Free Republic

BOSTON (AP) -- A former Massachusetts House speaker accused of lying during his testimony in a voting rights lawsuit plans to plead guilty Friday to obstruction of justice, a person familiar with the agreement said Thursday. The lawsuit had claimed that a 2001 state law that redrew legislative district boundaries discriminated against minorities in Boston while protecting incumbents, including the now-former House speaker, Thomas Finneran. A federal court panel eventually tossed out the legislative map, finding it "sacrificed racial fairness." Finneran's trial on perjury and obstruction charges had been scheduled to start Jan. 16. The former speaker said Wednesday that...

Miami Herald humor columnist Dave Barry to take indefinite leave Associated Press MIAMI - Dave Barry, The Miami Herald's Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist, plans to take an indefinite leave of absence from the newspaper starting in January. Barry, 57, said Tuesday he wanted to spend more time with his family after a hectic summer covering the Democratic and Republican national conventions and the Olympics in Greece. He said he may return in 2006. "I've never not had a column in a week in all of 30 years, even when I went on vacation," Barry said. "At some point I said,...