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A three-judge panel overseeing Independent Counsel David Barrett's investigation into abuses by the Internal Revenue Service under the Clinton administration has ordered Barrett to make "discrete deletions" is the draft he submitted 15 months ago. The deletion order "has stoked speculation that [it] has more to do with the next presidential campaign," reports the Wall Street Journal, noting widespread rumors that "the draft report contains information potentially embarrassing to another Clinton administration figure, former first lady and current New York Sen. Hillary Clinton." "The one Clinton official rumored to be implicated in the report is former IRS Commissioner Margaret Richardson,...

Excerpts - WASHINGTON -- When former Housing Secretary and Democratic star Henry Cisneros pleaded guilty in 1999 to lying to the FBI about money he paid years earlier to his mistress, newspapers said it marked the end of an independent counsel's investigation that was already four years old. But reports of the probe's death were greatly exaggerated. But the court also ordered Mr. Barrett to first make some "discrete deletions" from the draft report he submitted to it 15 months ago. That has stoked speculation that has more to do with the next presidential campaign than with Mr. Cisneros, the...

There is major news in the fight over the report of independent counsel David Barrett's investigation into the Henry Cisneros matter. Late today, the three-judge panel overseeing Barrett ordered that parts of his report be released to the public -- and that all of the report be given to Congress. "The Court orders that the independent counsel, with all deliberate speed, prepare for release and make release of the now pending Final Report, except for that portion designated as Section V," the order says. It is not clear what is contained in Section V, but it is known that several...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate decided Thursday that it was time to close to a decade-old, $20 million investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros - years after Cisneros received a presidential pardon. The amendment to a spending bill, approved by voice vote, would require that the report of Independent Counsel David Barrett be made public within 60 days, and that the independent counsel close his office within 90 days after the report is published. ``The American taxpayers have spent a lot of money on this report and they deserve the right to see it,'' said Senate Finance Committee...

WASHINGTON - The independent counsel investigation that led to the conviction of a former Clinton administration housing chief could come back to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Daily News has learned that lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress. Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine after he was found guilty in 1999 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. And though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband was targeted by independent counsel David Barrett, his 420-page...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Wednesday morning that he'll press for the release of findings by independent counsel David Barrett, whose probe into former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros reportedly concluded that Clinton officials at the Internal Revenue Service conducted politically motivated audits of White House enemies. "I believe the investigators should be permitted to complete their work and to issue their final report," Sen. Frist told syndicated radio host Tony Snow, who had asked if he would guarantee the report's release. "I'm pressing the conferees on the supplemental bill to take that amendment out," the Republican leader added. Frist...

Senators Byron Dorgan, John Kerry and Richard Durbin pulled a fast one last week on their congressional colleagues. They tried to bury forever documents alleging that senior government officials tried to transform portions of the IRS and the Justice Department into a goon squad for attacking political enemies and aiding political friends. Naturally, they didn’t declare their intentions openly. Instead, Sen. Dorgan attached an innocent looking amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill that will fund government operations after September 30. The last-minute amendment read: “At the end of the bill, add the following: “SEC. __ . (a) None of...

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats are quietly trying to kill a 10-year legal probe that implicates several senior Clinton administration appointees for obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned. The Democrats, saying that the $21 million investigation by Independent Counsel David Barrett should have ended long ago, succeeded in attaching an amendment to a spending bill Tuesday to cut off his funding by June 1. But two sources close to the investigation said that if the legislation becomes law, it will thwart Barrett from making public a final report that names senior officials in the Clinton Justice Department and Internal...

<p>When the National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's basketball tournament ends Monday night, CBS, as it has for the past 16 seasons, will end its broadcast of the final with tournament highlights set to the song "One Shining Moment."</p> <p>Written on the back of a napkin by a virtual unknown, the wholesome song hasn't appeared on the Billboard charts, nor has it ever been played on the radio as far as anyone knows. A compact-disk single has barely sold 1,000 copies. But with the exception of a couple of college fight songs to which nobody knows the words, "One Shining Moment" is arguably the most famous song in sports.</p>