's Soldiers & Sailors Hall on March 28, Clinton was bewitching Pittsburgh Tribune-Review publisher Richard Mellon Scaife. Yes, that's right: The architect and arch-fiend behind what Clinton herself called a "vast right-wing conspiracy" is apparently quite taken with his onetime adversary. And the proof is a March 30...

WAVERLY, Iowa — When is retail politics not retail politics? When candidates refuse to get off their big buses and go do it. Fred Thompson rolled into this small town on the Cedar River in north-central Iowa on a giant brown bus Tuesday. He also had a van, an entourage of guys with earpieces and a press aide. Thompson’s public schedule said: “Fred Thompson Tours Downtown Waverly and Drops by Waverly Democrat.”

A week ago today, Gen. David H. Petraeus started his rounds on Capitol Hill, reporting that security in Iraq was improving to the point that a small number of troops could begin coming home by year's end. But 10 days ago, his commanders in Baghdad began advertising for private contractors to work in combat-supply warehouses on U.S. bases throughout Iraq because half the soldiers who had been working in the warehouses were needed for patrols, combat and protection of U.S. forces.

Michigan players and coaches are lashing out at Jim Harbaugh over remarks the former Wolverines quarterback and current Stanford coach made about his alma mater in a newspaper interview. Michigan tailback Mike Hart says he has no respect for Harbaugh.

WASHINGTON – In two days of prison interviews with federal agents this year, disgraced former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham described a level of corruption on his part more extensive than previously known and dealt a potentially devastating blow to the defense being waged by one of the defense contractors alleged to have bribed him. The interviews were conducted in February at the federal prison near Tucson, where the longtime Republican congressman is serving an eight-year and four-month sentence after admitting to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion. According to an 11-page...

Former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart's entry into the 4th Congressional District race raised plenty of eyebrows over the weekend, but she'll have to raise a lot more money if she hopes to have a chance at winning the Republican primary and beating U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire in November 2008. According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Altmire, D-4, McCandless Township, has $514,000 in cash available, while Hart, of Bradford Woods, has only $3,674. Not only does Hart trail Altmire by more than $500,000, but she also lags behind the only other announced Republican candidate for the...

In April, the McCainiacs gathered at the Tabu Ultra Lounge in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. His finance reports say he paid the club $18,735 for "Equip Rental/Catering." The nightclub's website describes it this way: "Interactive projections mesmerize with sensual images. Internationally renowned DJs conjure a cool and casual vibe that put it on everyone's list of Las Vegas nightclubs. Stunning models/servers tempt with nouveau classic cocktails. This is the forbidden world of Tabú, where only one rule applies: anything goes. Are you ready for a nightspot that's too hot to touch?" Clearly, not too hot for McCain.

WASHINGTON) — The Interior Department's former No. 2 official was sentenced to 10 months in prison Tuesday for lying to senators in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the highest administration official sentenced in the probe. J. Steven Griles, who was the department's deputy secretary, had pleaded guilty to obstructing justice. Griles admitted to lying to Senate investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, the central figure in a corruption investigation that has led to convictions of a former congressman, legislative aides, lobbyists and officials in the Bush administration. Griles had asked to be spared prison time. Under his plea deal with...

Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) today announced that he intends to take steps to put the U.S. House of Representatives on record as recognizing the justification of the electoral challenge filed by Congressional candidate Christine Jennings regarding the disputed election in Florida's 13th Congressional District, and making clear that any House proceedings on January 4, 2007, will not prejudice legal proceedings or legislative inquiry regarding the election's validity. "It is a matter of fundamental fairness, of good government, and of accountability that we get to the bottom of this election," said Rep. Rush Holt. "It is imperative that every election reflect...

BAGHDAD Many of the American soldiers trying to quell sectarian killings in Baghdad don't appear to be looking for reinforcements. They say a surge in troop levels some people are calling for is a bad idea. President Bush is considering increasing the number of troops in Iraq and embedding more U.S. advisers in Iraqi units. White House advisers have indicated Bush will announce his new plan for the war before his State of the Union address Jan. 23. In dozens of interviews with soldiers of the Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment as they patrolled the streets of eastern Baghdad,...

A leading economist says the true cost of Iraq is far higher than President Bush claims -- and America will pay the price for decades to come. When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would turn a profit, paying for itself with increased oil revenues. So far, though, Congress has spent more than $350 billion on the conflict, including the $50 billion appropriated for 2007. But according to one of the world's leading economists, that is just a fraction of what Iraq will actually wind up costing American taxpayers. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the...

Anyway, I do think my judgment is superior to his [Juan Cole's] when it comes to the big picture. So, I have an idea: Since he doesn't want to debate anything except his own brilliance, let's make a bet. I predict that Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it. I'll bet $1,000 (which I can hardly spare right now). This way neither of us can hide behind clever word play or CV reading. If...

Former state Rep. Jeffrey Habay was granted another delay yesterday in his trial on 21 charges that he threatened and intimidated witnesses over an eight-month period in 2004. The four-term Republican, who lost two lawyers this summer because he was not paying their fees, told Allegheny County Judge Lester G. Nauhaus he could not afford a new attorney. A representative from the county public defender's office told the judge Mr. Habay's assets and income exceed the federal poverty standards required to qualify as indigent.

With withering and methodical dispatch, White House nemesis and prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald yesterday sliced up the first person called to the stand on behalf of the vice president's former chief of staff. If I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was not afraid of the special counsel before, the former Cheney aide, who will face Fitzgerald in a trial beginning Jan. 11, had ample reason to start quaking after yesterday's Ginsu-like legal performance.

Let’s stipulate at the outset that if the Republican Congress had done a decent job addressing the nation’s problems over the past two years, the Foley scandal and cover-up wouldn’t now be plunging the Republicans into political perdition. Instead, the scandal has served chiefly to crystallize in the public’s mind much that it has come to loathe about both the Congress and the Bush administration -- above all, their unwavering focus on the politics of a problem rather than the problem itself. It’s not just that congressional Republicans have neglected to do anything about the conduct of the war in...

Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky, who was indicted in May in connection with a hiring scandal, signed an agreement yesterday admitting wrongdoing by his administration and promising to reconstitute the state’s Personnel Board. “The governor acknowledges that the evidence strongly indicates wrongdoing by his administration with regard to personnel actions within the merit system,” the seven-page accord said, adding that he takes responsibility and that he “hereby states that these actions were inappropriate.”

Police descend on home of state Sen. Robert Regola State police, armed with a search warrant, descended on the Hempfield Township home of state Sen. Robert Regola Wednesday morning as part of their continuing investigation into the death of his 14-year-old neighbor.

Thomas McPherson, a Millvale resident and unsuccessful Republican mayoral candidate in the borough last year, was arrested yesterday on charges that he threatened a minority family moving into a residence next door to his house. Mr. McPherson, 46, of Sample Street, was charged with ethnic intimidation, simple assault, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. Police said after words were exchanged between Mr. McPherson and members of the family, Mr. McPherson went inside his house and came back out with a gun in its holster strapped on his body. Police said he pulled the gun half-way out at one point in the...

Responding to what Democrats and a political expert alike are calling a smear campaign, the state Republican Party is verbally disavowing an e-mail sent by one of its staffers that makes personal allegations against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland and his wife. But Republican party officials did not distribute a follow-up e-mail or take any other action to repudiate the e-mail, which suggests that the Stricklands are gay. "Every time we think we’ve reached the sewer, there’s a lower level of sewer," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who has written...