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The Duchess of York is "devastated" and "regretful" after she was filmed apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for £500,000, sources said today. A News of the World video showed Sarah Ferguson promising to introduce an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy businessman to the Prince, who has been the UK's special representative for international trade and investment since 2001. The Duchess who said she could 'open doors' is expected in Los Angeles later today where she is scheduled to pick up an award for her charity work.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he would mount a vigorous defense of his landmark environmental legislation, vowing to "push back" against "greedy oil companies who want to keep polluting in our state." His comments came as supporters of an effort to roll back AB 32, the global warming legislation Schwarzenegger signed in 2006, announced they had gathered enough signatures to get their measure on the November ballot. They submitted the signatures to the secretary of state Monday morning. AB 32 requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The initiative campaign, which is bankrolled almost entirely...

California's trial bar lobby spent more than $21 million over the past decade to sway public policy in the direction of plaintiffs' attorneys, a state report said.

he fear of losing one’s home in these difficult times sent hundreds of area homeowners Saturday to a free program designed to help them. More than 100 volunteers for “Keep Your Home,” held at the University Center in Grayslake, helped troubled homeowners to determine whether they qualified for President Obama’s Loan Modification Program. If they did, the volunteers, including judges, lawyers and community organizers, assisted them in filling out applications which were then filed electronically to their lenders seeking a reduction of monthly mortgage payments. Within an hour after the program started, more than 250 homeowners had come into the...

Here is video of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" contestant Ken Basin getting the million dollar question wrong. He could have walked away with $500,000 but he took a chance and only walked away with $25,000. (Watch Video)

(04-04) 13:50 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawrence Summers, President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, earned millions over the past year as managing director of the hedge fund D.E. Shaw Group and through speaking fees, some from financial institutions now at the center of the government's rescue program. Financial disclosure reports released by the White House show that Summers received $5.2 million from D.E. Shaw. He also reported payments for appearances before institutions such as J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. Overall, Summers was paid $2.7 million for more than 40 appearances before different organizations and companies, including financial...

Convicted last year of intoxication manslaughter for the death of her boyfriend, the 21-year-old daughter of a state district judge is suing the truck driver she ran into during a drunken driving crash. Elizabeth Shelton, the daughter of juvenile judge Pat Shelton, is accusing truck driver Lance Bennett of negligence in the Oct. 23, 2007, wreck that killed her boyfriend Matthew McNiece. Bennett was driving the box truck that Shelton rear-ended on the Southwest Freeway near Kirby around 2 a.m. Shelton had a blood alcohol concentration more than three times the legal limit, two tests showed. She was sentenced to...

How does this bail out effect the average person, i.e. carrying a mortgage and some credit card debt, reasonably stable job, decent credit rating? I'm hearing it's the end of the world on both sides of the issue but there has to be a fairly straight answer.

The last victim of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse has been recovered from the water. The long, complex search for the disaster's cause is ramping up in earnest. It's about the time we'd expect the lawyers to descend. But the pinstripes are already out of the gate, setting new records for jumping the gun in a disaster. Just days after the collapse, while recovery crews were still battling treacherous waters, Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben -- one of the state's highest profile personal injury firms -- petitioned for access to the site for three attorneys and two expert witnesses. An immediate...

Dentist to Affluent Sues Lidle Estate By SAMUEL MAULL NEW YORK (AP) - A dentist to the rich and famous has filed a $7 million lawsuit against the estate of late New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, claiming his home was destroyed when the ballplayer's small airplane crashed into his apartment building. Dr. Lawrence Rosenthal says in court papers that after Lidle's Cirrus SR-20 aircraft crashed into the Manhattan building where he lived with his wife and teenage son, they had to vacate their 43rd-floor apartment. Rosenthal, whose patients include Donald Trump, Bruce Springsteen and Catherine Zeta-Jones, said his apartment...

"Fear takes may forms: there's fear in the face of suffering, fear of not having enough time, fear of not being able to explain oneself, fear of not doing well enough, fear of death"

One of the most persistent themes in Noam Chomsky's work has been class warfare. The iconic MIT linguist and left-wing activist frequently has lashed out against the "massive use of tax havens to shift the burden to the general population and away from the rich," and criticized the concentration of wealth in "trusts" by the wealthiest 1%. He says the U.S. tax code is rigged with "complicated devices for ensuring that the poor -- like 80% of the population -- pay off the rich." But trusts can't be all bad. After all, Chomsky, with a net worth north of US$2-million,...

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European publishers warned Tuesday that they cannot keep allowing Internet search engines such as Google Inc. to make money from their content. "The new models of Google and others reverse the traditional permission-based copyright model of content trading that we have built up over the years," said Francisco Pinto Balsemao, the head of the European Publishers Council, in prepared remarks for a speech at a Brussels conference. His stance backs French news agency AFP, which is suing Google for pulling together photos and story excerpts from thousands of news Web sites. "It is fascinating to see how...

Unions want share of iPod video income Los Angeles October 17, 2005 - 10:37AM Hollywood's actors, directors and writers unions say they would vet Apple's new iPod portable video player so members get their share of residuals. "The announcement today unveiling the Apple Video iPod represents the latest chapter in the ongoing technological evolution of our industry," said a joint statement by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West. "We have not yet heard from the responsible...

Will Somebody Say Thank You? Turn on TV, read the local newspaper or listen to your local radio station, and all you are going to hear, see and read are accounts of people knee-deep in playing the blame game. What you don't hear is anybody saying "thank you." From the safety of France, Pierce Brosnan took the time to tell the world: "This man called President Bush has a lot to answer for. I don't know if this man is really taking care of America. This government has been shameful." Instead of lifting a finger to help Katrina's victims, this...

¸ Local FEMA manager said he is sad processing for aid takes so long. By ROBBYN BROOKS Daily News Staff Writer Mississippi evacuee Luan Morgan tried to keep the tone of her voice pleasant for the sake of her 5-year-old daughter Sunday, but her anger was easy to see. “I need help now,” Morgan said. “We don’t have any way to get home. There’s no gas. There’s no nothing.” Morgan evacuated from her Lumberton, Miss., home the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. She brought her daughter, Nichole, three days worth of clothing and not much else. “I...

THE United Federation of Teachers has a new Web site that every parent of a New York City public-school student should read: EdWize.org. There could hardly be a more telling illustration of just what the union is all about: Teachers first, kids last — if at all. The blog (Web log) features posts by UFT staff. The very first post, dated Aug. 19, blasts Mayor Bloomberg for failing to agree to a "contract with a substantial raise for teachers" before the start of the school year. OK, no surprise there. What's amazing is that, in the blog's first week (as...

The family of a teenage boy slain last year at Southwood Middle School could receive as much as $1.7 million from the Miami-Dade school district in a settlement approved today by the School Board, The Herald has learned. Jaime Gough, an eighth-grader, was killed on Feb. 3, 2004 in a bathroom of the Palmetto Bay school. His classmate, 15-year-old Michael Hernandez, has been charged with the murder. Gough's parents sued the district for wrongful death. Under the terms of the district deal, the Gough family will immediately receive $700,000 -- $200,000 from the School Board and $500,000 from the district's...